Run the Bridge

For the past few Novembers I’ve traversed the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Camden Waterfront as part of the Run the Bridge 10K in Camden, NJ.  It has a great view of the Philly skyline, the whole running-on-a-bridge thing, and finally finishes in the baseball stadium in Camden.  This year, as usual, I would be joined by 3,000+ of my closest friends, but more importantly, it marked Lauren’s longest race ever.

The extra hour of sleep from Daylight Savings was welcomed with open arms, but it was still an early morning when the alarm went off.  After the usual granola, yogurt, banana, and Gatorade breakfast, it was time to hit the road.  Fall weather has definitely hit the area, so the pre-race was occupied with trying to stay warm and finally a little jog with Lauren over to the starting line.  The photographer caught us on our way over…

We settled into the crowd at the start and looked at the upwardly sloping bridge looming just ahead of us.  The bridge is about a mile and half across, so once you’ve completed an out-and-back loop on it, you’re already about 3 miles into the 6.2 mile race.  I told myself to push early, but not be disappointed with my time in the first mile, since you’re climbing a majority of the way.  Instead, I decided to focus on two mile increments as indications of my pace.

Mile 1-2 was exactly where I wanted to be on the clock, and gave me the opportunity to see Lauren cruising along in the other direction on the Bridge.  With few people to pace off of, I concentrated on maintaining contact with a runner in orange who had just passed me.  It served me well through miles 3-4, when the real pain began to creep in.

I was happy to be hitting my splits, but somehow I couldn’t maintain my pace over miles 5 and 6.  Most of my speed work lately has been geared toward the half marathon in December, so I’m hoping that’s all that was holding me back.  I’m sure I could have pushed a little harder as well because my Garmin data after the race showed that I was only running in heart rate zone 4 out of 5.  There is no need to race in a comfortable zone 4 over the last 2 miles of a 10k, so now I know to push it more down the closing stretch.

Finally, I rounded the corner into the stadium and picked off a guy who’d been hovering around me the whole race.  The amount of kick I had at the finished proved I’d been a bit too conservative in the latter stages of the race, but my time was still a two plus minute PR at this race.  (47:57 in 2007, 43:27 in 2008, 41:13 in 2009)  My fastest 10K still remains the run at the end of the DC Olympic Triathlon, but I think that course may have been a bit short.

However, my race was far from over as I booked it to the car to grab the camera and hopefully catch Lauren finishing strong.  I positioned myself just past mile 5 and hoped I hadn’t missed her yet.  In no time she came flying around the corner and I snapped a few shots of her zooming by.

 

I then took off for the stadium just in time to see her race in and not only beat her goal of breaking an hour, but finish under 59 minutes as well.  It was a really impressive first 10k, especially with work keeping her from training over the last week!

After grabbing some of the post-race snacks, we took a celebratory picture and headed off to enjoy a well-deserved brunch!

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Trimax Blue Marsh Triathlon

I recently bought a new aero (read: dorky) helmet that I found on-line for a great price.  Anxious to give it a try, I signed up for one last tri for 09.

Almost all of the local races were sold out for the year, but I found the Blueman Sprint in Reading, PA (about an hour away).  This small event looked perfect for my lack of training on the bike and in the pool. 

A very early morning found me on the road before six and to the race just after seven.  After a laid back check-in/registration I went through the usual pre-race routine and surveyed the site. 

When I said small earlier, I meant it.  This picture shows the entire transition area, as well as all of check-in.  However, the smaller races have a great feel to them that you can’t find elsewhere.  Heck, they were making course adjustments while giving the race briefing.  We were literally in the lake ready to start and they were making changes based on questions and feedback.

Speaking of the lake…when I arrived, the water was 72 degrees and the outside air was just cresting 44.  It made for some pretty cool views:

The little ball floating on the left was our starting point, and hidden away in the fog and mist way to the right was the next buoy.  From there we headed back to the large buoy that you can see, back to the ball, and then did the whole loop one more time.  It was supposed to be around .6 miles, but most people thought it was probably a little short.

Here is a quick comparison shot from the morning fog to after the race.  You can just see the far away buoy in the second picture, way off to the right.

After my best attempts to stay warm, I went for a quick 10 minute jog and then headed back to transition to make sure everything was in working order.

Here is a look at my helmet all ready to go on my bike and my minimal transition area.  Just shoes and my race number (122).  I’ve learned that you can save a ton of time in transition by just simplifying the whole process.  There is no need to worry about washing grass off your feet or putting on an extra layer.

Finally, it was time to start.  The water felt warm in comparison to the air temperature, so we all seemed pretty happy to get in.  The swim was uneventful for me, but I noticed I was just trailing the lead pack early on.  Quickly, my lack of swimming caught up to me and I found myself in a gap between the leaders and the trailing pack.  I did my best to settle into a groove and suffer through the two loops.  I came out of the water pretty much alone (18th overall), but I was happy to see most of the bikes still in transition.

I stripped off the wetsuit, had no trouble with the new helmet, and despite finding a spider under my cycling shoes, was off without too much incident.  The bike was a two loop course, totaling 13.5 miles.  It had some really challenging hills, but that always makes a race more rewarding for me.  My goal was to maintain a pace over 20 miles an hour.  On some of the descents I easily topped 30mph+.  Needless to say, I was dried off from the swim in no time.

