Race Review and Results- Flower City Half

This is the second installment of my race weekend series and of the Flower City Double. On Sunday, I 'raced' in the Flower City Half Marathon. The introduction and goals to this race can be found here.

And I say 'raced' because... well because I'm not that good. It's hard to describe what I did as racing. I might be more inclined to use 'participating'. Allow me to expound:

In the Duathlon, there was chit chat. But, all of it occurred pre-race. In transition, we chatted about the crappy training season thus far. One guy commented that this was his first ride outside. (I secretly felt proud that I had ridden out 3 times this season.) I helped one dude, who was now in his second multisport event, set up his bike, helmet, glasses, and shoes for efficiency. We even went through a dry-run so he could pop his bike off the bar with ease and understand the process. I thanked the woman in front of me who happened to have a bright pink bag and would serve as my spotter in transition (the bag, not woman). At the starting line, the guys in the first wave shared light comedy.

Once the race started, chatter ended. Focus. Run run run. Hit T1. Bike bike bike. T2. Run run run. All business. There were a couple of pleasantries but none too much longer than 2-6 words (that's all we had breath for). Granted, I was competing in this race and the other guys (and the girl who chicked me) knew the drill.

Once we crossed the finishers arc, chatter resumed. We recalled the fun stuff from the race. We bantered about who passed whom at what point, did you see the guy who _______, or the story about the dancing dragon that crossed the path during run 2 (at least I wasn't the only one who saw it).

That was the Duathlon. I raced. Day 2 brought the Half Marathon. There was the same pre-race chatter. But, from where I was standing, then running, the chatter never ended. The lady yelled go and the only difference was that were were chatting at a faster pace.

She was neither Frank, Dan, nor Drew.

I met Frank. Frank was in a couple of age brackets past me and a former triathlete. He doesn't like how expensive the sport has become. We were having this conversation with Dan. Dan was running with Dan, who was being paced by Dan. If you are confused, try absorbing all of that while keeping your HR in Z2. Dan runs a tri business in a nearby town. He was in full advertising kit and a good guy. I'm pretty sure I beat Dan but Frank may have passed me in the last half mile of the run. I ran for quite some time with Drew, the Vibram Five Fingers guy. Whereas Drew had done this distance several times, it was the VFF's first half. Their previously longest run was 10 miles. I ran with the VFF and Drew for many miles. He was jealous of my Garmin and actually appreciated it's beeping every 0.25 miles. He wants one now. He definitely passed me in the last mile.

That's a shot of me from the race. Stop looking at the lady, she's not the point of this blog. Plus, I don't want to brag, but, check out my awesome quads and mid-foot strike (both of which have taken years to develop).

The point is that, with all of this socializing happening, there was not much time to race. Sure I had a goal time but it's hard to ignore the guy who is in your personal space, sweating, panting, and, at times grunting, for the past 3 miles. Running has no drafting penalty so we all just bunch up on each other. Plus, I'm kind of slow. Even if I wanted to compete, it would have been a fruitless venture. I had no hope of bringing home any of the cash offered to the good guys and gals. I banished myself to somewhere in the middle between awesome and just finishing. Had a great time though.

My goal on the day was a sub 7:30 pace. I did this, depending on your perspective. See what the Garmin has to say about the run (simply look right). According to my GPS, I rocked the run. However, if you look at the bottom line, you'd notice that once again the run was longer than the expected 13.1 advertised miles. Since my Race Preview, I had a conversation with a couple of people smarter than me (granted, that could be close to anyone on the planet). Anyway, I learned that the USATF sanctioning people are meticulous in their race distances. If you go to the USATF website, they list the process in excruciatingly painful details. Apparently they use laser sighting, infrared technology and military choppers. (Okay, I didn't read it all but it seemed like they were heading in that direction.) If the USATF guy says the course is 13.1, then you'd better believe it's 13.1.

