Ch-ch-ch-changes

September already and another New England triathlon season has come to a close. Those Brisbanites have it so good with races straight from October to March and "winter" training that still includes outdoor rides.

This has been the most successful season on record. I competed in 6 races, podiumed in 4 and went to the National Championship.


I have the coaches and athletes at BPC to thank for that. When I first arrived back in Boston, I was looking for a team similar to my Aussie team, the Brisbane Tri Squad. I wanted more than just a team, and I wanted more than just a coach. I was looking for a team that offered group coaching to keep me motivated (nothing gets you out of bed like knowing your friends will all be at the pool). BPC was that team.

Over the last two years, I've gone from a participant to a competitor. With Duxbury last year, I took my first climb up the podium, and I qualified for Nationals. After my first taste of victory, there was no turning back. I bought a tri bike, and I kept myself mostly injury-free. This season has been all about getting ready for and competing at Nationals.

As I start looking toward next season (and, yes, I'm already thinking about and planning for June 2012), I've decided I want to try something new with my coaching. I started researching coaches online, reading bios, talking to friends about their coaches, reading blog post after blog post on why I need a coach and why I don't. I narrowed it down to four coaches who all came highly-recommended and who I thought would be a good fit.

I put together a bunch of questions on their athletes:

• How many?
• Breakdown of long versus short course?
• Athlete profile (just getting fit versus national champ)?
  

their training philosophy:

• Hours per week and breakdown by discipline?
• Periodization?
• Role of recovery and forms?
• Role of strength training and forms?
• Training metrics (e.g., power, heart rate, speed)?
  

and their communication style:

• Forms?
• Frequency?
• Number of weeks in a program? How far before starting the program will I receive it?

In the end, I'm lucky to be working with Coach Alan of DCRainmaker fame. First goal with the new coach is the Newton Chilly Half Marathon in 8 weeks. It will be the first half marathon that I've really trained for, so I'm excited to see how far we can go.

Lobsterman Race Report: Bringing it home

The final race of the season was a gorgeous one. Before we get into the recap though, I have to recognize how well this race was organized. Not just for the athletes (most races have knowledgeable volunteers and well-marked courses), but for spectators as well. This may seem small, but they had spectator food. Many races just have their sponsors (e.g., a protein shake, a yogurt sample) available, but for a longer race like this, it's really nice to have breakfast available to the families out there supporting. So, thanks, Lobsterman.

One note, more to myself than the organizers, get the extra-small shirt. The vendor for the shirts has clearly changed their sizing. My small shirt from this year's race is about 2 inches wider than the one from two years ago.


Onto the race. The water which I was expecting to be quite cold, was fine. They announced it was 68 when they measured in the morning (before the tide had really come in). I think it was a little cooler than that, but still nothing compared with two years ago.

The swim was only 3 buoys: 3 turns, a diamond shape. The way out to the first buoy was smooth sailing. I could see I was in second place about 20 feet behind the first place girl, but she wasn't putting any more water between us. It was a little seaweedy, but reminded me how much I love swimming in salt water - so buoyant. Making the first turn it was tough to find the 2nd buoy: sunshine, rougher water, catching the wave ahead of us and about 400 yards of distance all made it difficult, but no repeats of Nationals.

Coming out of the water, a friend told me I was in third for the age group. Transition was tough. I struggled to put on my garmin after the swim. I needed to use it so that I'd have heart rate data for the ride, but I can't swim in the watch. It felt like forever. Looking back, however, my transition time wasn't that far off. Onto the bike.

Note to Future-Laura: Next time you do this race, remember that first hill deserves a granny gear. It looks like it's not that tall, but it just keeps turning and climbing, and I definitely attempted it in too high of a gear, which is clear from that heart rate spike in the first mile. There was not a single foot of flat on this course. And heading out it just did not feel very fast, but I just kept grinding away at it. I got passed by several women in the 40-49 age groups (geez, those ladies are fast), but wasn't until about half way that I got passed by a woman with 34 on her calf. Then at mile 20 or so, I got passed by Lauren. I thought that put me in 5th.

Off the bike, I thought about what my coach told me, about getting faster throughout the race. The first thing you have to do is go back up that killer hill. Ok, head down, cadence up. Not much really stands out from the run: it was hilly, and it hurt. I didn't look at the watch much other than to occassionally check my pace. That was it, just run hard.

Coming back into the park, I knew I'd be close to my 2:40 goal. I hadn't timed the swim, but I knew the bike and run were coming in just under 2:10, that meant if my swim and T1 were on target, I would hit it.

