Race Report - Ashworth Backyard Triathlon

The second race of the weekend brought us to Steve and Korrie's home in Allendale. An annual tradition on Memorial Day, we swim, bike, and run an unofficial and fun, yet competitive, triathlon. This is the first race in the WMPTWCPS (West Michigan Premier Triathlon World Championship Point Series). In past years, it has been very warm and great weather. I guess we were due for a change. At race start, the air temp was in the 50s. Thankfully I packed a full-zip long sleeve jersey, cap, and gloves for the ride. Turned out to be completely worth it.

Pre-race I tried out one of the new PowerBar products called Performance Energy Blends. Made with real fruit, they are more like an applesauce consistency than gel like. They go down very easy and taste pretty good. These ended up given a decent energy load during the short race.

The swim was the first time I had been in the water since playing water polo in January. Needless to say, it is time to get back at it! The water was cold, my sighting poor, but still managed to have a decent swim. 250ish yards in about 4 minutes.

Out of the water and into T1, the cold air had some bite. I put on all the layers I could, fiddled with my garmin to try to get it to change from swim to bike, and hopped on to try to not fall behind. As we made our way out of the neighborhood, I cold feel every mile of the 3 hour ride I put in on Sunday. But, we managed to form a group (draft legal house rules) and I tried to stay comfortable. When we hit the turnaround, we had averaged over 23mph. We had to do some work to fight back against the wind on the way back, and needed up averaging 22+ for the 14.5mi. Very satisfied with this given the training load and that I left the race wheels at home.

My legs were frozen, tight, and seemingly not ready to run a 5k at the speed necessary to win. Tim was in the group with us and has been running very impressively this year. I wisely conceded to him after the first 1/4 mile and started to cruise. I took too much off the gas though and Phil came flying by. Damage control. My legs felt okay, so I kept my cadence up and stayed on my toes. Once Phil passed, I tried to speed up and keep the gap manageable. I started to count the gap, and kept it under 10 seconds. We hit the turn around and went straight into a headwind. I managed to even things up in the next half mile, and Phil tucked in behind me. Not sure how much advantage it really was to draft, but mentally it was threatening to have him right there. Thankfully, I could also hear his breathing, which helped reassure me that I was feeling a little better. Beware though, guys like Phil are smart racers. We hit the last little rise in the road with .1mi to go and I put in a little kick to gap him, successfully. But then, as we turned to the finish in Steve's yard, he started to sprint and challenged my second place. Another push and I held him off in the closing steps, securing 9 precious points in the WMPTWCPS standings.

Overall, a fun race with a little serious edge. I was hurting most of the race and it felt good to still have a great effort despite the soreness. Thanks again to Steve and Korrie for hosting us!

Back to training...

Race Report - Bayshore 10k

This Saturday started off yet another double race weekend. On Friday, Kristin and I headed off to Traverse City to join our friends JR and Ronda for the Bayshore races (they were running the 13.1, K and I running the 10k). The buildup to this race is such that I hadn't run since the riverbank 25k incident, nervous, tired from a long work week, but ready to put the legs to work running again.

After a beer and a "late night" snack at North Peak brewery, we headed off to our quality motel 6 room to get what sleep we could. JR and Ronda had to be up very early, so we crashed pretty quickly. I shouldn't complain about the hotel, because the place next door looked far worse. The only issue was the lack of coffee before 7am. Thank heaven for 7-11!

Race morning we drove and found relatively close parking. Got coffee, and walked in the very brisk 38 degrees to the start. We recounted how drastically different this weather was from last year, when we ran the Madison half-marathon in 80+ degrees at 7am. Crazy. Anyway, I was pretty stressed out and worried that the run was going to be a disaster. I didn't want the leg cramping to return. My legs were cold and tight, my mental state was weak. So much so that I think at one point I proclaimed to K that "this is going to be a $&@) failure!"

However, once the race started and we dealt with all of the poorly paced runners, things were fine. I recall thinking to myself, run more towards the ball of your feet and up on your toes, over exaggerating your form. It worked! We cruised along the bay and averaged approximately 8:15/mi pace. Nowhere close to a PR, but I was elated. Also very proud that K stuck to it after having several very poor runs after her big Riverbank PR.

Post-race amenities were great. We waited a short time and watched JR and Ronda finish their race. JR with a PR! We quickly cleaned up at the motel and grabbed lunch and celebratory beers at Mackinaw Brewing Co. before heading home. What a huge relief this was. The beginning of being back on track, love it!

Riverbank 25k Race Report - Disappointment...

This report has been hard to type, given the disappointment and time spent reflecting on what went wrong and whether or not I need to be seriously worried about the rest of the season. While I continue to reflect, here's the story...

Race #3 for the season was the Fifth Third Bank Riverbank Run (25k). I had big goals of re-qualifying for the two-hour club, the "gold standard" for the race. I had done so a couple years ago, and felt that given my training and how much better of an athlete I am now from 2 years ago that this would be relatively easy. But, it seems as though my recent trail running race and quad strain issue may derail that goal. I was hopeful, but also realistic and very cautious about running this distance.

Backup to a week pre-race, I found that I would be working in the Boston area all week getting home less than 12 hours before the race. Less than ideal. There's something about being out of town, out of cadence and routine, not eating as well as one should. I was mentally off before I even got home, expecting the recurring cramping/strain to come back in the race. It made the entire week feel miserable and looking back,  I was not at all prepared to run the entire race.

On race morning, I had to opportunity to hand out gels for PowerBar for a couple hours before the race. probably not the best that I was on my feet in the cold for that long, but it perhaps only accelerated what was to come. It was fun to meet some of the PB marketing crew and talk to other racers about nutrition strategies and encourage them to include PB in their plans.

Once the racers started lining up for the 25k, I bid adieu to the PB group and headed out to race. I could already feel that my legs were tight and not ready, but a little jogging in place seemed to temporarily help. The race quickly started and we were on our way. I comfortably ran the first mile, letting the hoards of people lined up behind me fly by. Anything around 7:50 for the first mile was right on pace, and I nailed it. I wanted to progress over the 15.5 miles, and did so. The second mile was right around 7:45 pace. Then the third around 7:45. At this point, the course has made its way onto Indian Mounds, which has a very noticeable crown on both sides. I tried to stay right in the middle to avoid lopsided running but that is almost inevitable. Soon, my left IT band started to become very tense. It wasn't unbearable, I figured I could make it to the next aid station, stretch quickly, and keep running. Then, the tense/tightness started to migrate across my left quad, pinpointing to the exact area of my prior injury/issue. It wasn't unbearable, but since I was already mentally expecting this, I didn't want to do any severe damage by continuing to run. After stepping aside and stretching several times, jogging for a few hundred yards, walking, stretching, etc., it was clear I was done. I limped to the next aid station and hopped a ride on the SAG vehicle back to the start.

Not the day I was hoping for, but after rationalizing it with friends and family, it may have been best. I'm thankful for all of the support, for the volunteers, race coordination and security. This is such a great race and I can't wait to return next year!

As a side note, if you see Kristin, tell her congrats on her huge PR! She must have a good coach....hahaha