Race Report: MiniMightyManFreezingColdSuperSprint

Last Sunday, I officially kicked off triathlon season with my first tri race.  "In APRIL??", you say incredulously? Yes! The event was the MiniMightyMan sprint, a neat race on Long Island held in and around the beautiful natatorium in Eisenhower Park.  I've done the race 3 times prior (once was a conversion to a duathlon due to problems with the pool), and it is a salute to insanity given the distances (400M, 6 miles, 2 miles) and related neurosis-inducing (or supporting) racing.

While the weather looked like it would cooperate with respect to lack of rain, race day dawned with the temperature at 37 degrees.  UGH! That didn't bode well for swim-to-bike or the bike ride itself, but hey, what does one expect in April (yes, I know, "spring").  But I drove to the race and readied myself for the conditions. 

This is a packed race filled with those taking advantage of the pool swim and short distances to try their first tri, and I encourage others to tackle this for the same reason.  However, the crowd made setting up transition a bit of a challenge, especially after the spot I "reserved" for my bike on the rack by strategically placing my towel and gear whilst I went for a warm up ride was taken over by folks with mountain bikes during the 10-15 minutes I was riding.  I ended up just squeezing my bike in and hoping for the best later.

I was able to jog a bit and get in a good warm up swim.  I was a bit worried about my calf as it had been sore from a track workout earlier in the week, but it felt like it would give me at least the 2 miles I needed for the race.  After warm ups, we went to gather for the start, including a moment of silence for the Boston victims and the National Anthem. 

The race has a time trial swim start; that is, we line up according to our predicted swim times and jump in rapidly one after another.  I figured I'd swim 6:00-6:15 and lined up accordingly.  My start came up and I was off!  I felt great in the water, actually better than I ever had at this race.  I passed two people and did not get passed myself, which was a surprise.  After snaking back and forth through the 8 laps, I climbed out right on schedule -- my time eventually was officially recorded at 6:16, which was more like a 6:05 if you subtract climbing out of the pool and running across the timing mat on the deck.

And then, the COLD hit me.  We ran from the pool over grass to our bikes in transition, and the chill and wind on my body was quite a...rush.  Got my bike gear on, extracted my bike, and ran out of T1.  I mounted the bike to start riding and HOLY CRAP WAS IT COLD.  The first 3-5 minutes of that bike ride were among the coldest I have felt racing.  Fortunately, getting into the aero tuck helped as did furious pedaling.  Around the first turnaround, and I was confronted with the lovely wind, which slowed the ride from 23+mph to 21+mph in that direction.  I felt stronger with every lap, and after the 3 laps, rode back to T2.  Bike time was 14:05 (no, the course is not an accurate 6 miles).

I had a bit of trouble re-racking the bike given the crowded conditions and wasted a bit of time, and I almost ran out with my helmet on, but I left T2 and focused on the guys ahead of me.  I wasn't sure my place, but I could see two runners and started to work to try and catch them.  I caught one at the mile turnaround, but the other seemed to be adding to the gap.  At about that time, my calf also tightened and I could not accelerate to try and catch him, so began a game of "try to maintain pace."  I was able to do so, and eventually finished having run an OK 12:05 for a total time of 35:04 and a 5th place overall finish and first in my AG.  Not my best time there, but acceptable given the conditions and calf issue. 

Takeaways: warmups and course preparation were key.  Knowing exactly where to go is critical in a sprint race such as this, so walking through T1/T2 and having a mental plan - and visualizing it - for transitions and race strategy were key.  Happily, this was a race for which everything pretty much worked according to plan.  Looking for slightly warmer conditions for my future races, however.

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Tension vs. Force

Here's a great quote that I retweeted today from 2:04:58 marathoner (PR from Boston 2011, btw) Ryan Hall: "The art of running is finding the tension between working hard and forcing workouts. Breakthrough comes in tension. "

I think that this is true of ANY workout across sports, but I know that it is something that we confront specifically in running and triathlon every day, and perhaps even moreso, at this time of year as we step up the load and the pace to prepare to race (gee, that rhyme just developed itself).

For me, my workout yesterday was a great example of this quote at work.  I'd been feeling a bit tired during the week as a result of the intensity I had been putting into training.  Tuesday was a fairly hard bike ride followed later in the evening by a hard run, which actually went pretty well considering how I felt.  However, when I arrived at the track yesterday evening for my speed workout, I could feel in my legs that "speed workout" could be an oxymoron.  Nevertheless, I intended to put forth a good effort and get the workout into the books and into my legs.