And the verdict: 2:40:20. So close to breaking into the 2:30s. I can review every detail of this race to try to find those last 20 seconds. Could I have gotten that watch on more quickly, could I have pushed the downhills just a little bit more? I'm not going to beat myself up about it. 2:40 is still a minute better than nationals on a much trickier course. And I felt good throughout the race.

Here we have it. Looks like I was second out of the water, and further passed the first person in transition, putting me in first as we went out onto the bike. On the bike I was passed by two people, putting me in third, which I held for the remainder of the race.

Here we are winning our mugs. I was awarded second (once again my height makes me look like third. As best I can tell, the woman who came in second had a bib number that was out of the range of our age group. I'm guessing this meant she registered late, so she didn't get included in our age group awards. That is definitely a shame.

Next up, fall running season!

Getting fitter

Way back in 2008 I got my first heart rate monitor. The first thing I did with it was to measure my resting heart rate: 72. Hmm. That was a little higher than I expected, but still in normal ranges. I tried again. Same results. I resigned myself to the fact that I just had a high resting heart rate. I chalked it up to being a mathlete for so many years.

Last night I took my resting heart rate again: 57. That's 15 beats. I'll take it.

UPDATE: Thursday night, it was down to 52!

Lobsterman Race Plan: Last Dance (for this year)

UPDATE: I came down with a cold on Wednesday. I'm taking it easy and trying to get myself better, but there's a real chance I don't make it up to Maine this weekend. Disappointing, but I don't want to do it if I'm not 100%.

---

It's been two years since I've been to the Lobsterman race in Maine. It was one of the few races I did in 2009 after moving back to the states, and what stands out in my mind is that it 1) still holds the record for the coldest tri-swim I've ever done and 2) has a very hilly bike.

On top of this, Lobsterman is my final triathlon of the 2011 season, which feels like it went really fast. And I still haven't cracked 2:40. With this last tri, I will try once again to make this barrier tumble.

Water temperature today ranged from 61 degrees to 63 degrees, so I think it's safe to say it's gonna be a cold one again. Plus, the air temperature is only supposed to top out at 68. Generally a great air temperature for riding and running, but less exciting after 30 minutes in the some cold water. So... good news: I will not overheat at this race. Bad news: I may need to consider adding a layer in T1, so I don't have a repeat of Mooseman.

Onto the bike. I'm still not going to get a chance to preview the bike course before the race. And this year, there's apparently a significant stretch of road that is currently packed gravel. Two years ago, I completed the bike course with an average speed of 17.25. Last year's top speed for the course in my age group was 21.5. I doubt I'm gonna hit 21 mph, but I think high 18s seems possible, given Griskus average of 18.8 and the new bike.

The run's focus will be high cadence and bringing it home strong. I'll report on how it went on Sunday.

Cranberry Sprint Race Report: Going fast.

After a whole season of races that take more than two and a half hours, it was really nice to have a race that I finished in just over an hour. That's not to say that I wasn't sore after this race or I didn't take a mondo nap. It's just nice to go fast and be done.

[Bikes racked, goggles checked, ready to race. ]

I had planned on it being a wetsuit legal race, but when I got there, the water temperature was 79 degrees. At that temperature, wetsuits are allowed, but you're not eligible for prizes. The swim was supposed to be a half mile. I had estimated that without a wetsuit, I'd probably finish in about 14 minutes.

Another change: I had decided to try out a different top this time around. Both my head coach and one of our assistant coaches race in the "running singlet" rather than the tri top, so I thought I'd give it a go (the tri top zipper sometimes chafes).

I started the swim on towards the front and on the left with all the other women in 30-34 and 35-39. When the horn sounded I started swimming hard. Quickly, I was out ahead of the mele. I could see about 6-7 girls ahead of me all swimming together, but I was mostly alone. Without my wetsuit the top swished around a bit in the water. Not a big deal, but my heart rate strap also came dislodged and started inching its way down my waste. Just at the final buoy, I saw another woman from my wave come up on my right. I held onto her as best I could, but she got out of the water about 5 seconds ahead of me. Paul was waiting for me on shore and told me I was less than a minute behind the leaders and in 8th or so place. My watch said 7:30. That swim was short! Afterwards the officials said it was closer to 0.3 miles.

[trying to get the heart rate strap back in place]

[I had pretty decent rack positioning, near the bike out, though a bit off to the side]

I beat the woman who overtook me in the swim out of transition by about 40 seconds, and successfully mounted my bike. The bike route was two loops of 5.5 miles, and it went pretty fast. On the first lap, I was passing people, but never sure if I was passing people in my age group. I saw a few 25-29, at least one 35-39, and I was pretty sure one 30-34. I did get passed by the elite woman toward the end of the first lap. On the second lap, all bets were off. I was passing people a lot, but I stopped even trying to keep track of age groups. I didn't get passed by any other women.

