Training Log through April

Time to update our stats!  It has been a busy start to the year.  Year-to-date training:

Swim: 27 miles
Bike: 271 miles
Trainer: 21 hours
Run: 292 miles


It is funny to me that we've run further than we've biked so far in 2014.  Those numbers are about to swing dramatically. 

Next up...next weekend, actually...the Kinetic Half Iron!   Water temps looking chilly...hope we don't live to regret our purchase of sleeveless wetsuits. 

Race reports to follow.

6 Hours of Rosey

Team Islay Barrel Proof showed up early, stayed late, crushed the course and walked away with some first place pint glasses at the Six Hours of Cranky Monkey mountain bike race at Rosaryville.  I admit we did not have much competition for a podium spot in our class (3 person coed) with only one other team but we all posted some impressive lap times and would have still found a spot on the podium if we had been combined with the 3 person male teams.  I walked (or rode) off the course feeling really good about our day and the fact I can still ride a pretty fast lap at my age.  For some reason, lap times were generally slower this year which I attribute to the long, cold winter and impact on training for all of us out there. 

The race draws a lot of familiar faces from the local mountain biking scene and it was great to see so many familiar faces.  My friend Bruce Buckley was working the race for Swim, Bike, Run photography and stopped by the tent to say hello and snapped a close up of our team mascot, she is always happy to make a new friend, especially one with a camera.

 

 

 

Your camera smells

We also invited our celebrity wrench, Jay Robertson, to join us.  I know Jay from his days wrenching at the Bike Lane but now that he has gone solo I have been using him to wrench on our fleet of bikes.  Watching Jay work on bike is like watching an artist, he is so detailed and so good at what he does you know your bike is in excellent hands.  Fortunately Jay's attention to detail paid off as he found  cracks in two of our Niner frames which means we are getting new frames.  Almost as good as getting a new bike.  Hopefully Jay and his wife Kate enjoyed the day with us, I know there were several folks that stopped by our tent to say hello to him.

Now our attention is back on preparing for the Ironman but I am already looking forward to next season when we can do more racing and riding in events like this.

Team Islay post race celebratory pic

To Live and Die in LA

No, this is not a review of one my favorite 80's movies about a Secret Service agent breaking all of the rules to bring down a counterfeiting operation (with a wonderful sound track from Wang Chung) but if it was it would be just about as timely as my recap from the LA marathon.  I think I wrote this blog post in my head fifty times over while running the LA marathon last month but failed to actually get my thoughts down on paper.  Maybe I just wanted to forget the whole thing but like any challenging race a few weeks go by and you forget all of the bad things and find yourself remembering all of the good and why you enter and race in these events.

The race recap in a nutshell, I was not prepared for the warm temps after all of the training in cold weather and struggled the last 10 miles of the race to finish in 4:21 and some change.  My slowest marathon ever and way off my goal time of 3:45.  One glimmer of positive news out of the debacle was my overall place relative to other finishers, 4,298 out of 21,504 overall.  This just seems bizarre to me that I would finish in the top 20% of the field after running that slow so maybe the heat had an impact on all of the participants.  Lesson learned, training for a marathon in 20 degree weather and running a marathon in 80 degree weather is not a good idea.  I should have reset my pace expectations due to the warm weather and started off with a slower pace.  I don't recall ever feeling so bad at the end of any race in my life and as soon as we made it back to the room I found an open space on the floor and crashed.  After sucking down some water and advil I started to come back to life like a wilted flower and actually felt pretty good.  At least good enough to enjoy some champagne we picked up the day before as a post race celebration.

Enough about the silly race, regardless of the result I still received a finisher medal to add to the collection in the rec room and we had a great time enjoying the weather and restaurants in Santa Monica.  Jen and I stayed at a beautiful hotel called Shutters on the Beach near the pier in Santa Monica.  Along with being right on the beach it was walking distance to the finish of the race.  Jen and I made good use of the pool and

The best part of our trip came the day after the race when we rented cruiser bikes and rode along the beach to Manhattan Beach. 

Mandatory selfie

 
We stopped for some chili cheese tots as a post race reward at North End Bar along with a couple of beers.  It felt so good just to be out on bikes enjoying weather and not worrying about training and the weather could not have been better (good for cruising, not good for marathon running).  Being a Monday, even most of the folks in LA were at work so the beaches were empty except for a few surfers.  Like I told Jen, the day after the marathon riding the bikes along the beach under the beautiful blue skies was one of the best days of my life.  It was certainly worth any struggle I went through the day before to be able to enjoy the day with Jen.

Beach from a cruiser saddle

The other highlight of our trip was the great food, we really did not have a bad meal while we were in Santa Monica and all of the place were within walking distance of our hotel.  I am not certain I could pick a favorite between the sushi, steak, and Mexican restaurant but the margaritas at Blue Plate may tip in the scale in their favor along with fresh, creative Mexican dishes.  If you like sushi you can't go wrong at Sushi Roku or for steak their sister restaurant Boa. 

