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Race Report – 2011 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island

July 18th, 2011

Patrik, Scott, and I competed the 2011 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island on July 10th.  This was my first attempt at the 70.3 distance.  It was quite an experience full of surprises.  Looking back on it now, I feel fortunate to work with a coach who helped me prepare for the challenge both physically and mentally.  Here is my version of how the weekend went.

It started with the drive from the Boston area to to my mom’s house as she kindly watched our son for the weekend.  After dropping of our son, my wife and I headed back out for the 30 minute ride to Providence Rhode Island.  The drive was uneventful, but my brain was going a mile a minute anticipating I forgot something.  We arrived at the Westin Hotel around 11am.  This hotel was a great choice as it was connected to the Convention Center(where check in was located) and connected to Providence Place Mall, both of which where right near T2 and the finish line.  After lugging our stuff to the hotel room, I got a pleasant surprise when looking out the window….it overlooked T2 and the finish shoot to the State House!  Score!  My wife could see I was itching to check-in and see all the festivities at the Convention Center, so off we went.  Check-in was easy, even with all the waiver forms.  I picked my T1 bike drop off slot(T1 and T2 in different locations and had mandatory Saturday drops) and decided to hit the next Athlete Briefing.  While waiting, I see Patrik and Scott show up.

It was about this time that the “big news” started to circulate around.  The water temperature was 84 degrees in the swim venue!  No wetsuits allowed.  This wasn’t official yet, but the race director basically said you have a better chance of winning the lottery than using a wetsuit tomorrow.  OK, not a big deal, I can do this.  It will be slower, but no worries. Oh, and this comes one day after the lake reopens due to high bacteria counts:)

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Build Up To Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island

June 13th, 2011

I’ll be racing Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island along with Patrik and Scott on July 10, 2011.  This will be my first attempt at the half iron distance.  My goal is to complete the event in under 5 hours, which may be a bit aggressive, but that’s my style.

Training for this distance began on Jan 1st of this year.  After months of base building and some Vo2 max work, I feel confident that my training has prepared me well.  Improvements have been made in all three triathlon disciplines.

Swimming is my weak link, but I’ve put in the pool time three days a week with a masters program at Healthpoint.  Progress is being made.  Recently, I completed a 1-mile swim race in the Charles River put on by the Charles River Swimming Club.  While I did not set any records, I did gain confidence swimming that distance in open water.  I’ve got another 1-mile swim race on tap soon in Mashpee called Cape Cod Super Swim.

Cycling has been my focus this year.  Specifically, cycling power on a TT bike in the aero position.  Again, progress has been made and I’m happy where I stand right now.  I’ve built up my long bike rides to three hours, which should promote enough endurance to race the half iron distance.  My wattage output has been decent as measured by a SRM power meter.  Over the past month, my long bike rides have averaged 210-225 watts.  Not horrible for a 152lb chap.  Still have a long way to go here, but taking it one season at a time.  I’ve recently rode the 70.3 Rhode Island course with Patrik.  We completed the training ride in 2:43, which included slowing down for lights, blind corners, and the very busy few miles heading into Providence.  Based on that effort, I’m targeting a time of 2:38 for the bike leg come race day.  To those also racing, I offer some bike course feedback.  The elevation changes are constant, with most of the descents not offering much recovery(see below).  Around mile marker 29, you will have the option to continue hammering or take the best recovery opportunity while covering a multiple mile descent.  The other comment I have is the road conditions are less than ideal.  Many massive potholes that will flat people for sure.  The worse section of the course is over the last few miles and includes a couple sets of railroad tracks.  Enjoy:)

As for running, all is well.  This discipline is my strongest.  Perhaps its based on my body style….perhaps my love for running.  Either way, I’ve made solid improvements over last year.  Long runs have been worked up to 90 minutes with a pace of 6:38-6:42 with a moderate HR.  I’ve only scratched the surface of speed work so far this season, but was still able to get a PR of 17:47(and 3rd overall) at the 9th Annual Christopher’s 5k on May 30th.

Last but not least is nutrition.  I’ve been working with QT2′s Core Diet program and Race Fueling Plan.  My plan is well defined at this point. Clearly, the actual race will test this plan, but this is the best I can do right now.  I’ve practice proper fueling and recovery with every training session.  I hope my body has become accustomed to this form of nutrition come race day.  My nutrition of choice is Powerbar Perform and Powerbar gels.