[heading out on the run]

Paul was waiting for me at T2. I asked him how many girls were ahead of me. He said he thought I was in 5th place (out of 30-34 and 35-39). Off I went. Got about 300 yards outside of transition and decided I really didn't need to be running in my visor. It was cloudy and misty out, no need to shield my face. So as we rounded the corner of the parking lot, I tossed it onto the fence post.

I got passed by a few men but mostly just focused on picking people off. At the one mile mark, I saw a guy pull over and star to walk. As I made the pass, I reminded him, "Only 2 more miles, dude." He said thanks and started running again.

I got to the hill and saw a female runner up ahead of me. I forced myself to up my cadence and direct my eyes down at the pavement. Whew, made it to the turn (the halfway point in the hill), and I've gained some ground on this woman. Eyes down, cadence up, and we've cleared the top of the hill and come into the water stop. Just after the water stop, I caught up to her. I asked, "Are you 37?" She said, "yes, and you?" I told her 32. She said, "oh, well done then." I said, "you, too." She said she would have wished me luck even if I had been in her age group. Isn't that nice.

My next mark was a 50 year old man, but I just couldn't seem to pass him. I followed him all the way back to the park. Just as we were about to turn in, I finally catch him. The volunteer rightly tells us, it's about two tenths of a mile to the finish (I hate it when they throw out completely inaccurate numbers). And I try to squeeze out every last drop.

[my favorite shot from the race: the finish line, just after I had crossed it]

Paul tells me he thinks I was 4th in my age group. But I ask if that included 35-39 year olds, and he wasn't sure. We wait for Andrea and Rachel to finish up and snap this shot:


The results come in: 3rd place in age group. We find a dry spot in the tent for the awards, just as it starts to rain.

[Third place and looking pretty short on that podium]

It's not quite the win I'd planned, but I feel like I really went hard, and I'm very satisfied with the outcome.

Analyzing your results

I took 3rd in my age group yesterday at the Cranberry Sprint, and I'll post a full race report tomorrow. Today, I wanted to talk about analyzing race results.

You see, this morning, I awoke to find the full results from the race posted to Cool Runnings. I wanted to find out how my discipline times stacked up against the rest of the girls in my age group, but with the raw dump of results it's hard to figure out. You can use excel, but excel is, let's just say, not very graceful with this kind of data. I had to use a handful of tricks to massage the data to a usable format. Here's how I did it.

Just the basics

First, copy and paste. I usually paste results in as text (Using excel, 2007, from the Paste drop-down, select Paste Special, then choose Text.) Depending on how the data is organized it may pasted into individual cells. If not, from the the Data menu, use Text to Columns to quickly spread the data into columns.

I then use an autofilter to view just my age group results (from the home menu, select Sort and Filter, then Filter to add the filter). In the column labeled div (i.e., division), use the drop down to select just your age group.


Then I can sort by each discipline to see how my times stacked up. Sorting by swim, I see that I had the 5th fastest swim in my age group. By bike, I had the 4th fastest time, and by run I had the 4th fastest time, which led to my overall 3rd place age group finish. Nice.

With a race where each of the discipline times is under an hour, this works well. But try sorting by Tottime (Total Time) smallest to largest. You'll see the folks who completed the race in under an hour end up at the bottom of the sheet, not at the top.


Fixing times
Excel is looking at the times for the top 9 finishers and thinking they did a 50+ hour race, not 50+ minute. To fix this you need to use several time functions: TIME, HOUR, DAY and MINUTE. Here's the equation you can use (where E2 is the Tottime):

=TIME(0,HOUR(E2)+24*DAY(E2),MINUTE(E2))

TIME takes 3 inputs: hours, minutes and seconds. Basically, this says, set hours to 0, set minutes to the hours field (plus days because the HOUR function doesn't return values great than 24), and set seconds to minutes. You can use this function for everyone in the top 9 in a separate column, then copy and paste-value to the Tottime field.

I use similar functions to this one to convert each of the discipline times, so they are comparable.

Fixing the rankings
Excel tries to be smart. When you enter 1/18 in the Div/Tot field (i.e., your rank within your age group), it reads that as the date Jan 18, 2011. This is probably helpful much of the time, but doesn't work when you're trying to show that a person was the first out of 18 in his age group. You'll notice for people in the top 12 of their age group excel is replacing the rank with dates, but after 12 it displays them properly. The short answer for how to fix this is:

=IF(ISNUMBER(F2),IF(YEAR(F2)=2011,CONCATENATE(MONTH(F2),"/",DAY(F2)), CONCATENATE(MONTH(F2),"/",YEAR(F2)-1900)),F2)

Basically, this function first checks if the entry has been converted to a date, then it recreates the ranking as a text item. (There's also a little funny business in there about the year being outside of 2011.)

