2009 Clarksville Duathlon

Why couldn’t we have had this weather last weekend.

Overnight there were flood watches and warnings issued.  It pissed down rain pretty much all night.  When we woke up at 5 am, we were drying out, with all of the rain north and south of us.  By the time we left, the hole we were in filled in, so it pissed down rain again.  But no lightning, so all was good.

Transition was set up in the rain.  The pre-race brief was held in the rain.  The start went off in the rain.  And it was 52F.  Perfect.  But it must have scared some folks off.  I don’t know how many registered, but only 24 folks showed up to race – 20 individual competitors and two 2-person teams.

The course was a 2-mile run, a 13.1-mile ride and a 2-mile run.

Mind you, other than four quick 5-mile rides this week to make sure the bike worked properly, this was the first time I had ridden since doing this race a year ago.  I was banking on my running fitness getting me through the bike leg.  Of course, running fitness was highly questionable after last Saturday’s very warm Country Music Marathon.  Typically after a Saturday marathon I’m feeling fine by Tuesday or Wednesday.  Even during a short run yesterday my legs felt like bricks.  So I really had no idea how I’d do today, but that wasn’t a worry.  This is a fun race that is all about going all out.

So the start whistle blew and we were off.  The idea was to get out quickly and then settle down.  Mind you, settle down needed to be right at LTHR.  Actually it ended up a bit higher, with most of the run in Zone 5a:

Run Leg 1, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace)

Both Goddess and I measured a touch over 2.1 miles for the leg on our Garmin 305’s.

So that was 2.1 miles in 14:59, for an average pace of 7:06/mile and a peak of 5:55/mile,which I used to get ahead of the start line melee.

Arriving at T1, I was fourth overall.  First was way the hell in front, while second and third were about ten seconds ahead.

I forgot how much fun it is to bend over to change shoes while your heart is exploding in your chest.

Out the gate on the bike and I settled in, making sure I didn’t put too much power to the cranks in the opening miles, knowing that this was a rolling 13.1-mile course with a few turns.  Those that pushed hard in the beginning would pay dearly near then end and especially so during the final 2-mile run.

A mile in, a cyclist flew past me like I was standing still, putting me in fifth overall.  He’ll become important later.  Two miles later, I passed the guy in front of me, so I was back in fourth.  By now the rain had stopped, so it was quite pleasant. 

There was a hilarious moment at mile 4.5 as we had to negotiate a hairpin turn onto a new road.  I saw a minivan approaching the stop sign as I was slowing to make the turn.  The lady driver had her window down and was telling the volunteer that he needed to do something about the cyclists, because with the mist in the air we were impossible to see.  Mind you, in my chosen field of meteorology, surface visibility is an important parameter to observe and forecast.  I looked off at the tree line in the distance that I could clearly see, which I estimated to be 1.5-2 miles away.  I couldn’t figure out why I could see those trees, yet she couldn’t see us in the opposite lane.  For the next mile or so I calculated that she must have been traveling in the neighborhood of 750 mph in order to not have the appropriate reaction time.

I want that van!

Anyway, as I said, the course had some rolling hills.  Here’s a shot of the Garmin-calculated grade, with a curve of my speed (blue line) overlaid:

Bike Leg, Grade x Distance (with Speed overlay)

Between miles eight and nine, I was passed, putting me back in fifth.  The much older gentleman that flew by had some speed.  Immediately thereafter, the guy that I passed between miles three and four passed and asked if this was a drafting race.  I found it interesting that he was able to catch and pass me, since he was a couple of hundred yards behind me when I passed the lady with the amazingly fast van and fell ever further behind with each mile after that.  I replied “No, it’s a USAT-rules race”.  He should have known what type of race it was, since they handed out a USAT rule crib sheet with every registration packet.  I passed him a second time about a half-mile later.  I don’t know if he was drafting; only he knows that.  But his bridge up to me was while I was maintaining a 22mph average through that stretch is pretty impressive.

In the last mile, I saw first and second heading out on their last run leg.  Soon after, a woman went flying by too.  Turns out that the guy who flew by me at mile one of the bike leg was part of a team.  So that meant I was fourth overall in the solo division.

And to the right I am on my (archaic by triathlon standards) Softride with old, old-school Spinergy’s as I dismount going into T2. 

I am quite upset that they no longer make those bikes and I can’t have another for my next bike.

Considering that I had only 20 miles in my cycling legs for the past year, I was very, very pleased with my bike leg.  Goddess and I both measured 13.33 on our Garmin’s.  I covered the distance in 40:12, for an average speed of 20.37 mph.  Not too shabby.

