Four Days and Counting...

Three days and some hours is more like it. I'm definitely at the nervous point, second-guessing my training, wondering if I'm going to be able to finish. Let me correct that: Wondering if I'm going to be able to finish by making all the time cut-offs. That's my main worry. I know I can do the distances. I've done them and more already this year. My main worry is that because I'm such a slow swimmer and a moderate cyclist, I may not make the cut-off for finishing the bike leg. If I can just make it onto the run course I'll be fine. My fears won't be relieved any until check-in and packet pick-up on Friday. That's when I'll find out which swim wave I'm in. If it's one of the early waves, I'm good. If it's one of the last waves, I'm going to be in some trouble. I'll have to hammer on the bike for 56 miles to make up for the swim split, which will in turn leave me exhausted for the run. But I'll need to wait till Friday afternoon to find out.

Other than that, preparations are proceeding. I picked up a new tire last night. Now I just need to find the time to install it. I'm deciding what food to bring with me on the bike and what to have for breakfast race morning. It will be early and we'll be in a hotel so my choices will be limited. I'll need to wait a couple more days for the most accurate weather forecast, but I'll bring enough different clothing to hopefully deal with any August weather conditions. (No snow, please.)

Training has tapered for race day. No more brick workouts. Just some swimming and running. Not enough cycling. I wish it were easier to get out and ride. Saturday I joined Ladd, Chuck, Charles, and Frank for 17 miles on the Towpath. We had a nice comfortable run with about 3 miles of trails and 20 minutes of rain thrown in. Ladd and I really picked up the pace for the final two miles. I've heard through the grapevine that that's the way to train for a marathon: really pushing it on the final miles of the long runs.

I'll be heading to the track for some light speed work tonight. Nothing too hard or too long. This will be one of my final workouts before Saturday, followed by a swim tomorrow and a last run Thursday.

It's approaching even quicker because I've been absolutely slammed at work lately and the days are just flying by. I haven't even had the chance to think about vacation in two weeks yet!

A Quick Recap of the Week

Somewhat busy this week. Both at work and in training. I'm slammed at work trying to have parts done for 18 prototypes before I go on vacation in two weeks. I'm tapering, but still training hard, as I approach Steelhead next weekend.

At Tuesday's speed work we did 3 X 5:00 with about a three minute recovery. Then it was 1 X 4:00 / 3:00 / 2:00 / and 1:00. With warm-up and cool-down, a total of 8 miles.

Wednesday I hit the pool for 3/4 of a mile. I had only a limited amount of time, so I tried to do some "speed" intervals in the water. They weren't as successful as the one's I run at the track.

Thursday marked my return to the trails. I joined Connie, Roy, and Bob for a nice tour around the Hinckley Reservation. We were out for a little over two hours, so I'm guessing about 12 miles. Having rained all day, the single track trails were very muddy, and I made a mess of my shoes. Unfortunately the rain stopped before our run. We really could have used it to cut the humidity.

Finally, this afternoon, I hit the pool again for a long swim. I went for 1.5 miles in 1:08. My half mile splits were: 23:28 / 22:15 / and 22:12. I felt great during the swim, finding my rhythm quickly and holding it throughout. My splits really show that too. Each half mile interval was quicker than the one before it. I hope I'm ready for the swim at Steelhead!

Meeting Ladd and Chuck in the morning for a long run of 17 miles. Should be a nice morning for it. Rain is moving in, but not until later in the day. It's time for me to start thinking about marathon training again!

2009 Columbus International Triathlon

I've done a few Olympic distance races before, but yesterday was my first Olympic triathlon. All the others have been duathlons. And while I've had good results on this particular course in the past, the longer events have taken their toll on me. Because of that, I didn't know what to expect. On one hand, I'm better trained and in better condition. On the other, I'm swapping an additional run (which is my strong sport) for swimming, which is my weakest. So I decided not to expect anything and just go with what the day would present me.

What the day first presented me with was a beautifully clear July morning. Below average temperatures made it feel a bit on the chilly side. It was going to be a cool day. Definitely not a scorcher like we can so often get. Cooler temps make for better running. A good sign.

The scene from my point of view as I was prepping the bikes.

Mrs. P was trying to squeeze in some extra z's so she missed admiring the moon.

While Mrs. P slept, everyone else arrived.

We were the first ones in line to pick up our race packets at 4:45 AM. I guess that means the line formed behind us! After picking up our timing chips, we headed back to the Jeep where I promptly got to work removing the bikes from the car rack, inflating tires, attaching numbers, mixing Gatorade, and putting the finishing touches on my transition bag. Mrs. P promptly reclined the front passenger seat and went back to sleep.

Soon it was time to take everything over to transition and get body marked. Nap time was over.

Transition was a busy place.

View looking out of transition at the run in/out.

Mrs. P carefully walking down the hill that goes up to transition from the swim and run 1 of the duathlon.

The walkway under Rt. 315 leading to the lake and the run course. Swimmers get to run this barefoot once out of the water!