Cumulative time

Finally, I like to look at my positioning in the pack at relevant points in the race. Having fixed each of the discipline times above, I create a cumulative time exiting T1, entering T2, exiting T2, to see how I'm fairing versus the competition. It's pretty simple: Exiting T1 = swim time + T1 time, Entering T2 = Exiting T1 + bike time, Exiting T2 = Entering T2 + T2. I then graphed the resulting ranks in powerpoint (I'm in orange!).


You can see the first woman out of the water held onto her lead throughout the race. I came out of the water 5th, passed one person in transition and another on the bike to put myself in 3rd place, which I held onto for the remainder of the race.

Cranberry Sprint Race Plan: The Encore

It seems like it was just last week I was planning for Age Group Nationals. Ok, it doesn't just seem that way. This weekend, I've got the sprint at Cranberry.

Every year since I returned from Australia, I've done the Timberman Sprint with my good friend Andrea. She and I did our very first triathlon together way back in 2005, so it's sorta special to get to do Timberman with her each year. This year, unfortunately, Timberman Sprint was scheduled for the same day as Nationals. Andrea competed in Timberman without me last weekend (and beat her previous best course time by five minutes!), while I raced at Nationals. We decided we'd need to find another sprint to do. Enter the Cranberry Sprint. We chose it because it was close enough to our A races that we wouldn't really have to train for it. In fact, since Nationals I have trained exactly once: a 20 minute or so open water swim yesterday.

I raced Cranberry Olympic last year. This year, I'm pleased to be doing the sprint because (a) it appears we'll be able to get it in before the hurricane hits (the olympic distance may not be so lucky) and (b) it's my only sprint for the season. Last year's Timberman plan was to have fun and go hard. Plan for Cranberry is the same. And add to that a win. We'll see how I'm feeling race day, but from this comfy couch, it certainly feels doable.

USATAGN Race Report: My best meets the best

2:41:20. Not quite the 2:35, that I still believe I'm capable of, but still a PR by two minutes. The short story: bad swim, great bike, hit the wall on the run. Grab a snack, cause this recap may take as long as the actual race.

[Pigtails do not enhance my tough-guy, pre-race face]

Things that worked well:

Mantras. I mentioned how I used the "If you want to get faster, you have to go faster" mantra at Griskus. Here, I had a transition mantra: "Quick, but not in a hurry," and an overall mantra "Get behind me, Unbelief." You see, I had a lot of doubts coming into this race. Last week, Paul reminded me of this speech from a Notre Dame pep rally last year:



On the bike I'd been going back and forth with a guy on a yellow cervelo (my oxygen-deprived brain was really entertained by that phrase). At mile 10, I checked my average speed: 17.2. I started thinking, "Guess I'm not gonna hit that bike split either." And, then I realized that was just Unbelief talking. Get behind me, Unbelief. And while I'm at it, Get behind me, Yellow Cervelo. I passed the Yellow Cervelo and dropped him.

Nutrition. Followed the plan exactly (Clif bar at 5:30, gel at 8, 200 calories of heed on the bike, plus gels at miles 5 and 20, water on the run). And it worked great! No stomach distress despite the high heart rates.

Hydration. The new speedfil bottle worked like a charm. I had forgotten to bring the cap for it when I racked the bike on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, there were a few bugs hanging out in there. I rinsed them out, and I'm pretty sure I got them all. I had pre-mixed my heed in a 24 ounce bottle, poured that in, then topped off the the speedfil with another 10 oz or so of water. This worked surprisingly well, the heed and water, didn't completely mix, so as I drank, the solution got less sweet, which was refreshing. It also meant, I got more calories earlier on the bike. I was so well hydrated out on the run that I peed myself. Generally, I would think it a failing to not make it to the bathroom, but in triathlon, I'm actually sorta proud of it.

Hotel. Comfort Inn people let us stay an extra hour. I had set us up for a 1pm check out, but we didn't make it back from the course til 1:20. We came in prepared to plead and bitch and moan, but instead they just told us to take our time, which meant I got to have a shower before the long drive home. Win! Especially considering the last bullet point.