I hit T2 in fourth overall and flew through.  The much older gentleman that rolled in to T2 in front of me arrived at least a minute before, but I exited right on his tail and passed him within 100 yards, putting me in third.  Then I settled in to work.  This time I knew I’d be cranking the legs as hard as they’d go.  I focused on my turnover and tried to keep the cadence high.

Run Leg 2, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace overlay)

We were running out one mile, turning around an orange cone and heading back in.  At about 3/4 mile, I heard feet behind me.  Turns out it was the guy that asked about drafting.  He had some wheels on him.  Much more than I had.  We hit the turnaround at the same time and he pulled steadily away after that.  At this point I settled in for a bit, waiting to see if he would tire.  With a half-mile to go, he did slow, so I ratcheted up the pace.  He turned around and saw me coming, so he picked it up and held me off through the finish line.  So I finished fourth overall amongst the solo racers, first in my age group.

For the last leg, since the exit to transition was in a different place than the start line, I measured the advertised 2-mile run at 2.15 miles, covered in 15:52, for a 7:22/mi average.  Not as evenly paced as the first leg, but still not too shabby.  Especially with the 6:17/mi pace as I crossed the finish line (below left).

This was the second edition of the Clarksville Duathlon.  If you read last year’s race report, you’ll recall that they had some issues, which are to be expected with a first-run event.  I can guarantee you that they more than overcame those issues and put on a high class event this year. 

I also have to give the organizers a huge congratulations for picking such a great cause to give all of the proceeds to – Fisher House.  As you may recall, I ran a donation drive for Fisher House last year as I was preparing to run my 40-miler in Baghdad.  And if you come to this post from my blog’s main page, you’ll see that the link to Fisher House remains in the upper left.  I maintain that it’s a great cause to support, so if you’d like to, please click and donate.  I get nothing from it (I already got my t-shirt), so don’t worry, all of your donation goes directly to Fisher House.

So if you are anywhere near the area next May, I highly recommend this event.  The timing, one week after the Country Music Marathon, is perfect.  It forced me to get out on the bike and spin my legs to loosen them up.

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Now it’s time to look forward. 

If you stayed awake through my post about planning and Training Load, you’ll recall the segment on Training Influence.  If you didn’t stay awake that long, the gist of it is that based on my personal recovery rate, the training that would have the most influence on my next race would typically be approximately 28-32 days prior to the race.  After that, there’s diminishing influence until the my taper date, which is typically 10-12 days prior to the race.  After the taper date, no amount of training will have a positive influence on the race, so that’s the time to back off and let the body rest.

Anyway, since my next race is on May 30th, my calculated max training effect date was yesterday.  But I clearly didn’t go out and crank out a 20-miler.  No way.  Not after last week’s very warm marathon.  However, the marathon, even though it took a lot out of me, could have a huge positive influence on the outcome of the race at the end of the month.  Much like the 60K I ran in mid-March had a huge positive influence on my ability to survive last weekend’s very warm marathon.

So if you are in the Paducah, KY area at the end of May, meet me for a fun run, otherwise known as RUTS.  Run five, 13, 26, 50 or 60 miles.  Your call.  But having fun is mandatory.

Rockin’ Weekend

Unfortunately, no concerts were involved.

Friday was a beautiful day.  Cloudy, a bit of drizzle, temp in the low-50’s.  A gorgeous day for a long run.  And that’s what I did.  A 20-miler, my last “long” run before next month’s Country Music Marathon.  The plan was go out with the race in mind, negative split the course and keep my overall average pace within 30-seconds of my goal pace for the marathon.  And that’s exactly what I did.

First was figuring out a course the replicated the CMM, which is fairly hilly during the opening miles, then flattens out as the course winds its way along the Cumberland River.  I think I did that pretty well, although I know this 20 mile course is a bit tougher.

On top is my course, on bottom is the CMM course that I ran last year.  This year they’ve made some minor changes to the course, but nothing drastic.

 

At the risk of jinxing myself, I am now confident in a significant PR for a marathon.  Now it’s just a matter of managing my fatigue, tapering well and avoiding a last-minute injury.

Saturday was a day at work.  It started out slow, then turned into quite an interesting afternoon as we issued a tornado watch for the area and then watched everything blow up around us.  It’s one of those days of mixed emotions.  You don’t want it to happen, but when you lay it all out there and forecast it when the day is nice and bright and sunny and there isn’t any activity anywhere near, you sure do hope that it does; y’all abuse us weather folks enough, remembering only the times that we get it wrong (which really isn’t that often). 

But this guy got it wrong:

  

So very wrong.

