Season Review
Here is a brief review of my 2011 race experiences. It provides background and progression in my preparation for AZ-SOS Mohonk 2-Day Epic.
Goals:
First, since I made USAT All-American again last year (much to my surprise), I decided to pursue the same this year. I also decided to see how I would rate nationally in duathlon. I scheduled two local duathlons for the early season and then two half irons in the first half of the summer. I also decided to pursue a slot for the International Triathlon Union Long Course Triathlon World Championship (to be held 05 November in Nevada Almere , Netherlands (2008) and Algau , Germany Palo , Iowa
To make All-American, I need to produce credible results in two of my triathlons. Because I am doing American Zofingen Long Course Duathlon (self-supported) the day before Survival of the Shawangunks, I have no illusions of posting a great performance there. Last year, I rode 4 loops of the American Zofingen bike course just two days before SOS. (Known as the Iron TT, this amounts to 112 miles, and ~ 10,000 feet of climbing.) Maybe some day I will do SOS without handicapping myself...
Overall Strategy:
With these goals, I elected to use a “two-tier” approach to my training – developing speed for performance at half-iron distance (that would include both flat and hilly courses) and developing the strength and endurance to gracefully finish the AZ-SOS Epic. (More on this in another blog entry.)
30 April: Dual Against Cystic Fibrosis:
This sprint duathlon included: 2-mile run/12-mile bike/2-mile run. This inaugural event was locally produced by CM2 Promotions (John McGovern and Kurtis Nordahl). The weather was spectacular, as well as the course. We staged in the church parking lot of historic Huguenot Street Huguenot Street Wallkill River Springtown Road
My “tandem training” at the time meant that I was developing speed for this event, while building base for American Zofingen Long Course Duathlon 2 weeks later. Ah! If all of my races for the 2011 season went as well as this one did... Not sure if the run course was accurate, as I ran 13:07 for the first run, and 13:25 for second run (which included my bike-to-run transition time). This was a real confidence booster! I easily won my Age Group.
15 May: American Zofingen Duathlon:
American Zofingen (AZ) is also produced by CM2 Promotions. This was the 6th annual edition. AZ offers 3 distances, using the same course: For the run, a 5-mile trail loop (including 500 feet of ascent/descent) and for the bike, a 28-mile road course (including 2,500 feet of ascent/descent, with a few short grades of 14%). The “sprint distance” is a run/bike/run. (10 miles run, 28 miles bike.) The middle distance is an “F-1 Format”: run/bike/run/bike/run. (15 miles run, 56 miles bike.) The long course is a classic format: run/bike/bike/bike/run/run/run. (20 miles run, 84 miles bike.) The long course is arguably the most challenging duathlon in North America .
I chose the Middle Distance again this year. In the past I’ve done the Long Course, the Middle Distance and (as mentioned above) I did the “Iron TT” on my own. I enjoy the run-bike “ping-pong” of the F-1 format used for the Middle Distance.
Every time in the past that I have done AZ, the weather has been beautiful. On this day, we paid our dues: We had steady rain and fairly cool temps. I chose to ride my steel-frame Serotta road bike, given the weather, topography and the sketchy condition of the road surface. I elected to do the runs in Vibram 5-Fingers (the Bikila models). Even on the first loop of the run, the trails were soupy and slick. Somewhere around the 3-mile point on the first run, I had an encounter with a rock that resulted in a broken toe (4th metatarsal, left foot). I soldiered on.
The most difficult element of the this race turned out to be putting on the muddy 5-Fingers and running the first mile of each of the remaining runs. After that, the pain diminished. I knew I could finish the race with the broken toe, as long as I did not look at it (I had Injinji toe socks on) and did not stop long enough for it to begin swelling.
After a stellar result at Dual Against CF, my performance at AZ was... dismal. The trails got progressively worse on the runs and the “V-5-F’s” provided no traction. (At least they were not sucked off my feet in the mud, as experienced by some athletes with conventional shoes.) However, trail conditions did not offer a valid excuse for my performance, since many athletes still posted respectable splits. But I survived, and I finished! AZ has a reputation for attrition, and this year saw more DNF’s than usual. I was (mistakenly) awarded the male 50-54 AG 3rd place Beer Steiner. I was actually 4th in AG. (I alerted Race Director John McGovern. He elected to let me keep it as the “broken toe award”.) That completes my collection AZ Steiner collection! I now have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place Steiners!! ...Was it worth a broken toe?
AZ was to serve as a tune-up for the Rev-3 Half Iron 3 weeks later. Instead, it served as the demise. At the AZ finish line, I dunked my left foot (still shod in the “V-5-F”) in a bucket of ice water. When I got home, I finally looked at my toe. It was tweaked off to the side, many glorious shades in the blue-purple-red spectrum. I did not run for 3 weeks and had to abort Rev-3.