Things that didn't work so well:

The swim course. It was a big fail, not just for me, but for a majority of the athletes. I think a few things went wrong. First, I'm pretty sure that the course we swam was different to the one we planned. As best I could tell, here's the difference: The turn at the third buoy was much more acute than it had looked in the course map. Second, making that turn, you started swimming directly into the sun. When I came around the third buoy, I couldn't find the fourth buoy. I even breast stroked for several strokes trying to spot it. No luck. The pack I had been swimming with was getting further away from me, so I decided I should just follow the pack, but I kept looking up and trying to spot that fourth buoy. Finally after another 60 strokes or so, I switched back to breast stroke, and finally located the fourth buoy WAY OFF TO MY RIGHT. Ugh. Not much USAT can do about the blinding sun, but they could instruct their watercraft to help people make that turn. Why they weren't steering people back on course, I don't know, but it was very frustrating.

Speedfil. I lost a screw on the speedfil, and it rattled for much of the ride. Also, I had set up the straw too short. Each time I went to drink, my visibility went down to about 15 feet in front of me. Not ideal

The run. The first two miles, I reeled people in. Ran a little better than 8 min miles with a super steep first half mile. But after that, things started getting harder. My legs felt heavy, and the miles were just so far apart. Worse still, when we had ridden the course the day before, we hadn't gone all the way out to the turnaround, we thought we had, but no. So the run just kept going and going. At the final water stop near 4.5 miles, I walked through it. I picked it back up again, but my pace suffered. My heart rate was consistently around 190.

With nutrition and hydration squared away and weather out of control, what can I do to improve run performance? It's still an endurance race. I need to find the right balance of bike to run.

If I want to do a 2:35 (assuming 25 minute swim, 5 minutes of transition), then I need to average 18.8mph on the bike and 7:20 min miles, or 19mph and 7:30s.

One thing that did seem to work: form on the run was looking good even in the final shot:


Warm ups. I had a solid hour between when transition closed and when my wave went off. I did a quick warm up and some dynamics just before transition closed, but then sitting around for an hour seems like not the best thing. Any suggestions here?

PS. Only burned 1600 calories out there. I still don't understand what "workout" that fitbit person was doing.

USAT Age Group Nationals Race Plan: Here we go

Well it's finally come together. The final touches have been put on the bike. The bags are packed. The list of morning items is complete. Here we go.

I've been thinking about and planning for this race for over a year. Since they announced the AGNC would be in Burlington. I watched some of my teammates compete for spots in Team Australia in 2009, and I've been wanting to get to go to the US champs ever since. With all this time to ruminate, the pressure had really been getting to me. Earlier this week the stress was making me feel like I might come down with a cold (and I'm not the only triathlete who experienced this). But after some good talks with my teammates and coaches, I'm feeling confident and rested, if not relaxed going in.

Last year, when I told my coach I wanted to go, I believe her first response was "those girls are fast." Now, 36 hours away, I'm thinking they better be fast if they're gonna help me get a PR.

Other than all the bike changes (a detailed list follows for your amusement), I'm planning a similar strategy to Mass State. Same nutrition plan, with a bit more fluid on the bike. Temperatures are only slated to be 72 by the time I finish, so I shouldn't have the same heat issues I had before. The swim is a strength for me, so I'm gonna try to use it to my advantage. On the bike, it's all about keeping people in my sights and hanging on. The woman I passed on the bike at Griskus will be at this race, so I'm gonna make it a goal to catch her again. The run will just be going crazy, pushing my limits and seeing what I can do. The Garmin has been acting up, so I won't have pace readings on the run, but I will still have my Polar. Go hard and go fast. That's it.

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How to get a tri bike a month before your A race:

• Decide you want a tri bike, 29 days before the race
  
• Get the bike from your coach, 23 days before the race
  
• Ride the bike for 40 miles and discover the computer is set up for 700 wheels instead of 650s, so the speed and distance are off (also swear that you will never ride that saddle again), 21 days before the race
• Try to schedule a fitting at your favorite bike shop, only to have them tell you they can't fit you in til 5 days before the race, 19 days before the race
• Schedule a fitting at another bike shop for 18 days before the race, 19 days before the race
  
• Work from the road, so you can go to the shop for the fitting, only to find out that you've been double-booked and they won't be able to fit you for another week - But will give you the $300 fitting for the trouble, 18 days before the race
• Take the aero pads off the bike to allow them to dry in the house rather than the basement after getting drenched, only to realize that I had separated the pads from the velcro, 18 days before the race
• Order replacement pads online, 17 days before the race
• UPS loses the pads, call the vendor to call UPS, discover that it's going to take a week to look for the package before they'll send you out a replacement, 14 days before the race
  