Would I do the LA marathon again?  No, but I do think it is a good race and I am glad we did it, looking forward to our next adventure.

Thankfully, You Never Forget How to Ride a Bike

Last weekend, Greg, our CT3 teammate Mark, and I participated in the 6 Hours of Cranky Monkey mountain bike race as "Team Islay: Barrel Proof."  After this long, brutal winter, through which most of our riding was done on indoor trainers, there was no better feeling than speeding through the woods on our bicycles. Going into the race, we observed that there wasn't much competition in our category.  Only two teams, including ours, were signed up for 3-person Coed.  Guaranteed a podium spot, our only motivation was pure pride.

Not surprisingly, Greg and I arrived early at the race site: Rosaryville State Park in Upper Marlboro, MD.  Rosaryville is a little oasis in a sketchy suburban area south of DC. 

See kids?!  First ones here!

Despite my protests about getting up so early, we snagged an awesome pit spot on the race course and proceeded to set up CT3 Headquarters.  It was going to be a great day!

If you aren't pro, at least look pro.

It was supposed to be a warm day, but Mamma Nature took her sweet time warming things up for us.  We shivered in all our extra clothes and under towels while Mark, our leading racer, got ready for the first lap.  Greg, Mark's wife, and I all gathered with our iPhones in hand ready to snap shots of Mark as he rode through the pit area.  As the mass of riders cruised pass, we started to get a little nervous.  Then came the stragglers...barely peddling (wow they are in for a long day)...still no Mark.  Did he have a mechanical?  Did he get lost?  Turned out all of us just plain missed him.  Still not sure how that is possible. 

Forty five minutes later, Greg starts warming up and then heads towards the end of the course to await Mark's arrival.  Mark gets in a solid 1:10 lap, which included the race prelude and plenty of traffic hitting the singletrack.  Off goes Greg!

Cone hams it up.

I was next up.  I was starting to get a little excited but more importantly I just wanted to get warm!  I was ready to get my lap going.  The only one of us not cold was Islay, who was loving all her new found friends and attention.  Greg finished his lap right on schedule - just under an hour (plus transition time).  I'm off!

Ah...feeling good.  Legs and lungs are fresh.  Our team goal was 6 laps - two laps each.  The cut off was 5:30, so to get in a 6th lap, we needed to average 1:06/lap for the first five.  Counting on Greg to bring down our average lap time, I still wanted to do my part and had the pedal to the proverbial metal.  After all, I only had to do 2 laps and would get a 2 hour rest in between.  Right?  Um...wrong.

I finish my lap in 1:07.  I'm very pleased and know I still have plenty of gas for my second lap.  I run out of the timing area and who is standing there waiting for me?  Greg.  I'm confused.  Greg grabs the timing chip and head out for a second (team 4th) lap.  Turns out, Mark had a cracked bolt on his brand new bike.  Afraid of the potential damage, and no spare bike to ride, we were down a teammate.  Determined to uphold the promise of a strong showing from Team Islay, Greg and I kept us in motion.

Crushing it and still smiling.

Greg pulled out a solid 1:05.  Super by any measure, but it left me needing a 1:04 lap to get us to 6 laps.  Even if I had that in me (which I'm pretty sure I didn't,) that also meant Greg was going to have to go out a third time, and we already had 1st place in the bag.  That's a tall order when you have a cooler of 90 Minute IPA in your tent and lots of tent guests willing to drink it while you are riding.  So, I took it easy.

1:13 but having a ball.

 I pulled into the final loop of the course to our little cheering section.  Greg had a big hug and a beer for me.  We returned to the tent with pizza to relax and toast our mascot as we awaited our podium moment.  It was finally warm, the sun was shining, and we were basking in the glory of our victory.  While there may not have been much competition in our category, we still would have podiumed versus all of the mens 3-person teams.

Islay: "Is this a dog show?  I think it is and I will pose accordingly."

As the first place team we got pint glasses, first aid supplies, chain cleaning devices, and Wicked Wash.  Not a bad haul of crap that will take up space we don't have in our garage.  We packed up our cars and drove home as the sun set.  A great day with great company and great reminders of how much we love warm weather and mountain bikes.  PS. It is snowing again.

Pooped pups.  Best day ever!

LA Marathon - The Epic Fail

It will come as no surprise that I have procrastinated my LA Marathon race report.  After all, it really isn't a race report when you don't finish.  Yep, a big 'ol DNF.  The first of my life.  I'd like to say it will be my last, but some things you just can't control.  Here are my excuses the two things I couldn't control on Sunday, March 9th.

1.  My health.  OK, well I suppose I have SOME control here, but hey, I work at a school.  You can practically see the viruses in the air.  It was only a matter of time.  I started getting sick in the last two weeks before the race.  I tried everything to keep it at bay, but no luck -- sinus infection.  #*@~^&!!!  To boot, flying never helps congestion.  I felt like crap the day before the race, but there was no way I wasn't going to even try.

