Last Wednesday I saw that Price Lawhon had surpassed me in the the points total for the South West Challenge series 35-39 AG. I'm crazy competitive so when I saw that Lawhon was ahead of me I HAD to register for the Patriot triathlon. I needed to place 7th or better in the 35-39 AG at the Patriot triathlon held in Rio Rancho New Mexico to regain my lead. Placing 7th at the Patriot triathlon was going to be difficult because of the three and a half months I took off from training and weight I've gained. I've only been training again consistently for a little less than a week.
The Patriot triathlon was my 80th multi-sport race and I finished it in 1 hr 37 minutes 19 seconds and took 10th place in my division. Today was the slowest I've raced in 7 years. I only earned 1 point for the series, so Price Lawhorn is still in 1st place in the series with a 3 point lead. I'm in really bad shape right now and slower than a one leg grasshopper, so if Price Lawhorn races again in a triathlon in the SW series there will be no possible way I could catch him.
A great friend of mine, Matt Hall is a super stud triathlete. He races in the same age group as I do and is competing in the South West challenge series too. Matt Hall raced today at the Patriot tri and did AMAZING! He placed 15th overall and 2nd place in our age group. He earned 9 points for the SW challenge series and is now in 3rd place in the 35-39 age group with 39 points. He's incredibly fast and will pass me in the SW series if he finishes 4th place or better at the Elephantman Olympic distance triathlon Scheduled for Sept 30th.
It's probable that Matt Hall and Price Lawhorn will end up passing me in the series and maintaining their lead and I'll be scratching and clawing for 3rd place in the 2012 SW challenge series. I'm grateful that I saw the action heating up in the series, it motivated me to start training again.
I was exhausted after todays race. Really exhausted. There's no way I'd be able to finish the Redman full distance triathlon, so I'll be taking my family to Carlsbad Caverns that weekend instead.
Showing posts with label The Patriot triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Patriot triathlon. Show all posts
September 09, 2012
January 19, 2011
My years racing schedule
After much back & forth I've decided what my racing schedule will be from now until March 2012. I've decided to try & race less this year so that I can concentrate more on training in the hopes I can break 13 hours at Ironman Arizona.
This year for the 1st time I'm not going to attempt to take 1st place in my division in the South West Challenge series. I'm just going to do the minimum amount necessary to place in the top 3. If I can get away with only needing to race the minimum of 5 races to take top 3, I'll be happy.
That being said, I've heard a rumor that the new multisport series called Chasing3 will award a Clydesdale series champion. If that is the case I may end up racing in 4 or 5 of their races this year in addition to the 5 SW Series races to try & win that series also. What can I say, I'm a multisport addict.
February 19th 2011
Presidents day duathlon,
White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
March 27th 2011
Sully Super Sprint triathlon
Alpine Texas
April 16th 2011
Albuquerque half marathon
Albuquerque New Mexico
April 23rd 2011
Spring Fling triathlon
Rio Rancho New Mexico
May 1st 2011
AtomicMan duathlon
White Rock New Mexico
May 8th 2011
Jay Benson triathlon
Albuquerque New Mexico
June 4th 2011
Albuquerque Century
Albuquerque New Mexico
July (date unknown) 2011
Santa Fe triathlon
Santa Fe New Mexico
September 10th 2011
Enchanted Circle century
Red River New Mexico
November 20th 2011
Ironman Arizona
Tempe Arizona
December (date unknown) 2011
Polar Bear triathlon
December (date unknown) 2011
Jingle Bell triathlon
March 2012
Old Pueblo 50 mile trial run!
Races undecided on:
June 19th 2011
Storrie lake triathlon
Las Vegas New Mexico
July 10th 2011
Cochati triathlon
Cochati lake New Mexico
Sept 11th
Patriot triathlon
Rio Rancho New Mexico
Sept 24th
Redman half Iron
OKC OK
September 06, 2010
My little monkey girl & my taper
When my daughter was 2 years old I told her the way she came into our life & how we became her parents. I told her that her Mom & I were walking out in the forest & found the prettiest baby monkey we'd ever seen. We picked that baby monkey up, took it home, shaved it, & named it Belle. I even have a picture of a new born orangutan & I tell her the picture was her before we shaved her. To my amusement she has always believed this story.
Tonight out of nowhere my daughter asked me if monkeys bite? I said yes. She asked me in horror if she did that to me when I tried to pick her up in the forest & take her home. Ha! Then she told me the reason she can swing across the monkey bars by herself & the other kids in her pre-k can't is because she was a monkey & they weren't. Like a good Dad..... I agreed.