Halfway through, after I'd run actually a bit faster than I'd intended -- a good example of the tension mentioned above since it wasn't easy but also was not a struggle to complete -- when I went to start another pickup, I felt that my legs had nothing, and I'd begun to feel some soreness creep in.  At that point, I knew that I'd be forcing the rest of the workout if I went forward, and what I did next was somewhat of a surprise to me: I did not do the next 400M repeat; instead, I just did my easy warm down, feeling that discretion was the better part of valor at that point.

We all are confronted by times at which we need to choose to welcome the tension and go a bit harder, and we are often in situations where forcing it might be the only way to complete a workout.  I'd argue that forcing it is never good as it delivers diminishing returns, either by making us more fatigued longer than we need to be or potentially opening us up to injury.  Instead, embrace those moments of tension and use them to build upon, but be wise enough not to force the issue if your body is telling you it's had enough.

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The Morning After Boston

For a variety of reasons, I really didn't feel like working out this morning when I woke up.  I was still a bit sore from prior rides and runs, but I was also still dumbfounded in the wake of the insane and tragic events at yesterday's Boston Marathon.  But like so many others that I've talked with or whose posts I've read, there is one central feeling I have: I am unbowed.

There are two photos from the race yesterday that have struck me (and many others):

This was taken by John Tlumacki of the Boston Globe, and it is a photo of a 78-year old gentleman named Bill Iffrig.  I was fortunate enough to see an interview with both last night.  Bill was just about to finish the race when he was knocked off his feet by the first blast.  As you can see, heroic police were rushing toward him and others caught in the mayhem.  But what makes this an amazing photo story to me is that Bill stated that after he was helped to his feet, the next thing he did was...get to the finish line to complete the race.

The second photo is this one:

I unfortunately don't have the credit for this, but I think it is a surreal shot of some of the 9000+ (if memory serves) runners that never got a chance to finish the race.  To me, it symbolizes unfinished business, not only for them, but for law enforcement and for the rest of us to continue on.

I chose these photos to symbolize yesterday's events rather than any of the more brutal pictures that I've seen because for me, these pictures -- and their subjects -- symbolize the heart and soul of the marathon and those that undertake it, regardless of surrounding circumstances.  When the NYC Marathon was cancelled (rightfully) in the aftermath of Sandy last November, I felt bad for those that had trained for the day, but I felt worse for those suffering from the storm's horrific impact.  Today, I obviously grieve for those killed or injured (and their families) at the Boston Marathon, but I am entirely unbowed and focused on continuing forward, just as Bill Iffrig did and as those above were unable to do yesterday.

I will be running a marathon this fall, either in Arlington, VA at the Marine Corps Marathon or in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Marathon.  I am doing this to show anyone who would think they can suppress us -- Americans, marathoners, people -- and keep us from achieving our goals and living our lives.

By the way, I WILL work out later today.  Bet on it.

Scarred...and better for it.

A few posts ago, I alluded to the fact that I was going to write an entry about "scarring." Well, coming off of my track workout from last night, this is the perfect time to take virtual pen to virtual paper.  But first...what the heck am I talking about here?

The harsh term is somewhat meaningful in that the essence of scarring is to put your body through efforts that "scar" it - that is, essentially toughen it through effort - to prepare for future hard efforts.  For running, this translates to running at faster than race pace in your workouts to condition your body such that actual race pace feels easy(er) on race day.  There is a mantra I subscribe to that says that the race should be the easy part and the training is where you pay your dues.  While we all know that one's actual race isn't typically easy, if you've done the conditioning and the scarring right, your body and mind will both know what to expect when called upon to deliver the effort on race day, and since you would have exceeded that effort in training, your body/mind should respond with, "Hey, this isn't THAT bad.  I can do this."

Let's use my workout yesterday as an example.  First, let me set the stage: a primary goal for me this year is to once again go sub-40 minutes for the 10K in an Olympic distance triathlon, or maybe in the 37s without the swim and the bike.  The latter is essentially 6 minute/mile pace, and I know that if I want my body to be able to achieve that on race day, I will need to train a bunch faster than that before the race.  Thus, my track or speed sessions need to be geared to sub-six-minute pace.  Yesterday, my workout was 5x800M at a pace faster than my 5K race pace per quarter mile (thanks, coach!).  Ultimately, this became a set of 800s run at just under 2:50 each, or at about 5:40/mile pace.  Having done that, I know that running 3:00 for an 800 (6-minute/mile pace) will be easier.  As the season progresses, I will do two things: run that same workout a bit faster; and run longer intervals at the faster than race pace (I will likely also do tempo runs that approximate race over a distance of 3-5 miles).