2.  The weather.

Here are Greg and I training in DC for the past four months:

And here I am on race day:

You get the idea.  Avg temps at the finish line in LA from 2010-2013 were in the mid 50s.  This year?  Mid 80s. Of course.  Of course, after one of the worst and coldest winters DC has ever had.

Weather aside, I knew my health would make this race a long shot, especially since I had some high expectations about a PR.  I was not going to be satisfied lollygagging my way to the finish line.  I wanted a solid finish, and paced myself accordingly.  After 8 miles, I knew I was in serious trouble.  At the 10 mile mark, feeling like death, I decided to pull the plug.  I could lie and say this was a hard decision but it really wasn't.  I could (a) walk/jog a miserable 16 miles and be depressed the rest of our vacation, feel undeserving of my finishers medal, and need extra recovery for weeks or (b) call it a day, celebrate Greg's race at the finish line, enjoy the rest of my vacation, and recover faster for future races which were/are arguably more important to me.

Some quick notes on the LA Marathon.

1.  The course map makes this route look "easy," relatively speaking.  Think again.  The first 6 miles are among the hilliest I've ever run on road, both up and down.  This makes pacing extremely difficult.  Our marathon last year, Austin, was hilly, but you were not slammed with the steepest climbs in the first 6 miles.  LA's hills may be fewer but they were worse.

2.  The race is extraordinarily well organized.  As a result, you do NOT, despite all of their requests, need to be there first.  We luckily took the 5AM shuttle from Santa Monica (they started at 3AM!)  Take the 5:30, the last one, if you can possibly do so.  Even on the 5AM shuttle we were hanging around at the race start for two long painful hours.  You are waiting in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, so there is no where comfortable to even sit down.

3.  Try to avoid races the day of spring daylight savings.

4.  If you plan on meeting other racers/spectators at the finish, keep in mind there is zero shade in the "family reunion" area.  Family/friends will not want to wait for long on a hot day.

The good news about the heat is that it was fantastic for vacation purposes and made for a nice getaway from the yucky, snowy mess that is the east coast.  After Greg's finish (he made me very proud that day, sticking out what, for us, were brutal conditions) we celebrated with some r&r and pool time.  The day after the race we rented some cruisers and took a 25 mile ride down to Manhattan beach where I got to see the 90210 beach house.  Greg was not impressed but I got a big kick out of it.

I returned to work on Wednesday to all the "so, how'd it go?" questions.  GRRRR.  Saw the Dr. on Thursday who confirmed that my upper respiratory system was a disaster area and put me on antibiotics.  SO, now I'm back, I'm getting healthy, and I have nothing to recover from.  Time to refocus on the road ahead and the things I can control - each workout, one workout at a time.

Next up...6 Hours of Cranky Monkey mountain bike race.  Weather permitting, on March 22nd, Team Islay will try to dominate the 3-person Co-Ed category, relaying laps around Rosaryville State Park.  According to the current signups, we are guaranteed a podium spot.  That's my kind of race! 

21 the hard way

Today was our last long run before the LA marathon next month, this was a run with the dealer giving us an Ace, 9 and a 3 to start but we drew some good cards and finished with 21 to show for it.  The recent snow storm in DC left the local running trails snow and ice packed which basically gave us one alternative for our long run, two out and backs on Beach Drive in DC.  I think I would rather watch a Finding Bigfoot marathon hosted by Dean Cain than run back and forth on a road for 21 miles.  Clearly we were not the only ones with this idea as we passed several other runners on the route all wishing for warmer weather and better running conditions.  Not my idea of a great route or good conditions for this kind of distance but I also knew the mental challenge of getting this done would be good for future racing, especially the two loops we would be running at the Ironman in Zurich.

One thing I enjoy about marathons and triathlons is the training, I have always believed it is more about the journey than the destination for these events and today was a perfect example.  Running for me is like meditation, especially when you are out on the road for three hours.  Lots of time to reflect on things and what is really important in life, sort through problems, realize issues at work are not that big of a deal, and remember how fortunate I am for all of the good family and friends I have supporting me along the way.  That is drawing the 7 on the hard 13. 

We both finished the run, a little disappointed in our overall average pace, but glad it is done and now looking forward to the race and all the fun that goes along with traveling to a new location.  I think we are both of the same mind that no more early season marathons in the future where we have to factor in weather, but a marathon in April or May (if we get into London) sounds excellent.  As hard as the run was this will be a day I will remember when I am old and gray (maybe it is more accurate to say older and grayer) because we rose up to the challenge and completed the task, the rewards far outweigh any struggles.  And a perfect reward includes the couch, episodes of Breaking Bad, and splitting one of these.  Now if only the Mexican joint would deliver.

Double Chocolate Stout from Rogue Brewing

My Prediction?

Winter storm Pax¹ due in tonight.  Calling for 5-12" of snow. 

Our big 21 miler on Saturday.

My prediction for the run?

PAIN.

¹ Most ironic "threatening" storm name ever.