• Attempt to change the wheel size in the computer only to discover that the you have to hook up the bike computer to a real computer to reset it, 14 days before the race
• Go to the fitting, replace the stem, the saddle, add rear cages, replace the aero bars because the ones on there aren't adjustable (briefly consider taking the bars off the old bike to put on the new bike, until you're told the ones on the road bike are probably too short anyway) (briefly get excited that you at least have replacement aeropads that you could use with the new bars, only to discover profile designs changed the design), 11 days before the race
• Decide to get a speedfil instead of using the rear cages, call around to many and online retailers because they are about to launch a new model so nobody's got the old model, find an old model, then order the seat-tube-mount-adapter kit online because your bike doesn't have a downtube bottle mount, 10 days before the race
• Cancel the lost order for replacement aero pads, 10 days before the race
  
• Call to see if you can pick up the bike, no, you cannot, 9 days before the race
• Have your boyfriend rent you race wheels, 9 days before the race
  
• Call at noon (might not be ready til tomorrow), at 4 (he's working on it now), at 5 (eh, probably another 90 minutes) to see if you can pick up the bike, finally at 7:30pm, pick up the bike, 8 days before the race
• Get a mile away and realize the bike shop didn't give you back the old saddle, aero bars, etc, turn around and go back, 8 days before the race
• Attempt to afix the new waterbottle with the seat-tube-mount-adapter, only to discover that the cage you have actually doesn't fit with the adapter, 8 days before the race
• Freak the fuck out, 8 days before the race
• Boyfriend contacts speedfil, gets them to send out another cage that will fit with the adapter, 8 days before the race
• Take the bike out for a 25 mile loop, ooh, it feels so good, but I'm so thirsty, 7 days before the race
• Decide I'm just going to have to replace that bike computer cable if I want accurate speeds, so order it too online, 7 days before the race
• Bike computer cable arrives, 4 days before the race
• Race wheels are attempted to be delivered, but no one is home to sign for them, have them redirected to a kinkos, 4 days before the race
• Have an awesome send off dinner with the team, 3 days before the race
  
• Pick up the wheels, 3 days before the race
• Take wheels into yet another bike shop to have the cassette swapped over, 2 days before the race
• Receive the water bottle cage and finally successfully mount the water bottle with limited water spilled, reset the computer to 650 wheels and put the race wheels on, 2 days before the race
• I think that's it. I think I'm actually completely ready, and I've still got 36 hours!
  

Fitness Marketing Hall of Shame

I came across this image on the fitbit website site, and it was just so ridiculous I had to comment on it. Fitbit is a pedometer that wireless connects to the internet uploading steps, distance and calorie burn information. So far, so good. They also have a website where you can enter additional information about what you're eating and your exercise routines. Also great - what gets measured gets done.

And then they have this copy: 80 calories in lunch, 2154 calories burned in work out. WTF. Who has an 80 calories lunch? Who does a workout that burns 2154 calories after that 80 calorie lunch? Let's put this in perspective, that apple she's holding, that's about 95 calories. Her lunch would need to be less than one apple. When was the last time you got most of the way through and apple and thought, "Whew, I'm stuffed!" I burn about 2000 calories in an olympic distance triathlon. I eat way more than 80 calories during that race. And, let's remember that this is a pedometer, used primarily for walking. I would need to walk 10 hours to burn 2000 calories. How many curls do you think this model would need to do with her 2lb dumbbells to get to 2000 calories?

The problem with this copy is it sets unreasonable expectations. I'd imagine the core demographic for fitbit are exercise newbies. One of the most challenging things about getting fit is understanding how much you burn and how much you take in. If you've bought a fitbit, it seems like you're really interested in gaining that understanding. But, then their website tells you that you should be having an 80 calorie lunch and burning 2000 calories at the gym. Either it will make your estimates totally off (that salad must have been less than 100 calories - it's a salad, afterall!) and you will not see the results you expect, or it will make you feel bad that you only burned 300 calories on that elliptical at the gym.

Tweaks

One week from right now, I will have completed my first showing at the Age Group National Champs. At the moment, however, it's all about the pre-race jitters. I am constantly thinking about this race.

Two weeks ago, I tweaked my ankle. I'm not exactly sure what's up with it. I rolled it during a hill workout, and two days later it started hurting on my track workout. It's generally fine to walk on, only when there's significant impact does it get sore. I've been ginger with it since then, and it's improved, but it's not 100% back. I'm a little suspicious that it might be another shin splint, just much lower. I'm not worried about running on it next weekend. I will run on it, but it's definitely impacted my training the last two weeks.