My pulled quad is completely healed up, but unfortunately my training isn't going well at all. I've been feeling exhausted & slow in training & I can't seem to get my diet back under control. I've gained 7 pounds in a little over a month. My A race is this coming Sunday. I'm thinking I won't have a decent race. The problem is I'm struggling with self coaching. I seem to be getting fast during my training, but when it's time to taper everything ends up falling apart.
I've always been told tapering is more of an art than a science, & I'm a black & white kind of a person, which is why I can't seem to get this whole supercompensation thing down. I've been self coaching since last September & have ended up messing up everyone of my A races. I'm not sure if it's the taper or the peak phase of my routine I'm having difficulties with. But regardless of what the problem is there's definitely a problem. & this problem is messing with my most important races of the year, which is a really big problem.
I purchased a pair of ZOOT triathlon specific shoes to race in at the Patriot triathlon.
August 27, 2010
My injured quad update & some training & racing products
Since injuring my quad last Saturday I've taken it easy & am trying to ensure I'm all healed up by my next race on September 7th. I took Monday & Tuesday completely off, then the next 2 days I just rode my bike since cycling doesn't seem to affect my quad at all.
Today I'm scheduled to do a brick. I intend to bike as planned, then do 30 minutes of the elliptical to ensure I'm not losing any run fitness. I don't want to try & run for the 1st time on my quad after a bike ride, I'm afraid that would stress the quad & make me more likely to reinjure it or make it worse. On Saturday I'm going to try & run a little & see how the pulled quad is.
Yesterday I did a 2 hour bike ride with 1 hour 30 minutes in zone 3. I got a couple free packets of Hammer's HEED at a race not long ago & decided to use it during yesterday's ride. It had been about 3 years since I'd used a Hammer product. Just like last time when I used HEED I bonked HARD! Shortly after drinking the HEED I simply fell apart! This happens to me every time I use any Hammer hydration or nutrition products. I'm not saying Hammer products aren't good, because I think they are an amazing company, but for some reason my body just doesn't perform well at all when I use any of Hammer's nutrition or hydration. Particularly when I use their Perpetuem! From now on if I get any free Hammer nutrition I'm going to just give it away. There's no reason to ruin a workout just to save a little $!
If any of you out there are relatively new to endurance athletics I highly suggest you try using different brands of hydration & nutrition. Take detailed notes on how you feel during your workouts, how your speed & endurance holds up while using them, & how you recover while using that product. Make sure to use each product for a few weeks. Just a workout or two doesn't give you enough detail to compare products.
Not only have I taken a lot of time trying out different companies, but I've also done a lot of experimenting with gels versus bars versus Protein Bites. I find I feel just about the same during workouts when I use gels compared to bars, but I find I seem to heal a lot quicker when I use bars exclusively than I do when I use just gels. I seem to recover the best using Protein Bites. Cliff also has a protein bite type product out there that tastes like Whoppers & works great! Seriously delicious!
I've experimented with a lot of different hydration & nutritional products & out of all the brands I've tried the one that works best for my body is Powerbar. I seem to feel best & recover quickest on particularly hard or long workouts when I use their Powerbar Protein bites! Awesome product!
Speaking of experimenting with products geared for racing. I'm going to buy some Race Day Boost & try it out during the Patriot triathlon. Apparently I'm supposed to start taking Race Day Boost 3-4 days before my race & it helps an athlete go harder, fatigue less, etc. I've heard a lot about these little pills for a long time, so now I'm going to cave into the hype & try them. If I think they work for me I'll let you know, & if I think they don't work at all I'll post that too.
I won a free $25 gift card to the running hub here in Santa Fe at the AtomicMan duathlon in April. I've narrowed what I'm going to buy to 2 products:
Another pair of Brooks Adrenaline, which is my favorite shoe to train in. Or
A pair of Zoot Ultra Speed triathlon specific racing shoes!
Right now I'm leaning towards the Zoot Ultra Speed's since I'm training & racing for sprint distance triathlons. In sprint distance triathlons knocking off just a few seconds is HUGE because the races are so short. I can't count the number of times that I've finished 10 seconds in front of or behind someone in my age group at a sprint triathlon, where as in Olympic to Iron distances I've only finished within 30 seconds of someone in my age group once.
The Zoot Ultra Speed (in theory) will increase my speed in transition because they are built to get on & off so quickly, & to be raced in with no socks. They are also supposed to increase run speed because they are so incredibly light. If I end up buying the Zoot's I'll let you Peeps know what I think of them after I race in them for the 1st time.
August 26, 2010
Diet maintnance: failed!
I had FINALLY got down to 187 pounds last week & had decided to try & maintain that weight for my upcoming A race, the Patriot triathlon on September 12th. I've never been able to maintain my weight before. I'm always either losing, or gaining weight.