Then I was ready to blame the Garmin. After a bit more research, I was dumbfounded. Apparently, it is about 99.8% accurate. That extra 0.02% does not account for the additional 0.14 miles posted. This is the tough part. The culprit was me. Crap. I hate admitting that I cannot run in a straight line. I was much happier when it was the USATF or the technology. The legs seem to zig zap along the way. I had to do things like snatch water, dodge a moving bullet, or avoid being stepped on by a minimalist runner. All of the back and forth juking adds up.

None of this was really a problem until I got the official race results back. They list the same time but calculate the pace for 13.1 and not 13.24. According to them, my pace was 7:33. This is completely unacceptable. I had a goal. I do not like missing my goals. Therefore, I prefer to ignore the spreadsheet. If my 99.8% accurate Garmin says I ran 13.24 miles at a 7:27, I am prone to believe it. It ran with me the whole time. The spreadsheet wasn't there when I went up the cobblestone cemetery inclines. The spreadsheet wasn't there when I started to bonk at 11.5 miles. (See the data for yourself. Simply look up a bit.) The spreadsheet wasn't there when I skipped breakfast for the second straight day in a row, pre-race (more evidence that I am not that smart and possibly the reason for bonking). The Garmin held my wrist the entire time. In the Garmin/ Spreadsheet battle, the GPS wins the emotional vote and will be the focus of my goal achievement attention.

The Numbers:

Press right here

• I was 171st place overall
• I was the 144th boy to cross the line (yes, I was chicked 27 times and it was awesome!)
• Official (ignored) time 1:38.43
• Official (ignored) pace 7:33
• Unofficial (focal) time 1:38.43
• Unofficial (focal) pace 7:27
• Did anyone else notice how the Garmin's time was really close to the Official time?
• Here's a picture of me demonstrating how to accurately stop your watch to match the official time. I am not looking at the clock.

The Goods about the race:

• The race venue, hands down, was the greatest place to host a race (they used the downtown sports center). Indoors. Lots of bathrooms and space. They even had a band playing rock when we finished.
• The course is about as good as it gets. Mostly flat, except for the cemetery portion. Very nice course for goal setting.
• Post-race spread- one of the major sponsors was a pizza parlor that specializes in non-processed ingredients. Plus, they had the usual suspects of fruit and beverages.
• Volunteers- if I've said it once I will say it again and again. They people are possibly the greatest on Earth. I've only volunteered once at a race and that was a fundraiser for my school when I was 14. There were tons of happy, smiling, cheering guys and gals of all ages doing all sorts of crap work that most people wouldn't want to be paid for doing. Thank you all!

The Bads about the race:

• My pre-race preparation- If I'd have eaten breakfast, maybe I wouldn't have had to rationalize the Official Time versus Garmin Time thing
• Post-race cups of water- this is a bit nitpicky here- the water authority brought a truck and handed water in customized cups. As a guy who was tired, it took way too much of my concentration to not spill that water. I was in desperate need of a lid. 
• My attitude- I so don't like pure running races. Most anything else would be out of spite.

Thanks to Fleet Feet and Yellow Jacket racing for their efforts. This race happens at a perfect time of year. It's close to home. It matches with my later season goals and is a good measurement of my training. The weekend proved that my running is on par. It also proved that I need a bunch more biking on my belt if I want to hit my goals. I should probably start swimming again but you can't really glean that info from the race data.

Race Review and Results- Flower City Duathlon

First- A public service announcement. You may have noticed that Tri-Banter has a new look. Every once in a while, I like to change things up a bit. This is normally externally motivated. In this case, it was a rant by The Wife. She was (literally) yelling at her computer about people who's webpages have black backgrounds with white fonts and how it migraines her. She may have blurted out something about, "... and that's the reason I don't read your blog." I'm skeptical. I am sure there are many reasons she not a follower, I can at least resolve the background problem.

Now, on with your regularly scheduled blog post.