With all this preparation, my goal times by split are:

  • Swim 37:00
  • T1 2:00
  • Bike 2:38
  • T2 2:00
  • Run 1:30

That would be good for a 4:49 overall.  Again, I’ve never raced this distance before and will probably get a rude awakening.  But hey, BRING IT ON!!

Cheers,

David

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Team Psycho ITT; ready, sweat, go!

February 17th, 2011

Dave and I participated in the Team Psycho, hosted by Fast Splits, indoor time trial last week. It was 9.3 mile (15km) ITT on Computrainers. Heats went every hour starting at 8am, consisting of 16 riders per heat. We both signed up for the 11am heat and arrived around 10am to watch that heat and start warming up.

Unlike other ITT’s this one wasn’t the best in preparation. Very casual… to say the least.

At 11 we got setup for our heat and when the timer counted down, we went off. We both had a plan from our coach to stay “easy” for the first 3 minutes (for me that meant 335w), then kick it up to the 15 minute mark (for me, go to 350w), then for the remainder hit your average to that point, which should have been about 345w. I started out to plan, but about 10 minutes in, I could no longer hold the 350w and started slowing down a bit. My HR was pegged at about 176 and I just couldn’t do it. Power started dropping drastically. At this point I was 2nd plance in the heat, and hanging about 300ft back of 1st, but couldn’t make any gains.

I ended up finishing with a time of 22:57.9 which was good for 12th on the day. I’ll take it. 334w average. Not great… but good enough. Local stud Ethan Brown took the top spot with a 21:27 @ 376 average watts. Crazy power for a 144 pound lanky kid. Hannah Freeman was top female with a 24:05, besting pro triathletes Karen Smyers, Dede Griesbauer, and Cait Snow.

Dave finished 20th overall with a 23:24 @ 304w. But believes his CT was off – and should have been closer to 265w. You never know.

Oh, and there was no beer post race at the event as promised – so we hit up Chipotle for some burritos and Dos XX‘s!

Let’s get to some outdoor racing!

Full Race Results

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Does it still FIT?

February 12th, 2011

It’s been just about a year since I purchased my Honda FIT (well 11 months, but I have some time to sit and put some thoughts down right now).

With the odometer approaching 17,000 miles, I can say without hesitation that I love my little car. I have filled up 51 times and have achieved 33.6mpg over that time frame. A bit lower than I had hoped but in these winter months I’ve only been getting about 30-32 mpgs. A combination of more traffic due to snow, and 5-10 minutes of “letting the car warm up” each morning. I’ve also noticed that I do not try to achieve the highest possible mpgs as I did when the car was new – by accelerating slower, or coasting longer when safe. Still happy with the efficiency, and when on the highway I do get 35-40.

Aside from gas I’ve had 4 oil changes. That is all the maintenance performed thus far.

I haven’t changed anything from a trim standpoint from when I took delivery of the vehicle. I did install the floor mats I had ordered when I bought the car.

I find myself using the iPod connector basically every time I drive the car. Coupled with my iPhone 4 I listen to the iPod, or more often than, not stream Pandora, tunes from home via AudioGalaxy or lately tune into Howard Stern using the Sirius app. In fact, I have probably used terrestrial radio or the cd player a total of 10 times. Good thing I was grandfathered into AT&T’s unlimited data plan. Though somehow they can get away with calling a 5gb cap “unlimited” – but that’s a whole other blog post.

Back to the car. As a reminder I’m pushing 6’2″ but have never had any discomfort driving this car. The manual seat adjusts enough for me to have plenty of leg room, head room and reach. And still fit an adult behind me. But more often than not, it is my daughters booster seat there.

I use this car as much as I can. Because of the better gas mileage, unless we need the additional space for cargo or are traveling with more than 4 passengers, we will take the FIT over the Honda Pilot every time. It offers a quiet ride, iPod connection, ample room, speed and efficiency to take us anywhere. It is also great for going into the city as it is very easy to park almost anywhere. We have yet to take it on a really long drive (more than 80 miles or so). Mainly because we haven’t driven that far in a while, and if we do go that far, we are probably hauling more stuff.

So what’s the conclusion? I am more than happy with this car. I have no regrets at all. The price was great, and after a year of driving I am very satisfied with it’s comfort, styling, usability and efficiency. Would I buy another? Yes. But would likely wait for the hybrid or ev version!