Once the storms blew up around to our west and headed our way, we kept our fingers crossed that there wouldn’t be any significant damage and ideally no injuries. 

It rolled through and we had reports of hail and wind damage in the area, as well as one highly questionable report of a funnel cloud, that, if the spotter was correct, would have put the funnel directly over my head as I was standing outside.  A good look at the radar afterwards confirmed that there wasn’t any rotation. 

But the real worry was up north, out of our area of concern.  An EF-3 tornado rolled through a rural area of Kentucky.  We were interrogating it pretty hard on the radar and shaking our heads, but had to turn our attention to those storms that were still coming at us.  Luckily there weren’t any reports of significant damage or injuries in our area of concern.

Sunday turned out to be much, much colder.  Everyone out west got the snow, we just got the cold.  So after work it was an easy 5-mile run in tights and doubled up long-sleeves.  And that run took me over 60 miles for the week. 

And that definitely puts me on track for a marathon PR.

But we shall see.

Rockin’ & Rollin’

Apparently they blew the tornado sirens last night.  We didn’t hear them, but the very close lightning strikes kept waking us up.  Plus, we’re dog-sitting another greyhound, so the two of them were skittish last night, which made it hard to sleep.

The alarm went off (way too early) and we were on the road to another race bright and early.  Luckily it was a local race, so we didn’t have to drive too much.

Which turned out to be a good thing.

We got to packet pickup and they wanted picture ID.  At that point I realized that I had left my wallet at home.  So Goddess drove like the devil and got us back to the house.  We made it back to the race site with 15 minutes to spare.

Wouldn’t you know it – they didn’t ask for ID this time.

Anyway, we were there for the inaugural Clarksville Duathlon – 2 mi run/13 mi bike/2 mi run.

A last minute addition to the race schedule.  After the Country Music Marathon expo, we stopped by our local running store so I could pick up a few more pair of Injinji (did I mention that I love those socks?).  They handed us the flier to the duathlon, which I posted on the fridge, mostly as a gee-whiz.

On Tuesday, three days after the marathon, I hopped on my Softride for a spin to work out the legs.  It was the first time I threw my leg over it since my IM-distance race last September.  That turned out to be a good ride.  I was surprised how good it felt.  So I punted and entered the race.

Then talked Goddess into doing it too.

I’m a bastard.

Fast forward to today.  You already know about the storms and ID snafu.  We hoped that would be the last (but it wasn’t).

The race started about 20 minutes late, but that’s fine.  It turned out the RD had to be pulled away for some reason.  Besides, the race was held at one of our favorite locations in town, the Beachaven Winery.  The stand-in RD mentioned that we were lucky to have been able to start due to the weather.  She stated that a tornado had gone through the south side of town (unverified, since it’s not on the National Weather Service storm report page).

Anyway, a few words and then the start horn went off.  My intent was to go as hard as I could, pushing it through the whole course.  I told Goddess that I hoped to be choking back bile when I finished.  But I also knew that I had to pace myself.

The two mile run went well, averaging 7:08 miles.  Not too hard, but hard enough, setting me up for the bike.

A quick transition and we were out on the road.  Again, knowing I needed to pace myself, I pushed, but not too hard.  Lots of folks went flying by, but I knew I’d see them again.  Two miles in and I started reeling them back, averaging 21mph.  Those that started too hard were already starting to fall back.

At just past three miles, the clusterf*ck began.  Apparently the RD decided to throw in a hard right turn, but didn’t station anyone there.  There might have been a mark on the road, but there are so many rides through that area year round that you couldn’t tell.  So at least half of the field flew right past it.  The realization came a couple of miles later when we approached the transition area.

One of the course workers was quite apologetic and redirected us.  No big deal, it was just going to add a couple of miles to the ride.  But the lead female was in the group and understandably upset.  So we followed the directions that the worker gave us.  Wouldn’t you know it, they were wrong.   A few miles later we ended up back at the transition area, having made another loop.

At that point, the group decided that they were just going to go out and make it a training ride.  I decided to run.  So I got 9.1 miles out of the scheduled 13 miles on the bike.

The last run leg was a bit slower.  I pushed it hard, but ended up averaging 7:44 miles.

As I finished my run, the rest of the group that was lost ended up rolling back in.  Some ran, some didn’t.  I watched as a couple of other riders came from the opposite direction, apparently having missed another turn somewhere and ended up riding towards downtown.  Some just bagged the run after their fiasco of a ride.

I was worried about Goddess, but it turns out she managed to find her way around the entire course.  Turns out that they had phoned the guy at the turn before the right-hander that we missed and he told her to make sure she turned at the next intersection.  Information that would have been good to know for the rest of us!