This weekend marked the first time I've done 2 races in the same weekend. This is the first in the series, the Flower City Duathlon, Part One of the Double. I had some lofty goals for this race and I may have set myself up for failure. As with any failure, I need a scapegoat. Therefore, I thought of a list of reasons why I would do bad even before the race began. There are lots of reasons I came up with for a poor performance.

• I've only ridden the bike outside 3 times this year.
• 3 days ago, it rained while riding. 2 days ago, I had to clean off the rain gunk and goo. In doing so, I pulled a muscle in my back.
• I was so distracted by the woman's race winner that I swallowed my tongue as she ran by in her pink shirt and lycra shorts.
• The racetime start temperature was lower than my normal threshold for biking.
• I was distraught that the race organizers had to cancel the paddle-triathlon. All those competitors magically became duathletes and my race grew in size.
• I had not put on my race wheels.
• I am a pansy
• I was over-rested. Due to the back problem, I did not exercise on Thursday or Friday. My legs were not ready for the effort.
• I was under-rested. I did not go to sleep until about 11:00 pm, which is a good 90 min after my normal bedtime. Couple that with the earlier wake-up
• Still, even with the early wake up, I did not get out of bed until 5:30, which was only 2 hours before race time
• Because I woke up so close to race time, I couldn't eat much. I didn't want my stomach bogged down with slushy goo. I maybe had 500 calories.
• I hate duathlons. I miss the swim. Therefore, I had a bad attitude going into the event (especially when you add in the all the other bullets)

Each of the above is completely true. Each of the above is completely valid. Any one, or a combination (depending on the seriousness), of them could be used in the event of crappiness. Here's how the day panned out.

I did get up from a groggy nap at 5:30. I spent most of my evening neurotically packing the car with the necessities of the race. Bike. Race belt. Rubbing the pulled muscle in my back. Blah blah blah. Everything except for the clothes I was going to wear to the race and my bike shoes. The bike shoes were still wet from being stuck in a torrential down pour during Wednesday's training ride. I had hoped to get in a 20 miler but mother nature laughed at me in her own way with horizontal rain and winds on 40 mph gusting to 55. It was a good way to practice bike handling skills and get in a good forearm workout (IE hanging on for your life). The shoes were placed in the basement in front of a fan. They dried out by morning.

Race time temperature was a whopping 38º. If you ignored the thermometer, the day was as beautiful as it could get. Sunny. Slight breeze out of the north. A couple of fluffy clouds scattered in a backdrop of blue. Good running weather.

My run goal of the day was a 7:30 pace for the entirety. That meant hitting a 5k in under 22:00. The second wave of the race went off a full 3 minutes after mine. It took the lead runners all the way until mile 2 to catch me. Despite their awesomeness to my suckiness, I was able to hold a 7:20 pace. My time: 22:17. If you are good with numbers, you'd know that I'm giving you conflicting data. The problem was that the early session was not a 5k. It was more like a 5K + 400 yards. That makes my run 1 time all that much better. So far, so good. I'm on target and ahead of schedule.

I felt like I was painfully slow in T1. Run shoes off. Bike shoes on. Ear covers. Helmet. Sunglasses. Gloves. Run away. I accomplished all of that in about 90 seconds. I should have done it in under 50. I knew I had a few seconds to space on my goal time and therefore was in no real hurry.

On to the bike. Good mount. Good cadence. I was able to hold just under 21 mph for the ride (thank goodness I changed that goal). There was an unexpected stretch of about 7 miles that was straight into the wind the entire time. It was during this stretch when I was passed by 3 of the 4 guys that were going to pass me. They were all wearing aero helmets and had disk wheels. It's possible that they were better bikers than me. But, since I'm in the mood of making excuses, I'm blaming their equipment.

T2 was a bit better than T1. I had to undo everything I did on the way out. I left the shoes on the bike and did a flying dismount. I kept on my gloves and ear things to slowly remove during the run. With speed laces, I was able to slip on my Mirages. When I compare my T2 times with the field, I was rather efficient at 53 seconds.