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Patriot Half Iron Triathlon Race Report

June 23rd, 2010

Last weekend, 6/19/2010, I raced the Patriot Triathlon. It was my first 1/2 Ironman (technically half iron distance, since Ironman is a brand name). Normally, a 1/2 is 70.3 miles. 1.2 miles swimming, followed by 56 miles biking, and then finally a 13.1 mile run. Patriot is a 72.3 – the bike portion is an extra 2 miles for a total of 58 miles.

I signed up about 3 weeks ago. Basically for 2 reasons. 1), I had a 3 hr bike planned for that Saturday, and Masters Swim / 70 minute run for the next day, Sunday. So I figured, why not put them back to back and do the race. And 2), I wanted to feel out this distance to see if I wanted to focus on it next year, and this race was the only one in the year that fit in the schedule without screwing up my “A” races…

I’ll start by saying, I was WAY undertrained. 90% of my training has been focused on short course; sprint and olympic. High intensity, short durations. But, you definitely need train for this distance. There’s no faking your way through (though I guess that is what I did…).

The 1.2 mile swim. Nice calm swim, it felt great for me. They say the swim was longer (they being other swimmers, but I have no sense of distance/time when swimming so I don’t know), I went freestyle non stop the whole way, which I’ve never done in any race of any distance. Just tried to stay smooth and steady and not rush. Very happy with the 37:44. Was hoping for 40 minutes or better, so there it was. Water was warm, calm, very nice. I zig zagged a little, so I’m sure I lost some time/energy there, but not too bad.

I came into transition feeling good. I didn’t rush, but I didn’t try to go slow either. I know it’s a long race, but damn it if I lose time in transition. Just under 2 minutes. Not great, but I put on socks too…

The 58 mile bike. Bike was fast and flat. 2:30:58. 9th fastest overall and 4th fastest non-elite. After the race everyone kept telling me I rode too hard (hence the bad run). But the thing is… I didn’t. I stayed below my target HR. I didn’t feel like it was a hard effort (though after 40-45 miles I had enough… right around 2 hrs.). I just kept my cadence steady, geared right, HR just below the right zone. I didn’t feel I went too hard at all. In fact, I think I could have gone much harder. Ate 5 gu’s about 30 minutes apart, 48oz of Gatorade, 24oz of water. If I don’t eat another gu/gel for while I’ll be very happy.

Transition two (T2). Nothing exciting here… I got off the bike, and there was no way I could run through transition after 2 and a half hours of fast biking so I walked as fast as I could. Grabbed my running shoes, race belt, hat and was off. < 1:00.

The 13.1 mile run. Run was just bad. It started out good, though. First 3 miles were ok. 8:05, 7:57, 8:30. Felt good, thought I would settle into a nice pace. Had some water at each water station, had some clif bloks… Instead it got super hard. Every mile after that I walked at least a little. Started to get some 9:40′s, 10:00′s and 10:15′s, When I was running I was still moving around 8:30 I think… but I had to take more and more walk breaks. Every aid station and mile marker was like a desert oasis. I started the run and a volunteer told me I was 17th overall… not bad considering I was Wave 3 (Wave 1 started at 7:30am, Wave 2 at 7:35, Wave 3 at 7:40, etc). But then a freight train of 60 or 70 runners came rolling by. Also, not sure how the heat affected me (it was about 85-90 degrees), but it was hot. My run was a 2:02:47. I ran the Hyannis Half Marathon earlier in the year at 1:30:xx… so I thought I had something better than 2:02 in me, but being able to do something, and then being able to do it in a 1/2 triathlon are two completely different things.

Overall – I finished in 5:14:40… 20 seconds faster than my goal time. But I had anticipated a 40:00 swim, 2:40 bike, 1:50 run and transition time… not 38/2:30/2:00…. 51st overall, and 5th in my age group. I believe I was 2nd in my age group at the start of the run….

As much as I suffered and cursed it during the run. I would do it again. I can’t believe how much my legs twitched, spasmed and seized up as soon as the race was over – though during the race was OK. Immediately after the race was worst, but pretty much into the evening. The next morning was just sore. Legs sore, back sore, shoulders sore.

