20 Minute swim

Did an easy swim at cornerstone.

Tempo Run

Ran my local 2.4 in 21:50, ten seconds off my record. I was trying to run faster than I had before but not quite race pace. I was concentrating on moving my feet quickly. I have three 5Ks to choose from on Sunday, including the one I set my record on last year. I should probably do that one. The other ones would be more fun for Zoey if she comes. Undecided.

Strength training

Went to gym before work. Did some easy sets of the various weight machines, bookended by 2 - 2 mile ten minute rides on the bike. Just want to ease back to the weights.

Love Your Body 5K 10-22-2011

Ran the Love Your Body 5K to Benefit CTNOW at the reservoiur pushing Zoey. I had to stop for a moment at the half mile point when she said she was cold to wrap her up in my hoody and then on the final descent she said she dropped the hoody and I had to stop and go back to get it. Despite those, I still managed a 30:30. I think I would have broken 30 without them. I was surprised my time was as good as it was. It was hard going up the hills. The 5K seemed short (not in distance for the event, but as a race compared to running the Half). I suffered a little bit. I am uncertain if I will get a chance to go fo my 5K record in the coming month, but I think I have a shot at it. If I don't do a race, then I will at least try a 3 mile time trial at the track one of these nights. My legs felt fine on the race. No issues.

Hartford Half-Marathon 10-15-2011

I don’t think I have looked forward to a race as much as I was looking forward to the Hartford Half-Marathon this year. It is not that I was trained and ready for it. It wasn’t until I did my longest run of the year – an 8 mile run walk at 9-1 ratio the Saturday before that I decided to enter. I was looking forward to it because like many, my life has been very hectic (jobs, kids and an on going home renovation project --replacing all our carpets at home with tile, hopefully to cut down on the respiratory infections) and I have felt like I have barely had a moment to myself. The thought of being able to run (and walk a little) on a 13.1 mile course with water along the way and have no interruptions was thrilling to me.

The first year I did the half, I used a 4-1 run walk and finished in 2:34, with lots of aches and pains. Last year I used a 6-7/1 and did 2:30. This year I became convinced thanks to my 8 mile run, my new pair of New Balances, and a general feeling of fitness that I could handle a 9-1 the entire distance, and if I had to suffer, well, so be it. It is important to me to see continuing improvement in my times each year as it is a proxy against the onset of age. I have now been doing this for five years and hope at 53 to have more years of upward climb before my body says slow down.

The weather, like last year was great. I checked my bag at the Bushnell, and took my place in the accumulating throng. At the packet-pickup on Thursday I picked up a pace bracelet, which I had never seen before. The one I got was for 2:30 with what my pace should be at each mile along the way.

I had three goals for the race, Break 2:30, Break 2:25, do a sub 11:00 mile pace.
I felt reasonably confident I could break 2:30 simply by not walking as much as last year. My one outside concern was leg pain, while my 8 mile run with the new shoes had been fine, the week before, with the old shoes, a 6 mile run had ended up with me walking due to left IT band pain that I did not want to press.

It was chilly so I found a place in the sun just past the over 10:00 mile pace sign. I was intending to move back some, but I saw a guy I new from work, and we started chatting and people crowded around us and then the race was on.

With everyone around me running, as I hit the 9 minute mark, I decided to keep running. It is easy to stop and walk when others are doing it; harder if you are the only one. I hit the first mile in 10:08. At the second mile, I saw someone else stop to walk, but the people running next to me started ranking on him. “If you’re going to walk, why don’t you start at the back.” So it wasn’t until mile 3 and the first water stop that I took my first walk break. I was feeling good, I abandoned the 9/1 and decided to just walk the water stops and if there were any hills, I would walk for one minute per mile.

The course felt like I was running downhill all the time. There were very few even low grade up hills, and I was well ahead of the 2:30 pace. I love this course; it is much more people friendly than the old half course. People line the road pretty much the entire route. I saw a number of people I knew. I saw a Heat jacket on the sidelines and recognized Jamie Sullivan and he gave me a nice Heat cheer.

I hit the halfway point at 1:09, but was starting to feel some discomfort in my IT band, but nothing that slowed me down. I fully expected to run a slower second half, even with a finishing sprint. I strategically walked a couple of hills, and then from mile 10, ran it on in, with a sprint at the end.

I just enjoyed the run, and as I got toward Bushnell Park, I thought, “This is my time. Here I am running, it’s a beautiful day, people are cheering. I really didn’t even want to get to the finish line. I didn’t want it to end.”

I was feeling like Kip Keno, but then I past a building on Farmington and was able to watch my reflection and instead of graceful runner, I saw a middle aged man with a stiff jerky stride shuffling along the route. Oh, well.

I finished in 2:21:35, taking three seconds shy of 9 minutes off my last year’s time, so I was quite happy with that.

I picked up my bag at the Bushnell, and then waited through the food and beer lines. Last year I got to the front of the beer line only to be carded, and not having an ID, I decided I would go home and have a beer there rather than walk to my car and then walk back to the park. This year I bought one of those thin waist belt wallets to hold my ID so I popped it out and I was in. I had a Hooker Ale and also was pleased they were giving out free hot dogs and sausages in the beer garden, so I had a delicious hot dog.

While waiting in the long lines, I observed quite a number of people Rosie Ruitzing their way into the lines, and I wondered whether it was worse to take a bus to the finish line to claim a podium prize or to cut a food or beer line to get sustenance before another hungry and parched competitor. But in the end, I really didn’t care. It was a great day, I marveled at all the happy people around me, and thought what a great event, what a great sport.