You can easily translate this sort of effort to your goals and your intended pace.  One of the reasons to baseline, which I've done for myself and am now doing with my triathlon club members, is to figure out the pace at which  to run the speed sessions.  Someone running a test mile (85-90% effort) in 6:30, for example, suggests to me that that athlete might run repeats of 6:15-6:20 miles or 3:05 800s (which is basically what that athlete did this week).  Given a goal of roughly 42 minutes or better for 10K, these repeats will help the athlete prepare physically for the pace and mentally for the effort of sustaining it.

It's also important to realize that you can't simply rush into hard workouts like these with no base.  Sure, everyone can come out and run one fast workout, but you don't want to pay the price with an injury (worst case) or a week of soreness (which happens often early in the season).  Thus, I'd recommend coming in with a couple month base of miles if possible vs. starting off with speed.  If you've not put in those couple of months, there's no harm in ratcheting down the speed for a bit until you've got the strength base under you.

Interestingly, as the season progresses, it's useful to incorporate shorter bursts to facilitate turnover and leg speed.  Indeed, I often incorporate striders (essentially 50-100M sprints to open up one's stride) into warmups and warm downs now, and while I am very protective of my achilles (partially torn in 2011) and hamstring (sprained last December...getting old stinks), I will begin to add 400s and (maybe) 200s into the repertoire as the speed gets more comfortable. 

So...don't be afraid!  If you've built your base, come get scarred!  On race day, you'll appreciate it.

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The perfect distance

This week kicked off track workouts for the Rye Triathlon Club (I'm the "run captain," which means that I create workouts, provide tips, attempt to run with many folks, rely upon a cadre of volunteers to help with pacing on long runs, and generally try to help our triathletes with their running).  Although the chilly temps and gale force wind kept attendance quite low, a couple hardy souls came out to set baselines.  My workout of choice for this?  The mile run.

In this age of precise instrumentation and GPS-based watches, I still rely upon the construct of a track mile to tell me where I am in my training.  Full disclosure: I spent the bulk of my competitive running career as a miler, so it's clear that I love the distance.  But to me, not only does the mile blend elements of strength and speed, it's an easy distance to cover, AND we can all come up with an average mile pace based on the last 5K, 10K, or half marathon we've done that gives us a frame of reference.

That reference point is useful to understand one's level of fitness as well as what needs to be done to improve both now and throughout the season.  The mile is also useful in beginning to establish a sense of pace. EVERYONE that has run a mile knows the fun feeling of going out WAY too fast for the first 400M and paying for it in the 3rd 400M.  Understanding the point at which oxygen debt sets in or learning how to cruise along at a pace that's right on your border line is very important for racing. The mile brings all of this home since it's short enough to do relatively hard and long enough to allow you to think about your pace per 400M, a very useful tool to get your body used to starts, surges, and overall pacing.

Now, telling a few runners to "go out and run a mile and pace yourself" is admittedly quite hard when they don't yet have a sense of pace.  But very quickly, they realized what was too fast as my runners all did their first 400s WAY faster than their ultimate average pace would be.  But that's a valuable lesson, not only for future miles but also for racing.  Whether you're in a running race or a triathlon, going out too hard too early spells doom.  I know because that's how I ran for most of my career.  Even pacing for me didn't show up until I was too old to go out crazy fast anymore, and the discovery of consistent pacing opened up a new world of somewhat less suffering over my race distances.  Understanding the mile pace at which you're comfortable is a big part of that, both mentally and physically (stay tuned for a blog on "scarring" in the near future...no, that is not a typo).

My runners did well...both exceeded what they felt they could do, though I'm sure a certain amount of "track bravado" helped.  Still, we could establish baselines for what their track workout paces would be going forward, and we were able to create a view into what race performances might look like given work throughout the season and the ability to maintain a pace slightly slower than what they did but still quick.

Personally, I have not done a one-mile baseline setting for this season...I've done several track workouts incorporating miles and 800s at paces that I feel I should be able to handle given current fitness and recent/past performance, and thus far, my sense of my fitness has been accurate.  However, my gut tells me that I'll get out there soon just to see where I am regardless of the other workouts.  Don't tell my coach.  ;-)

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