Earlier this week I pulled my quad. I became frustrated & stressed having an injury occur this close to an A race, which led to Sunday night's eating bad foods in bad quantities. The dreaded comfort eating! I continued to do so until Tuesday night. I know 3 days of eating unhealthy isn't going to make me gain an unmanageable amount of weight & ruin months of weight loss, but it was upsetting to me nonetheless. From my 3 days of eating crap I'm going to need to spend about a week eating slightly below my metabolic rate to get back down to 187 again. This got me to thinking, & obsessing as I have a tendency to do. Since I'm already going to be dieting for the next week, & I'll be in the weight loss mode, I might as well continue the weight loss & get down to my all time #1 goal weight of 179!!! After all that's only 8 pounds less than what I was Sunday morning right? Since 179 is my all time weight goal & I'm so close I may as well crack the whip & get there right? If I start losing the weight now I'll be to my dream weight by the Silverman 70.3 in November, & that race has a ridiculous amount of hills, & everyone knows the most important aspect of hill climbing is low body weight! If I start losing now that's just shy of 1 pound a week of weight loss to hit my goal! After I get to my goal weight I can spend the rest of my life maintaining, so why maintain now for just a little while when I can do it forever starting in November?
If you frequent my blog you'll know my biggest problem as an athlete is staying focused on a goal. I'm constantly coming up with reasons & justifications to change my goals. Here's just another example of this. But the decision has been made. My new & exciting goal is to get down to 179 pounds by the 1st week of November.
August 10, 2010
My next A race
I'm getting pretty excited, my A race is coming up in a month. It's the Patriot triathlon in Rio Rancho on September 12th. I chose this race to be my late season A race because it is a hilly course & I'm REALLY HORRIBLE at hill climbing. I don't expect to have a high placing overall, perhaps not even in my AG because it is a hilly course, & like I've said, I struggle badly with anything larger than a speed bump. But I do think this race will be my best performance ever as far as hilly races go.
I think taking this time to become better at hills will make me a better triathlete next year, which is important because there are a few 30-34 AG's that are aging up to my division next season. One guy in particular I've been watching who will be aging up into my division is a fellow NM Outlaw named David Liotta. He & I first raced against each other at the Jingle Bell triathlon. He ran like a gazelle! I almost ruined my entire race trying to keep up with him on the run. I ended up able to pass him on the bike, & hold him off on the swim to finish slightly in front of him. Since the Jingle Bell we've showed up & raced at the same race 3-4 times & he's beaten me soundly at each one. He will be a huge challenge for me to compete with. I'm very excited to have someone of his ability & talent to race against. Him being in my division will be a huge motivator!
Now that I'm a month away from my A race I've switched to a maintenance diet. I had been attempting to lose half a pound to 1 pound a week. I'm now going to try & just maintain my weight so that I can show up fully recovered & fueled at the Patriot & throw a smack down for the 1st time on a hilly course!
Weight maintenance. That is the one area of endurance athletics I've failed at time after time after time! I've lost weight before & done great in a race or two because of it, but after the race I always ended up gaining the weight back. This January was the 3rd time I had dropped below 200 pounds, but this year is the 1st time I've ever been able to keep below 200 for longer than a month. Since January I've been gradually losing more weight, I'm now down to 187. Although this year I've been successful at staying below 200, I wasn't trying to maintain, I've been trying to lose more. I'm hoping the knowledge I've learned & applied to slowly drop the weight this year & not gain it back can now also be used to maintain. I'll keep my fingers crossed & I'll keep you informed. If there is any changes, or no changes at all I'll let you peeps know.
June 26, 2010
An open call for a group mountain bike ride
My wife bought me a book called "Mountain biking Northern New Mexico". The book says the best mountain bike ride in New Mexico is South Boundary Trial. After reading about the ride I became really excited about doing it & am wanting to get as many of my buddies to do it with me as I can. So this is an open invite for a group mountain bike ride on Sunday August 1st.
The ride starts at the trailhead on forest road near Angel Fire NM & ends at the El Nogal camp grounds. Anyone who is interested contact me & we'll work out the details!
On another note I had a buddy of mine who lives in another state ask me about the Enchanted circle century. Any of you who has not done the Enchanted Circle Century, I highly suggest you do it. It's the prettiest ride I've ever done. It's a beautiful & strenuous ride through Northern New Mexico's mountains. There's a lot of climbing. The last climb is up Bobcat pass, a nonstop, no rest climb of 3000 feet ending at 9,800 elevation, then descending into Red River. If my buddy ends up coming up & doing it, I'll do it with him. The Enchanted Circle Century is on September 11th this year, which comes at a rough time because I've already paid for the Patriot Triathlon which is September 12th. So it looks as if I may end up doing a hilly & very challenging century on a Saturday & a triathlon the next morning!
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