Then we've got the bike. After my last race, I decided I needed to get a proper tri bike. Conveniently, my coach has been looking to sell her old tri bike. Best practice, of course, is not to change horses two weeks before the race. But then again, I'm not gonna get any faster over the next two weeks, but on this bike, I will go faster. There are lots of details that come with changing the bike: getting it fitted, replacing the saddle (ouch!), replacing the aero pads when I separated them from the velcro, trading out the aerobars for adjustable ones, returning the new aero pads since they don't fit the new aero bars, installing a new water bottle system, realizing the new water bottle cage will not fit on the new bike, replacing the power meter cable so I can change the wheel diameter in the device so I can have accurate speeds on the bike, renting race wheels (hooray, birthday presents). Each on their own is a small tweak, but taken all together, they begin to feel like there's no way I'll be ready to race on this entirely different machine.

Finally, there's the race goal. I had been hoping to come top 25. For one thing, last year, there were 55 women in my age group, so coming top half doesn't seem unreasonable. Also, Nationals qualifies you for Worlds. There are 18 spots for each age group, rolling down to the 25th place finisher. Worlds are in Auckland next year. So if I got offered a spot, I would go.

This year, however, there are 97 women in my age group (so far). Where did all these ladies come from? Upon registration, you are asked to submit an estimated finish time. Of the 71 athletes who submitted them, I would come 51 if I hit my target. I was feeling good with my performance at Griskus, but it's occurred to me that perhaps New England is not the hotbed of triathlete competition I had thought it was. So, I started googling people who I might have raced before. The first one comes up with a news article "Local Triathlete Heads to Kona." Ok, maybe that was a fluke. The next one was a 3rd place finish at Duxbury last year. Sweet, I won that race, so I'm feeling good. Oh, wait, that was 3rd place female, not age group. She beat me by several minutes.

Thinking about the competition out there sorta makes me queasy. So new goal: PR. My current PR is 2:43:05, set at Cranberry almost exactly a year ago. I've improved my run substantially since then, and the Cranberry ride is long. If everything went to plan, I think I should have a 2:35 in me. I'm putting Auckland out of my head and focusing on having best race I can and letting the fastest in the country push me.

Mass State Race Report: Unexpected results

Well, that was rough. I was cooked on that run. It was hotter than expected, and I needed more water on the bike. Lesson learned, take a second bottle of just water. I got through the first mile and half before stopping to walk. My heart rate kept creeping up over 180, so I kept stopping. Eight times in total. Ended up running a 59 minute 10K. Yeesh.

At first I didn't like having the gps watch on the run cause those splits were brutal, but I ended up appreciating having it, monitoring my heart rate, slowing pace or walking when it got out of hand.

Here's the thing though: I had exactly the same time as last year. I did the swim in 23 minutes (so 5 minutes faster than last year - advantage: wetsuit), did the bike 1:19 (2 minutes faster, average of 18.5mph), and then did the run 7 minutes slower. And I took second in my age group, and I got a pint glass.

I felt sort of bad that after such a crappy run, I could still place. If I had been in one age group up or one age group down, I wouldn't have placed by about 20 minutes. But, that said, I came 2nd out of 18 in my age group.

Lessons for next time:

• Water on the bike. Also drinking all the way up til the start.
• My stomach was still not happy, but considering it was unhappy for the whole day I'm not sure how much of that was race-related.
• Need to practice those mounts/dismounts again.
• Definitely more taper for that next race.
• Also may try to do a little more mid-day running to better acclimatize.
  

Mass State Race Plan: the Dry Run

Here we are. July. One last race before Nationals. Yeesh.

I'm thinking of Mass State as my last chance to really try out the game plan before the big day. I want to practice really pushing, keeping that "go faster" mentality from Griskus. But the big experiment is nutrition.

By the time I got to the run at Griskus, my stomach was a wreck. It was not interested in taking on anything else. I had originally based my race nutrition on Hammer's recommendations for endurance athletes. (There's something really satisfying about sinking your teeth into 144 pages of nutritional info.) The basic takeaways that I used were: Eat 3 hours before exercise and not again til you're moving, take in about 250 calories/hour, drink about 20 oz per hour.

After the race, I talked with my coach. She suggested perhaps the gel I was using was not mixing well with the sports drink. So, I've switched those up (now I'm entirely hammer-fueled). I also think that I was probably just trying to take on too much. I came across another local triathlete's blog, who suggests a lower calorie approach, so I'm reducing across the board and going for the lowest end of the hammer guidelines (150cal/hour, 16oz/hour). The hammer guidelines are written for people doing all sorts of endurance events, and although olympic races typically take me over 2.5 hours, they're not endurance in the traditional sense. I like olympic races because you can race them. The heart rate is higher, and I think that's why it's harder to absorb quite so much. Also, it turns out I'm not that big of person.