I joined Goddess on the run, pacing her from light post to light post.  She’s a good egg.  She came in dead last overall, smiling the whole way and still grabbed a third place AG medal.  My Goddess had a podium finish!

So although the bike course was poorly marked and poorly controlled, we still had a good time.  The best part was that the race fees went to the local YMCA.

I did manage to achieve my goal, which was to push as hard as I could (although I didn’t have to choke back the bile).  Of the 1:02:22 I raced, I was deep into Zone 5 for 51 minutes.  Minus the three minutes total that I spent in T1 and T2, that meant that I wasn’t in Zone 5 for only 8 minutes.

It was good to get back on the bike.  I was impressed that I was able to put as much power as I did to the pedals considering I hadn’t ridden in seven months.  Too bad it’ll be another seven months before I have a chance to ride it again.

That was my first du ever.  And it was a lot of fun.  I’ll look to do more in the future.

7″ of Not So Much

(ohhhh, there’s a gazillion ways this post could go with a title like that, but we’ll stay on topic)

Today was my scheduled long run for the week.  Not going to happen.

I sit here at the computer desk and look across the field.  An unusual field of white for around here.  I measured 7″ on the patio and had to put on boots to trek out to pick up the morning paper.  The nearby weather station measured 6″.

This area is definitely not built or prepared for snow like this.  But at least we have power.  There’s enough water content in the snow that the short trek out for the paper soaked the bottom of my comfy pants.  So any run would leave me with soaked shoes before the end of the block.  And it’s 25 degrees.

The other option would be to find a plowed road and hope for the best.

Not gonna happen.

I have my doubts on the quality of the roads at the moment.  I’ve seen a few cars go by, but those are the folks I don’t want to be near.  I was driving home from work in it last night; the folks here definitely don’t know how to drive in it.  I appreciate being cautious, but driving in a driving snow at 10mph, when visibility is still a mile or better, creates more of a hazard than driving faster.

Isn’t it funny how everyone says that the people in their area can’t drive in (insert weather phenomenon here).  Or, (Insert city here) has the “worst drivers” in the world.

I can speak with first-hand knowledge that the world’s worst drivers are actually in Panama City, Panama.  I’ve been in some pretty horrific traffic situations in Cairo, Boston, Seoul, LA, Atlanta, Venice and many other places in the world.  But the Panamanians have y’all beat.  Hands down.

And isn’t it funny how most American drivers think that they are better than average drivers?

Perhaps we’re just bad at math.

Anyway, the smart thing to do today is shift schedules and do my normal Sunday catch-up on school work.  The run will be there tomorrow.  And the roads will be clearer.

Fingers crossed.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

…homicide.That’s my take on a classic Christmas carol. There are a few more lines, but that’s not the point here.

Goddess and I wrapped gifts today at the local mall as a fund raiser for the Humane Society.

After a few hours, we came to the conclusion that the wrong animals are in the cages.

 

Clarksville’s Sunrise Century

Holy cow, what a century! Not an impressive time (5:14:47), thanks to the gusty NE winds, which turned out to be in our face or quartering cross for the majority of the ride. But it was a killer, straight from the start.

Standing at the line, about 5th row back, I looked back to see another 150 yards or so of riders filling the road from shoulder to shoulder. And 100ft after the start line it narrowed down to one lane. So I knew we had to move fast to avoid a mess. The pack didn’t disappoint. Average speed for the first 10 minutes was 23mph, with surges to 30mph. Into the headwind.

Two hours into it and we’re still averaging 21mph, most of it into the wind. Then we got to turn southwest for a 8-ish mile run with a nice tailwind. That’s when it got interesting. We had a few folks out ahead and about 50 in our pack. For some reason, the fourth guy in line decided to sit up and lose touch, so I moved around him and bridged the gap. Tired of sitting up in my cowhorns, I moved for a pull at the front. Got down into my aeros (which felt great), shifted gears and got into my groove. Next thing I know I’m dragging the whole pack across the country at 30mph for the next 6 miles. Damn it felt good. I hadn’t done that in a while. I’m not quick, but I can push a gear steady.

Later on, I heard a guy comment (who didn’t know I was right behind), talking about a stretch where we had a great paceline going. He said “that tri guy was trying to kill us, but we were flying and it was fun”. I assured him I wasn’t trying to kill them, but wanted to just take my turn at the front. Over the next 40 miles he didn’t mind sitting in behind me, that’s for sure.