Run 2 surprised me. Since I had very little calories on the day (I took an additional 100 calories along with some water on the bike), I was expecting to die at any time. Death did not come for me. In fact, quite the opposite. I felt great. There were a couple of hills that ascended up to 8 feet while going over river bridges. One of the hills may have been as great as 10 feet. They were intimidating. (I know that sarcasm is difficult to write, but you had to have caught that one, right?) It was near the last hill that I got chicked. She flew by and I was helpless to her prowess on more than one level. Still, I was able to hold a 7:00 pace. Negative splits on the day. YES! My R2 time was 19:28. Again, if you are an amateur mathematician, you'd get that there is something askew in my numbers. This 5k was a good 400 yards less at 2.81 miles. I guess they needed balance. Aside: The Garmin, in its infinite wisdom, had my average moving pace way fast. Maybe I'll start training for the record.

The Pros for the Race

• Good time of year (woohoo, first multisport event!)
• Well organized (good transition area, good finishers area, good venue, parking a bit further but plentiful)
• Nice courses for both the runs and bike (good path, good roads, bad cow smell at one point but that's not their fault)
• Food spread post race (cookies, fruit, and hot dogs. Seemed a bit early for hot dogs but I was ravenous)
• Awesome volunteers (I can't say enough about these good people. They control traffic, hand out water, steal timing chips from sweaty, dripping monkeys. They are the heart and soul of these races and better people than me.)

The Cons for the Race

• Temperature (When will RDs figure out how to control the weather?)
• Different distances in the runs (I'd prefer the consistency)
• Worst Swag Ever (Nothing. We got nothing except one lousy coupon and a bunch of advertisements for other races. Oh, and a grocery bag.)
• Race Results (The pdf gave name, age, run, transitions, bike, overall time, and for some reason USAT status on the report. No places except overall. No paces. Better results include a breakdown in each category of your overall place, gender place, and age group place. They tell you the official pace in min/ mile for the run and mph for the bike.)
• Tearing down transition before racers finished (Even though my bike was out long before this point, there were many bikes and such in the transition area when they broke down the fences. I understand that you guys want to go home, but how is that secure for the late finishers? Wait a little bit more, please.)

Springer's Banter's Final Thoughts
I will, most likely, do this race again next year. I am guessing that the race organizers will have figured out how to control the temperature a little bit better. Plus, if the record books have anything to say, spring of 2012 is guaranteed to be dryer, warmer, and more biking friendly.

I wanted a sub- 1:45 for the race. I clocked a 1:42.09, making this my Flower City Duathlon PR (yes, this was my first attempt, thanks for pointing that out). I finished in the top 25 overall (read, I was 25th). I was 4th in my age group. All of my excuses for a bad performance were not necessary and I hate it when I do unnecessary work. To live and learn. Due to that effort, they gave me a nice metal pail with a marigold (which The Wife is allergic and refused to accept). They also gave all those who crossed the line a nice "finisher's medal."

(Short rant here but I find that, for a race this distance, finishers medals to all is a bit silly. I don't feel it was that special of an accomplishment. By handing everyone who finished a medal, it sort of dilutes it. We all got t-shirts. Did we really need medals too? Sure, there are those that disagree with me. Personally, I think that making a reward challenging and not giving it to everyone makes it all that much more special when you do earn it. Either that or spend less money on medals and give out more swag, which for some reason, seems better. End Rant).

Stay tuned. The Flower City Half Marathon Race and Results soon to follow.

Race Preview- Flower City Double

Up next on my calendar includes a whole weekend of racing. 

The Duathlon

First, on Saturday, is the Flower City Duathlon. This multisport event is a 5k run/20 mile bike/5k run and my first attempt at this race. Truth be told, I really dislike duathlons. For 1, I am perplexed how they are sanctioned by the USAT (rant on this topic later). They should be governed by the USAD, but alas, this organization does not exist. For 2, my perplexity leads to my real distaste, no swim. In the Flower City defense, it's a tad bit chilly here and not many of us are willing to do an open water swim at this time of year. We could swim in a pool, but not me (again, later rant). Regardless, my multisport strengths are swim, bike, run, in that order. Remove my top strength, replace it with my worst leg and my athletic edge drops significantly.