Sunrise over Antrim Lake.

The 75 degree water was steamy in the early morning air. It cleared out pretty quick though.

From triangular buoy to the one way in the distance formed one side of the triangular swim course. Sprint racers did one lap. We got to go around a second time.

Mrs. P still doesn't look awake yet.

But I was! Notice the timing chip already in place. That sucker wasn't coming off today!

These guys had no idea a pack of runners would soon be heading their way.

Back at the Jeep so I could transform from Mr. P into Captain Orca!

I thought I heard the announcer calling everyone to the starting areas.

This race was a time trial start, no waves. We lined up from high number to low, with the Olympic distance athletes going first followed by the sprint racers. In one long single file line, we inched forward to the starting mats laid out on the water's edge. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get into the water to do any warm-up swimming. I was going to be hitting the water cold. All I could think was, "This is going to be interesting." To keep my mind off of what was coming, I was able to chat with #481, the guy behind me, and listen to the woman ahead of me, the defending women's champion.

Upon hitting the water, the first thing I thought was that it was warm. The second being it was somewhat clear. You could actually see more than a few inches ahead. A few feet in fact! It was kind of eerie. having just seen Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Thursday night, I kept expecting to see hundreds of Inferi appearing out of the dark depths. Fortunately for us, there were no enchanted dead corpses waiting to pull us under to our doom.

The first lap of the swim was tough, as I expected it to be. It takes me a good half mile to find my rhythm and I was having trouble breathing and sighting the buoy. Alternating between front crawl and breaststroke, I made my way steadily forward. I was being passed by a lot of swimmers. I tried not to think about that, but to just keep moving forward. Coming down the third side of the triangle, I realized that I needed to be on the inside of the course and not the outside. I was mixed in with the sprint athletes and they were going to be exiting on the right. I needed to round the next buoy on the left. Spotting a gap in the field I angled and swam hard to cross over and not get in anyone else's way. Eventually I made it to the turn and rounding it, I headed back out for lap number two.

Lap two was a much better experience. For starters, the field disappeared, leaving me nice calm water to swim in. I actually enjoyed it! But most importantly, I finally found my rhythm. With the breathing thing down, I started catching some of the swimmers ahead of me. I passed one at the turn to the back side of the triangle and nearly caught two more before the swim finish. I don't know how deep that little lake is, but it used to be a quarry, so I'm thinking it's pretty deep in the middle. Not something I wanted to think about while swimming.

My swim split was 45:10. Better than I could do in the pool but the 4th slowest swim split of the day. I was pleased with it as I was running along the walkway under 315 and up the grassy hill towards transition.

After a four minute transition from swim to bike I was out on the road for 5 five mile laps. The bike course is a clockwise rectangular route following Olentangy River Road, Rt. 161, Rt. 315, and Henderson Rd. There is some wicked speed to be found going down the entrance ramp from 161 to 315. The remainder of 315 is flat to slightly downhill. To make up for that, Olentangy River Rd. is rolling with a net uphill. The 25 miles took me an hour and 19 minutes with an 18.7 mph average. Not the best (for sure) but not the worst either. 114th overall bike split.

Upon finally finishing lap five, I headed back into transition only to find the opposite of T-1, everyone else was back already. And some people were packed up and heading home! After a much faster transition than the first one I was all business in running mode. When I get running, sometimes a switch flips and I become someone else. That happened yesterday, but to a milder extent. It's like I donned a "No Passing" sign when I got off the bike because no one passed me. And I made back some serious time. My run split was 46:14, 7:28/mile. Where I was 167 in the swim, and 114 on the bike, my run split was 28th fastest of 171. What a discrepancy! If I was any stronger a swimmer or biker I would actually be dangerous. And you can quote me on that!

Heading towards the finish.

Almost there. Can you sense the determination?

I was happy, not to be finished, but that I once again finished with a strong run. That "no passing" sign was on my back again.

Mrs. P going up to receive her AG award.

2nd of 4 in her AG. Nice job!

Our now obligatory photo from the hood of the car.

So, another race in the books. Another good experience. Some more tough spots to learn from. All to make me stronger for the big race which is now less than two weeks away, Steelhead. That one is going to be interesting. Hopefully I won't be left behind on the swim and bike, but chances are I will. That's OK, just as long as I can kick butt on the run. That's when people are hurting. That's when it feels good to put on a strong pass. Makes them wonder how you do it. I don't know how I do it. Probably has something to do with all the running I do.

That Snuck up Pretty Fast

I'm referring to the Columbus International Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. And guess what, Steelhead is only two weeks away! Where has this year gone? Weather is calling for 50's Sunday morning with scattered showers. Columbus won't be much warmer. That's great! Just a little chilly in the morning and not too hot during the run.