Lots of folks with cramping issues today, which was odd, because it was relatively cool – 64F at the start (7am)/85F at noon. This was the cool weather that I had hoped would come in for IMLOU, although those folks could’ve done without the gusty NE wind. I ended up handing out quite a few of my Endurolytes (lucky I always have extra).

The ride was executed extremely well. Held on the farm roads of northern TN/southern KY, on most of my old riding routes that I used extensively before we moved this past month. Little traffic, smooth roads. We did hear that two riders were hit by a car behind us, although no one knew any details. But given the way some of the folks were riding, it didn’t surprise me. Today was the first time I’d ridden in a large group in about eight years and it still amazes me how little riding etiquette folks have. I know folks were looking at me sideways since I was not a “roadie”, but the roadies were the ones that were having the issues.

Anyway, back to the event. Besides good road surfaces, they placed aid stations every 10 miles along the entire route (both a 100mi and 100K). Well stocked aid stations, with everything that you’d want at an aid station. Me, I carried all my food, so I just needed water. Although I did sneak half a banana and a couple of orange slices at the 80 mile point. My plan today was to make sure my race nutrition was dialed in, which it was. I had been futzing with carrying water to help dilute the HEED, Perpeteum and Gel, but found that by replacing the fuel with water bottles, I end up bonking. Bad call. So this week I bought a Profile Aero Bottle, which held my water while my three bottles held my fuel. It worked perfectly, allowing me to sip my water between slugs of HEED and Perpeteum.

Since they were serving Gatorade on the course (yuck), I carried extra powder in little zip-loc bags. So that got me to thinking that I’ll be forgoing my tri suit during my race and taking the extra few moments to change into bike shorts and jersey. Over my long bricks (100+ miles), I’ve found that the padding on my Pearl Izumi Tri Shorts just don’t keep me chafe free, even allowing one nasty saddle sore to develop. I’ve never had one of those in my two decades of riding. I thought it was a fluke, but another long ride showed some other issues, so I don’t think I’ll wear them on race day. And my tri top has only one pocket, which is great for short rides, but since I’m now going to carry all of my fuel, I’ll need more than one. There were some other advantages today, so I think I’ll go that route. I’m not out to set a record during my race, just to finish. So I’m not worried about a few extra minutes in transition.

Anyway, there were a couple of interesting moments during the ride today. At about mile 25, one of those slow motion moments happened. A guy about 10 feet in front of me was putting his bottle back in the cage. It slipped and fell to the road. I watched it slide across my path, so I knew I was safe. Then it bounced off a wheel straight into my path. It was going to get ugly, real quick. No time to even hop over it, I just went loose and rode over it with both wheels. All I could think of was the pack of guys right on my tail riding over me. But no dramas. The guy was very apologetic, but no harm done, so I set his mind at ease.

The second interesting moment was but 100 yards from the finish. A hard right turn into the school entrance, I stood up to sprint it in. Right at that moment, both legs completely cramped, from toe to hip. I immediately sat down, which relieved the problem. So I tucked aero and pushed it hard through the line. Immediately after I sat up, they did it again. I’ve never seen my quads in the shape that they were in – almost triangular! I was afraid to stop, because I knew I’d fall over. I couldn’t get them to loosen. So there I was, completely locked up, coasting through the parking lot. Nothing was relieving them. Finally I got the idea to pedal backwards, which hurt like hell but worked. To a point. I was able to coast up to the car and get one leg down without making a spectacle of myself. Slowly the other leg released and I was able to stand, but now I was afraid to throw my leg over. I must’ve looked quite funny standing there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually it all worked out.

I guess that means I left it all on the course, eh?

Anyway, this is starting to rival War and Peace, so I’ll stop.

But not before I share something I overheard as I was leaving. One guy was explaining what he put on the event feedback form. He said that “everything was excellent, although the pigs didn’t smell like bacon. They smelled like pigs. Fix it.”

Painful Brick?

Stopped by the DMV to re-register the car.  Anticipated hours in line, only to be in and out in under 10 minutes.  Gotta love that.

Stopped by the LBS since it was just a block away.  The LBS is far enough away that I always stop by if I’m in the neighborhood, mostly just because.  But also I wanted to see what their turn-around time was for an overhaul, which I’d like to get before my IM-distance race in three weeks time.

While talking to the owner about turn-around times, he mentioned that they were backed up due to tomorrow’s ride.  “Tomorrow’s ride?” I asked.  He said yeah, check this out, as he handed me a brochure.

Looks like I know what I’m doing tomorrow as part of my 6-hour brick.

So the bike’s all decked out in full race regalia, just to make sure everything’s dialed in.

Then it’s taper time…