Despite my emotional state, I look forward to the race. I made the goal of hitting 7:30 mile pace for these events and my recent training tells me that this goal is achievable. My fear in this race, ironically, is focused on the bike. Since I do not recommend cold weather biking, I haven't gotten the bike out of the basement much this season. I have no barometer as to my bike fitness or speed. I haven't allowed a lack of data to stop me from setting goals in the past and I can't see why I'd let it start now. Therefore, based on last season's data, I want a minimum of +20 mph (originally I thought 22 mph, but seriously, I have no idea and I'd prefer to set myself up for success).

I am hoping to finish the entire RBR in 1 hour and 45 minutes. This gives time for 7:30s all around, finishing the bike under an hour, and transitions. I am allotting time for putting on gloves and cold weather gear. The overnight low is projected in the upper 30s- low 40s. With a 7:30 am start, I doubt it'll be much warmer than that race time.

The Half-Marathon

2010 Race Splits

On Sunday, the Flower City Half-Marathon is slated for its second appearance in on my race calendar. The race is sanctioned by USATF at 13.1 miles. My Garmin, a year ago, placed the jaunt at a bit longer, confirmed by several others with Garmins. Apparently, the USATF santioning guy uses a non-Garmin GPS type technology. Loser. Last year, I had an average pace of 7:39 over the course of 13.3 Garmin miles. 

The run hits several of the communities of our town. The most challenging hitting around the 6.5 mile mark through the 8 mile mark. The challenge of this stretch is 2 fold. First, the hills. It's got some steep rollers going up quickly to more than 125 feet (horrifying). The rest of the run is almost completely flat. Second, the stretch is through Historic Mount Hope Cemetery. If you are not creeped out by running through the graveyard, you might be tempted to stop and look for the famous dead people. Some of the infamous resting here are Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb (the Bausch & Lomb guys).

There's a cemetery buried in those hills.

I hope to improve on my time from a year ago. At 7:30 pace, I hope to finish in under 1:38 or a 4 minute gain. Last year, only 2 spits chimed in at under 7:30, not including the sprint to the end.

The Plan

If you read my last race preview and results post, you'd know that I had a plan and totally biffed it. Despite not adhering to my plan, I still achieved my goals. I am hesitant to make a new plan for this weekend but habit is trumping good sense. Since practice makes perfect and I'm not one to allow a minor failure to barricade me from trying, I'm going for a more strategic and less prescriptive approach.

In the duathlon

• Focus on my goal pace and ignore the others around
• Don't hammer on the bike. (Ok, hammer a little, I might will be cold)
• Even if I'm feeling great and people are passing me, focus on my pace
• Just in case this wasn't clear, pace not place

In the Half

• Conserve early, focus on pace (see a theme yet?)
• Remember, my skills are downhill not uphill
• After the cemetery, go for it

FYI- there is a funky triathlon associated with this weekend. Should you wish, you could opt out of the duathlon and do a run/ bike/ paddle. Not the fraternity house kind of paddling, but the canoeing/ kayaking kind. It's seems like a good time that I will not be doing. Mostly because I do not own nor have I trained on a canoe or kayak. Plus, the event still does not involve swimming. The race site is unclear if a run/ bike/ paddle is sanctioned by USAT or it's phantom, sister organization called the USAP (for paddle).  It is also unclear if you are allowed to bring your fishing pole on the boat.