This will be an interesting race. The swim is in a small body of water. I'm hoping the temperature of Antrim Lake is below wetsuit cut-off. I'm confident I can complete the 1500 meter swim without the help of the suit, but it sure does help with the confidence. I'm like a different person in the water wearing that thing. CAPTAIN ORCA!!! The bike is the absolute best bike course I've ever ridden. No joke. We do laps from the park north to Rt. 161. Then down Rt. 315, which is a highway! South to Henderson Rd. where we exit and turn back north on Olentangy River Road. For the Olympic distance we'll be doing 5 laps of 5.1 miles. Eating on the bike is obligatory at this distance for me. Otherwise I'll start to cramp pretty bad during the run. And the run on this course is awesome! I don't want to do anything to mess that up.

I will try to take as many photos of the course as possible, but because Mrs. P will be competing in the sprint duathlon that morning, there won't be many pictures of us racing.

Best of luck to all those competing in the Buckeye Trail 50K this weekend. That means you Patrick!

Note to Self

Can

not

eat

hot

wings

any

more.

We swung by the Winking Lizard yesterday for a lunch/dinner after Mrs. P got home from Atlanta. I ordered the Thai wings, number 3 on the heat-o-meter. Very tasty. Very hot! I'm paying for it today.

Oops, I Did it Again

I just registered for another marathon this year. But wait! This one's a little different. It's a trail marathon. It's also 3 weeks after Columbus. So, that will have me running 3 marathons within an eight week time span. Fun! Fun! Fun! This is the inaugural race and the field is limited to just 300 runners, so it should be a fun/different experience. Oh, did I mention the 2,000 feet of elevation gain and loss throughout the course? I didn't? I must have forgotten about that. I'm looking forward to this race come November 8.

In other news, had a decent time at the pool last night. It was pretty crowded when I arrived so I shared a lane with someone else. That really kept me from feeling comfortable and kept my times slow. I swam a mile with the first half in 29:48 and the second half in 27:12. Not great times, but I was happy to swim faster on the second half.

Tuesday night's speed work at the track was great. Somehow I busted out some fast times again. We did 800's and 200's this time. My 800 splits were: 2:57 / 2:54 / 2:57 / and 2:50. I still need to check my old times, but that 2:50 is faster than my fastest split last week by two seconds! My 200 splits were: :36 / :36 / :36 / and :33. I'm going to have to check on that last split and see how it compares to my old track times as well. I don't know where they keep coming from!

A Little Break

We arrived home late last night after a short July 4th visit to my grandmother who lives in the U.P. of Michigan. With no Internet access there, I had a little "break" from posting. But not from training.

Last Tuesday we had a welcome break in the heat for some speed work. Yes, I was running the evening before we were leaving. 3 X 800's and 6 X 400's were on order. All in all, a great workout. I still need to check, but I believe I ran my fastest 400 and 800 that night. EVER! I just need to check to make sure.

The drive takes all day so we like to leave early in the morning in order to arrive in the afternoon. It was a long cloudy drive with rain in Ohio. In fact, parts of northeast Ohio were getting dumped on with epic amounts of rain. Fortunately we didn't encounter any of that for our drive. Just wind and below average temperatures. And mosquitoes. Our first rest area break at the Michigan Welcome Center landed us in a swarm of mosquitoes. It was harsh.

The small town we were to stay in for the holiday puts on a 5 mile run every year on the morning of the Fourth. We've run it the past two years. It was my intention to run it again this year, but with everything that needs to be done that morning and only Mrs. P and I to take care of things, I thought it best to forgo the race for a long run. The kind of long run I haven't done since mid May and Rite Aid.

I mapped a course online before leaving and would let the weather help me decide if I would run it or just loop around town. The weather turned out not-quite-ideal, but bearable so I went with Plan A. The course was an out-and-back to the next little town. The road looked somewhat residential on the near side that slowly became less inhabited the further I went. And that's pretty much how things actually were. 9 miles out and 9 miles back. But I wanted 20 miles so I did a loop around and back to the house for 20 on the nose in 2:45. Not race pace, but certainly not bad. I was worried about running into bears but only saw two deer and a locomotive engine. It wouldn't be a bad road to ride on someday. Straight, flat, and very little traffic. That was Friday morning.

On the 4th I watched the runners head past the house and didn't envy them. I wasn't sore, but tired. And that was enough to keep me in check. We had a long day heading down to watch the parade and then over to the local festival. Then it was back to the house early to do some grilling and relax. I had a nice 2+ hour nap that afternoon. We watch fireworks from 3 communities from the beach across the street that didn't wrap up until 11:00.

Upon waking Sunday, I discovered I wasn't hungover. Not that I was expecting to be, but it's happened on the mornings of July's 5th in the past so I wasn't ruling it out. With some morning energy and a spring in my step, I was out the door again for 5 to 6 miles. During the run I decided upon 6.2, giving me the marathon distance split between the two runs. Again, not fast, but not crawling either. Just a nice recovery run.

Back to the track tonight for some more speed. Time to start building those 800s for the fall marathons. And speaking of scheduling, just three more training weekends before Steelhead. That's getting me more than a little worried today.