I guess for the next one I’ll have to really focus on training. Sprint training doesn’t translate well to this distance. Great job to everyone that raced. Takes a lot of guts to do this (and self loathing?). And thanks to the volunteers. It was great pick me up to see and hear everyone.

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ITT at Multisport Expo Coming Up

March 16th, 2010

Dave and I are at it again. This time at the Sun MultisportExpo on Saturday 3/20, held at MIT. We’ve entered as a team, so our combined time will pit us against all other teams. This TT is 10km, course is unknown, but I’m sure there’ll be at least one good climb. Hopefully, they won’t mess up the weigh-ins this time and put us in too heavy (and others too light!).

UPDATE 4/1: So how’d we do? There are photos below. But, it was a heck of an effort. Team BayState finished 3rd (of 8 teams). Patrik rode in at 15:38 and Dave rode a 15:57. Course was actually the Computrainer Central Park course – 6.03 miles. Overall winner, Dean Phillips,  rode a 13:52!

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The FIT is go – indeed

March 11th, 2010

My Honda Accord was on it’s way to car heaven. It has served me well. I bought it in Sept 1999, brand new. 2000 model year Accord Coupe EXV6. It has been with me through a wedding, first home purchase, move from east coast to west coast and back, two kids… and now after 10.5 yrs, it’s being replaced.

So what to get? I’m much more practical today then I was in 1999. While in 1999, it seemed ok to spend 50% of my annual salary on a car, in 2010, there wasn’t a chance of that. Granted I make more now, but I wasn’t even interested in spending as much as I did for that Accord.

I needed to find a car that fit my lifestyle, father of 2, 100 mile round trip commuter, triathlete. So I poured through reviews and narrowed my choices to low $20k’s – VW GTi, Toyota Matrix, and Mazda 3, as well as the $17k Honda FIT. When all was said and done the FIT still came in $6k to $8k cheaper, so FIT it was. I went in for a test drive (at Boch Honda – while not my favorite place in the world, they do have great pricing) and loved it. I had driven one in the past, so I knew what to expect but wanted to reassure it. Reassured I was. The zippy little FIT is way more car than it seems. I bought it. 2010 FIT Sport Automatic (with F1 inspired paddle shifters!).

I went to the test drive in the Accord, and Boch took the trade in, and set up the purchase right then and there. 2 hrs later we were driving home in the new FIT. And I only came in for a test drive…

I’m 6’1.5″ and I fit (no pun intended) perfectly in the car. Lots of driver leg room, head room, shoulder room. Both my kids fit in the back, my daughter in her forward facing car seat, and my son in the baby carrier. No problem. In fact, with my drivers seat in my comfortable position, I was able to fit behind my setup – proving that this little car can easily carry four 6′ footers. A side trip to Costco on the way home utilized the trunk space. Again no problem with space. So now we had 2 adults, 2 kids, and Costco in the trunk (something like 7000 diapers, 42lbs of oatmeal and various other things…).

I’ve driven to work once so far and it’s a blast to drive. While it’s slightly underpowered (117hp, VTEC 4 cyclinder), a tap on the paddle shifter to drop it a gear allows quick lane changes/passes with ease. Road noise is slightly higher than I’d like, but with the radio at my normal listening volume, it’s not noticeable at all. Radio off you can hear it, but it won’t interrupt your conversation.

Lastly – how will it fit into my tri lifestyle? The answer – Perfectly! At my height, I ride a size 56 bike and the seat is pretty tall – I was worried the only way to get the bike in there would be to lay it down, compromising room for all my other gear (helmets, clothes, beer). Not so! There is enough height I can stand it up, with the front wheel off, leaving ample room for gear. And if that weren’t enough, I can even put up the larger of the 60/40 rear seats and still have a bike in there plus a passenger in the back. Perfect. Though I haven’t tried it, I’m convinced I could get 2 bikes in there no problem.

So here are my findings.
Pros
- Stereo sounds great
- Unbelievable amount of space – biggest little car out there.
- Nimble handling
- Sport mode/paddle shifters
- MPG’s (38 or so highway!)
- Aux input AND USB/iPod interface, CD/MP3/WMV
Cons
- Slightly louder, but what do you expect from a little engine like that?
- No center console (available aftermarket)
- Lacking in lumbar support
- No floormats standard (Ordered some OEM’s already though… $72 online)

Conclusion. It is by far the best car in it’s class. And Car and Driver agree. They’ve named it into their annual 10Best Cars special again! It’s roomy, it’s sporty, it’s fun. The shortcomings are so small, that they don’t even matter. You have plenty of room for 4 adults or a family of four. Or bikes. Or surfboards… I’m very happy with my purchase, and at $16,255 and 0.9% financing, it can’t be beat.