Note: The race organizers are concerned about the volume of water passing through the Genessee  River. For those of you not living in the area, this may illustrate the kind of spring we are having here. A quote from the boss:

"Currently the water flow situation is as follows:

a. Average river flow for this time of season is 4620 cfs (cubic feet per second, which is about half a million pounds a second).
b. River flow for the event last year (April 24, 2010) was 1880 cfs.
c. Today’s flow is  up to 10,000 cfs and is expected to continue to increase. (to 11,000 or 12,000 cfs) (about 3 ft per second velocity)"

So, my weekend of sleeping in will be replaced by 19.3 non-Garmin miles of running, 20 miles of biking, and no swimming or paddling (which may not happen anyway). The race organizers promised a separate award category for participants who compete in both the Du and the Half. They call it the Double. I have absolutely no idea how many people this applies to or what sort of award they are offering. I'm guessing it'll be akin to a couple of slaps on the back, handshake, and a "Job well done!" which would put them near the top of the list for coolest race prizes. Check back in later, I'll give out a full review and let you know how things went.

And on the 47th Day- He Rested

Introduction
It's been 48 days since I started the 40 Days of Working out. I took Easter Sunday off as a recovery day and an opportunity to eat a week's worth of calories and burn them off by beating up my nieces and nephews. You can find the initial post and self-imposed rules here.

My original plan for the 40 DOWO was simple, I needed to ensure motivation during the month of April to continue training. April has a history of greatness. There's a few things that have historically occurred during the glorious 4th month.

• The Revolutionary War started
• George Washington was elected president
• Hank Aaron tied then broke Babe Ruth's home run record
• The Apollo space missions got started
• The Boston Marathon
• Earth Day (which has multiple meanings for some)
• Opening Day of Baseball (go Cubs!)
• Tax Day (glorious does not necessarily mean good)
• Track Season/ Coaching starts

It's that last one that really eats into my time. I like coaching and would not give it up. The rewards far outweigh the burden. Plus, the extra money helps pay for my triathlon fetish, including financing extra gear, toys, etc. I will keep coaching, despite the impact on my training.

Comparison
In April, 2010, I logged just over 36 hours of work (ignoring the final week on April). Not fantastic by any means. See chart below, click to enlarge...

As you can see, I was a pathetic swimmer, getting in the water a grand total of 5 times, then nothing for the next 2 weeks.

The week of the 19th-25th marked a big bike week as it was Spring Break and the weather was as perfect as you could expect from the New England area in April.

Notice the lack of consistency. Up and down in my training hours. I took a total of 9 days off in that month (6 during the comparison time)

Now, let's gander at April, 2011. Comparison disclaimer- the 2010 data table includes one additional week than the 2011.

Notice that my laziness has increased in that I stopped naming and defining workouts. The total number of training hours had dropped compared to a year ago from ~36- ~30. If I were to apply causation to this, I'd probably blame the colder than average temperatures for this season keeping me on the trainer, limiting my motivation to get outside and put forth the really big miles on the bike. Either that or I'm a big pansy. I suspect both actually apply.

But, I was more consistent in the weekly distribution of training (still not perfect though). I took less days off (1 as compared to 6).  My long runs were longer. And, what's not shown on these graphs is my average running pace, which is drastically faster in 2011.

Pros for the 40 DOWO

• Total number of workouts
• Long runs
• Run/ bike speed

Cons for the 40 DOWO

• Total training hours
• Hours on the bike
• Stress created when tired and not yet worked out
• Long ride endurance

Conclusion

As I reflect on the experience of exercising a total of 45 out of 47 days during the Lenten season, I would probably not do it again next year. I now fully understand why God rested on the 7th day. It was a superior recovery plan. I believe that there were several times when my body was saying, "Skip it," but the mind was droning, "must meet 30 min criteria". In the long run (no pun intended), I might have been better served by taking a day off and really attacking my workout versus stringing together a few of mandated sessions that my body wasn't interested in.

However, I am enjoying the additional running speed I have incurred. I also suspect that my biking is actually faster this year as compared to last year, despite my obvious lowered level of endurance. Since the forecast continues to be bleak, I might not know until sometime in August.