I've been trying out a less-is-more philosophy in training, and that's what I'll have on Sunday. Plenty of water before the race, a gel before the swim and one on the bike, a single bottle with half sustained energy and half heed (so it's not too sweet), then water on the run. On the whole, no-eating-before-the-race thing, I never do that in training. I always eat something before a workout, even in the wee hours of the morning, and it's usually within an hour of the session, so I'm having my clifbar when I feel like it. So that's the plan (and here's the spreadsheet).

Oh, right, except there's more to the race than what I eat. I've been approaching this race as a C race. My body is still feeling the effects of some very heavy sessions last week and early this one. I'm taking it easier now, but I'm still not to that itchy I-have-to-move feeling that indicates a nice taper. I want to race on perceived effort and not get too caught up in numbers or podiums.

OK, who am I kidding? I live for numbers. So here they are: last year I had a strong swim at this race, so let's do that again, 25 min goal (if I swam my pace from this morning I should finish in 22). That bike has got a wicked hill, twice. I averaged 18 last year for the whole thing with a negative split. This year, let's go 18.5 for the first lap and see what I've got for the second lap. The run felt long and wicked hot. It's supposed to be cooler this year. Goal for the run is to keep the legs turning over and shoot for 7:30s.

This should be fun.

Oh, and I've been playing around with my new gps watch. Here's my swim from Walden this morning. Looks like my sighting is improving.

Griskus Race Report: Racing by Feel

Two things:

I took second in my age group at the Pat Griskus Triathlon on Saturday.

Did you know Scooby Doo is a Great Dane? (I didn't, until I checked the pocket internets.)

Ok, back up. This race did not go to plan:

• I underestimated the amount of time needed at the race course. I didn't get to do my warm up run or swim.
  
• It was so foggy, we couldn't see the buoys. The organizers considered cancelling the swim before they decided to shorten it down to about 750 yards. That first buoy was still so tough to see, the first wave went off in two different directions. Luckily, I was in the 4th wave.
  
• When I got on my bike the computer was not working. Damn. I hadn't checked it after traveling down to the race, and the sensor must have gotten knocked. About 20 miles into the race, I decided to check my mileage and realized that it was my cadence sensor, not my distance sensor, that wasn't working. I had averaged 17.2 for the race. Max of 38.
• I drank a little over 24 oz of heed on the bike, not the planned 36, and I didn't eat my final gu, cause my stomach was very cranky when I started the run. (If anyone has suggestions for this, I'm all ears, want to experiment with some different strategies before Nationals)
  

Standing on the start line, fretting about the lack of warm up and the unpredictable swims, one of my teammates reminded me that sometimes the best races happen when things don't go to plan. And I guess this was a case in point.

The night before the race, I started stressing that I had once again set unattainable goals. How long have I wanted to run sub 8s and to swim 1:40s? It feels like those have been my goals for the last year, and yet I never seem to meet them.

As I was thinking about that the morning of the race, I was reminded of something one of our assistant coaches told me a while back, "If you want to get faster, all you have to do is go faster." Simple, right? Out on the bike, and more so on the run, I kept thinking to myself that I needed to go faster. No letting up (and many more cliches). But it seemed to work. I passed the 2 mile marker in sub 15 (with a significant downhill), and ended up completing the run in 45 minutes. I'm still not convinced that the run was a full 10K, cause otherwise that would be a 4 minute PR, but still, it felt fast, particularly for the course.

After the race, I went to wait for my friends to finish up. Sitting there, I thought about my 17.2mph bike, and my 45 minute run, and I decided regardless of how I finished relative to my age group (2 girls had passed me on the bike, and I'd passed 1), that I had achieved my goals. When I checked the results, they listed me as 3rd in my age group. Then at the awards, the woman who was listed 1st in my age group ended up being 3rd overall female, so each of the awards bumped up, and I was awarded 2nd. It was awesome.


Debriefing with my coach afterwards, she asked me, 1) would I have gone faster with a speedometer on the bike and 2) if I could have gone harder on the run. I'm not really sure about either. The speedometer, I think probably not. I focused on pushing up those hills, and knowing my speed on that hilly of a course, probably wouldn't have mattered that much. On the run, I definitely expected a longer chute, so I had just picked it up to a sprint when I crossed the finish line. I could have put a bit more into the last 400 yards, but I'm not sure how much of that would have translated to an over all time.

Regardless, I'm incredibly happy with my performance at this race and the confidence its given me going into nationals. I know the competition will be fierce, but I can feel certain that I belong there now.

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?