I ended up with a few aches and pains after, my knee hurt going up and down the stairs, but after a naproxen at night and one this morning, I was back at work, none the worse for the wear and tear.

2:21:38
10:48 Pace
4034 out of 5157 (78%)
208 of 254 in age group (81.8%)
2003 of 2305 of men(86%)
199 out of 330 Clydsdales and Athenas (60%)

I took nearly 9 minutes off my 2010 time.

Results

2010

Finish 2:30:32

Pace: 11:29

3877 of 4610 overall (84%)
1882 of 2049 men (91.8%)
194 of 208 Men 50-54 (93.2%)
163 of 201 Clydesdales (81%)

2009

My official time was: 2:34:19

I came in 3483 out of 4086 (85%)

158/175 in my age group M5054 (90%)

246 out of 358 in the Clydesdale/Athena category (69%)

My mile pace was 11:46

2.4 mile Run

Ran 2.4 miles just to keep the joints moving. Some tightness, but no ains. Two days rest, then the Half-marathon on Saturday.

8 Mile Run/Walk

Ran a little over 8 miles (Ran down to the Conard track and then ran three miles on the track, and then back) at a 9-1 run/walk and it took me around 90 minutes. i had a watch malfunction that messed my time. No major aches or pains, no IT problem, just some stiffness and tiredness, but overall, i am feeling very positive. I think, I am in good shape to do the race with the following goals, 1) break 2:30, 2) break 2:25, 3) break an 11:00 min/mile pace.

1:27:00 Run Walk

Ran my route around Conard and around the track nine time and then back. i used a roughly 9-1 run walk. I was suffering some at the en with ITBand stiffness that concerns me some. I am guessing i did 7.75 or so miles.

Clam Man Sprint 10-1-2011

On Saturday I ended my triathlon season with the Clam Man Sprint at Berkley Island Park in New Jersey. “You Thrill’em, we Grill’em” is the race theme. I heard about this race last year (and the grilled clams at the post-race feast), and was thrilled when my brother in New Jersey wanted to race it with me this year.

The event started at 7:00 so transition set-up and body marking were done by flashlight. They had two different race courses. The “Little Neck” course featured a ¼ mile swim out and back along one side of the island in water that most people could stand in and the feature length "Cherrystone" race, which had a 0.4 mile swim along three sides of the island that boasted of a beautiful sunrise, which did not make an appearance due to the overcast morning. Spectators could walk along the island and easily follow the swimmers for the entire route of the swim. The water was in the bay, a nice temperature and quite calm.

I was in the first Cherrystone wave. It was a in water start, which was weird because all previous in water starts I have been able to stand, when we started, I went to push up and there was nothing to push off of. I swam easy and had only a few smackdowns. One, I got punched across the back, so I responded with a hard punch across the back, but then I got kicked, and I got a look at the other swimmer and he looked like a squat champion muscleman who was flaying away, so I conceded the space and moved off to the left. I had a little trouble getting out of the water at the end, as I staggered as I tried to undo my suit and looked probably like I was having a stroke. I took my suit off once I got out of the water and at that moment got passed by the first swimmers from the women’s wave that atarted five minutes after ours.

The bike was a flat out and back 10 miles on beach roads that went through beautiful salt marshes. My computer wasn’t set so I had no idea what my pace was. I didn’t feel like I was going particularly fast, nor was I really hammering it. I was just happy to be riding and to have my tires holding air. I passed no one. I did see Jim, who’se race had started letr than mine as he rode by on the out loop.
The run was also flat. I did pass several other runners. The “Little Neck” race had a 3 mile run. The “Cherrystone” was 3.5 mile run, which just meant you ran .25 miles past the Little Neck turnaround, and came back. This worked out great, as I did the Cherrystone race and my brother did the Little Neck. As I was heading back from the Cherrystone turnaround I spotted my brother getting water at the Little Neck turn around. He waited a moment for me, and we ran the last mile and a half in together. At the finish line, they presented us with our race medals, which were quahog clam shells with the race logo stamped on them and a ribbon through them. The grilled clams were awesome.




Unfortunately, we left before the awards as I later learned I came in third in the Clydesdale division and would have won my age group had I entered it (No great achievement as there was only one other contestant in the 50-54 year old men, but I would have gotten a nice beer mug. ) I came in 53 of 67 overall in the Cherrystone race. Another 54 did the Little Neck race. My brother and I had nearly identical bike and run paces.

My time was 1:32:08.

I was 49th in the swim, 59th in the bike and 58th in the run. I averaged 15.3 mph on the bike and 9:48 per mile on the run.



The event was put on by Jersey Shore Multi-sports who run quite a number of tris each summer along the shore. Several of their events offer alternate race courses, as well as some interesting atypical triathlons. They have a vice versa race, which starts with a two mile run (and a running start to the run), a 12 mile bike and ends with a ¼ mile swim, a double trouble race with 5 transitions (.2 mile swim, 6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, another .2 mile swim, 6 mile bike, and 1.5 mile run). They have a Born to Tri in Asbury Park, which features the slogan, “Prove it All Morning.” They have a Cheap and Easy and a Cheap and Not So Easy race, which features a second transition area for singles. They also have Everyone Can Tri race which has a 300 yard swim, 5 mile bike, 1.5 mile run. I would be curious to do both the Double Trouble and Vice-Versa races in the future as well as the Born to Tri, which has great Springsteen take off t- shirts. There were a nice group of people there and it was great event (I always enjoy doing tris with my brother) and a great way to end the triathlon season for me.

Results