17 July: Musselman Half Iron:
This half iron triathlon is held in Geneva , NY
In the lead-up to Musselman, I finally resumed running 05 June – a 15-minute cautious evaluation. (This was a transition run after a 6-hour bike that consisted of 12 hill repeats on Mountain Rest Road
That first week back was very conservative – both in volume and intensity. It did include one session of hill repeats (strength), and one session at the SUNY track – 8X100M repeats (speed). My toe was still swollen and sore, but the runs did not aggravate it further. That gave me 3 weeks to prepare for the half-marathon run at Musselman. My focus was to regain strength for the hills and a modicum of speed. I was confident in building hill strength, but skeptical in regaining speed. I can develop running speed, but it is consistent, gradual and long-term process.
My first “long run” was actually a string of runs within a “ping-pong” session: a bike-run-bike-run-bike-run. The bike sessions consisted of hill repeats on Mountain Rest Road
My three key track workouts leading up to Musselman (besides a weekly session of 100-meter repeats) focused on developing half-marathon run speed in the heat. The culmination was 8 X 1-mile repeats averaging 7:50 per mile (uh, run speed?), with 400 meter recoveries. I ran one 2-hour run with long hills, the day after a 4-hour quality bike session during a weekend in Lake Placid .
My bike workouts throughout the season have been consistent and effective. Most of my quality sessions are on the stationary stand, on the Cervelo P3 tri-bike. The key sessions consist of threshold repeats, each 10-20 minutes in duration, always followed by a half-iron race pace run 20-40 minutes in duration (other than the 4 weeks of broken toe.) In each training cycle, I also execute one or two stationary sessions with 8-to-12 20-second intervals with 10 seconds rest between (known as “Tabatta Intervals”). And of course, I frequented Mountain Rest Road
I must confess, with so much investment in recovering my run, my swim workouts were not consistent. Key workouts were primarily ladder repeats (either 800/400/200/100 or 400/200/100/50 yards) using a Tempo Trainer and focusing on maintaining stroke length. As I descended the distance ladder, I would decrease my tempo (increase cadence) by .04 seconds. (For example: 800 @ 1.20, 400 @ 1.16, 200 @ 1.12, 100 @ 1.08.) Then I would repeat the ladder, with the tempo for each repeat .02 seconds faster. (The 800 @ 1.18, 400 @ 1.14, etc.)
The race result was no surprise: 75th out of 700 overall. 100th fastest swim, 57th fastest bike, 151st fastest run. It was a lackluster run – I dealt well with the heat and the distance, but just did not have the speed. The result was a 4th in AG.
This was a perspective race: I was grateful for the health to race. After all, Betsy had broken her foot 3 weeks prior and cheered me on hobbling around on her crutches!
07 August: Cayuga Lake Triathlon:
I decided to make the trip from New Paltz to Ithaca NY Tompkins-Cortland Community College Ithaca
FLRTC served as the site for packet-pickup the day before the race. For me, assisting others the day before the race has become a tradition. It started in Lake Placid , working long hours every day leading up to Lake Placid Ironman (at High Peaks Cyclery) and then doing the race. Every year, I help out a Catskill Mountain Multisport the day before AZ.
I was able to gain late entry into the Olympic Distance race – YAY! This would serve as a perfect tune-up before Pigman. Ian Golden, owner of FLRTC, suggested I race in the Open Elite Amateur Division, rather than my AG. After all, lots of the local triathletes were racing Open. I took the bait – after all, a first wave swim start meant a clear path in the water and an open road on the bike.
This is another incredible race with a scenic course and a brilliant Race Director – Jane Miller. I love the Finger Lakes Region – there is a special energy here. I am so grateful to experience that energy – as an athlete and now... as a community member! I felt redeemed by my results at CLT. I finished 17th overall (and would have been first in AG). Even my run was... just about respectable.
21 August: Pigman Triathlon:
Pigman Triathlon was 2 weeks after Cayuga Lake , and 3 weeks before the AZ-SOS Epic. This made my training design complex – recovering enough for a great result at Pigman, but training enough for the 2-Day Epic. Five days after Cayuga Lake Triathlon, I solved the challenge of training for these 2 races simultaneously - I fell off my bike and cracked a rib.
For the next 5 days, I continued to train and then begin to taper for Pigman. However, the rib reacted adversely to swimming and running sessions – I had no problem executing them, but “heard” a lot of complaining afterward. On Wednesday, four days before Pigman, I cancelled my air, car and room reservations. Even though I was well-tapered, it wasn’t just the rib that factored in: Betsy and I still had to pack and move 4 days after my scheduled return. And I had to prepare for AZ-SOS!
I got up the next day, Thursday, and headed out for a 6-hour training in my favorite area – the Mohonk Preserve. I did a total of 9 ascents on Mountain Rest Road
I will post at least 2 more entries as in these final 2 weeks before AZ-SOS. One will examine my training in a bit more detail, the other will examine the strategy I am developing for this. Stay tuned! - zenman