Fuelly

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Indoor Time Trial – Part II

February 2nd, 2010

So Dave and I (and a few other Bay State Tri Team members) raced the Harpoon Indoor Time Trial. Boy was I in for a surprise. We arrived at about 11am and it was 9 degrees outside. Fortunately we raced inside. The staging area was in the beer warehouse. So we grabbed some trainers, with views of some Harpoon UFO beer and claimed our warm up spot.

The race was held inside the bottling area. Fast Splits was the race organizer and had set up 3 groups of 8 Computrainers. Each group with it’s on multi large screen setup where they can view how they fared against other racers, where on the course they were, how fast they were going and how far behind a rider they were. Very slick. Dave compared it much to a carnival game where you squirt your water gun and try to be the first man to finish.

Come race time, we set up, got calibrated, which was a combination of weighing (so heavier riders got more resistance), and warmed up some more waiting for the race to start.

3.2.1… and the pain starts. My goal was to keep my PowerTap pegged at 315 (what I thought was my FTP). After about 3 minutes of pedaling I was in 3rd place in my group of 8, and falling behind. So the competitive side of me threw the plan out the window, upped my wattage to 350 and put my head down to catch up. As I approached, fellow Bay Stater, Frank moved into first and I moved into 2nd so now I had to chase him down. I was able to pass him and move ahead a few hundred virtual feet. As I pulled ahead, I noticed Dave moving into 3rd. We had a good group! Then the hill hit. Ouch. 1 mile of uphill pain. My lead diminished to 0. Frank and I crested the hill neck and neck and it was a 1 mile all out effort to the finish line. We climbed up to 30 mph, 35… maybe more. Neck and neck, 0 feet, 1 foot, 0…. We cross the finish line… unofficially 0.02 seconds apart. A fraction of a second? Are you kidding me? Reviewing my power file… 180 max HR, 336 watts avg.

We await official results… Dave quietly finished 3rd… just 28 seconds behind. Any longer and I’m sure he would have got us both! It was the hardest 8 miles of life. I was a sopping wet sweaty fool.

We’ve already signed up for a 3/20 team race at the Multisport Expo at MIT.

UPDATE: The official (unofficial?) results are in. There was some talk that the weigh-ins were inconsistent which could have led to strange timings… Regardless. The overall winner finished in 18:37.01. Basically an ass whopping if there ever was one. Your faithful bikers finished as follows:

Patrik – 96th – 22:06.77
David – 110th – 22:30 – unofficial, as the official time had him at 28:00 something…

Other Bay Staters:
Frank – 97th – 22:06.92 – 0.15 seconds!
Brian – 172nd – 23:54
Jeffrey – 238th – 28:15

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Indoor Time Trial

January 20th, 2010

Coming up January 30th, David and I (among some other BayState folks) will be participating in the  Harpoon Brewery Indoor Time Trial in Boston. It’s an a 10km (6.2mi) 8 mile all out effort on computrainers. Heats will be running all day starting at 1:00PM. The last heat goes off 9:45PM. 15 riders are pitted against each other in each heat. I’ll update post race and report how it went.

Update: Apparently the race is held in the warehouse / brewing area of the building which has no climate control. So, due to recent cold weather, temperatures inside are expected to be 40-50 degrees F. At least there’s no wind!

Go!

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New Bike

October 12th, 2009

Nathan’s new bike arrived this afternoon. After jumping up and looking out the window anytime a truck drove by and one false alarm when a UPS driver delivered a package to the neighbors, my bike and pedals showed up in a couple boxes. The UPS driver loaded the boxes onto his dolley and said, “Oh. These are light.” Yeah. They better be.

The new bike is a 2006 Specialized Tarmac Pro. Obviously, it’s not a new bike, but it’s new to me. So I say that counts.

Next step is to put it together for real. Right now the bolts are tight enough to hold it together but not to ride. I also need some handlebar tape, a chain pin, and a quick tune up. Then I need shoes, a helmet, and shorts and a jersey. Plus a floor pump, a frame pump, probably a spare tube, a seat pack…

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