I finished the bike with the 14th best time (20.4 mph), good enough to find myself sitting in 16th place overall.  After a rapid transition I was out for the run and quickly reeled in a big group and then left them without anyone tagging along for the ride.  I got a nice shout-out as I went by from the guy who was next to me in transition.

Again, the run was VERY hilly, but since I’ve been doing a lot of running lately and happen to like hills, I only saw it as an advantage and an opportunity to drop anyone who tried to keep up.  I remember hearing some footsteps and heavy breathing close to me on one of the climbs, but it quickly faded away when I was able to keep my turnover and pace high. 

Nearing the turnaround I realized that I hadn’t seen any runners heading the other direction.  Finally, I saw the leader looking very strong, and then I began to do a little counting…2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…wow, I was cruising along in 10th overall, with 9th only a bit ahead.  I reeled in number nine, but he had no intention of letting me run away from him.  I knew that number 11 was close behind as well, so the competition served us both well as it really upped the pace (later confirmed by the guy who finished behind us).  We raced the final mile side by side until I made a move with about .4 to go.  I didn’t get too far, and he then went ahead. 

We were really trucking at this point.  Easily a low 6 pace, if not 5s due to the downhill grade and the fact that we were nearly sprinting.  As with all sports, it comes down to the mental edge, and that’s where I lost it here.  He put a burst in that I covered, but I convinced myself I wasn’t going to be able to get around him.  He opened a bit of a gap until I got made enough at myself to really drop the hammer and get back to him.  However, it was too little too late and we rounded into the chute with him taking 9th and me a very happy 10th overall (with the 4th best run of the day)!

After catching my breath and a post race bagel/muffin/cookie (gotta restock those carbs!), I gathered my things and waited around for the awards ceremony.  To my surprise, I’d snagged 2nd place in my age group.  Who knows how well I could have done with my usual training load!  The age group award crosses off another 09 goal, and ends my tri season on a great note…even if I had a dorky helmet!

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How Not to Run a 5K 101

It only took a week for my body to tell me it was ready to go again.  I found myself navigating local sites for a sprint tri, a 5k…anything to let me go fast after having to race conservatively during the longer events.  Busy weekends and a busy schedule conspired to make a race with space remaining hard to find.  Finally, I stumbled onto an evening mid-week summer 5k series put on by the local running store.  Jerry from work was up for it, so that locked me in.

I’ve never had an event start later than 9:00 a.m., so the 7:00 p.m. start was sure to be an adjustment.  But, I do a lot of my runs after work, so there would be no excuses about being tired.  After an easy mile and three-quarter warm-up around the quaint neighborhood park, it was time to begin.

Local races have taught me to set-up closer to the front, less out of pride and more out of safety.  Despite my efforts, I managed to nearly tackle a small child (responsible parenting not included) and in turn trip the guy behind me…great start.  Whether due to adrenaline or fight-or-flight, I hit the gas early to get away from the crowds and settled in with a small pack for lap 1 of 3.  We were pushing the pace, but that’s what this race was all about for me.

Coming up on mile 1 I heard the chatter of coaches??? giving tips (stay with this pack, keep your head up, relax your arms) and instantly knew I was with a bunch of PR-seekers with quite a bit more training than the measly miles I had put in during July and early August.  As we hit the marker, they had a guy calling out times, and as he said “5:50!”, I knew I was in for a world of hurt for the next 2 miles and change.

Whether due to fatigue or out of sheer “I went how $*&#$*@ fast on that mile!” my body began to slowly give in to the lack of speed work and long runs.  A few stragglers passing me turned into a flood and mile two was through in about 6:30…quite a drop off.  As I hobbled into the final mile, all expectations were out the window, and I just hoped to finish on my feet, not my back. 

As I hit the closing stretch, I saw that by sheer luck or a slow clock, I still had a shot to keep it under 20:00.  Mustering what little strength I had remaining, I trotted through the finish in 19:49.  Drenched in the fruits of my 3.1 miles of labor, I cheered on Jerry and a few other friends as they came down the finishing chute.  The final results weren’t pretty, but I came in around 30th of 165. 

I was pretty happy to break 20 again, and it definitely rekindled a desire to keep working on speed and shoot for a sub-19 race as the temperatures begin to cool.  Nothing is on the schedule yet, but keep your eye out for a long-winded race report once it is!

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This Old Trunk

A few months ago, after a long search, I bought a large wooden trunk for the end of my bed.  Happy to have found the style and price range I was shooting for, I wasn’t too picky about the yellow/green paint it had on it.  However, this past weekend was my chance to channel my inner wood worker and refinish/repaint it to my liking.

It all began with a Friday evening trip to Lowe’s, and ended with primer, velvet brown paint, a paintbrush, various grades of sand paper, a sanding block, and the looming feeling that this was definitely going to take longer than anticipated.

I headed home to view my canvas one last time and take it to my makeshift workshop/garage.


Now began the long and arduous task of sanding down the old paint and any imperfections.  I opted to do it by hand, but by hour 2 I was kicking myself for not taking up Billy on his offer to use his electric sander…

 

  

Finally, whether through hard effort or by taking stock of how long I’d been sanding, it was time to apply primer.

  

 

After giving it a few hours to dry I rushed home just as the sun was dropping behind the trees in hopes of putting on a first coat and giving it the chance to dry overnight.  Painting was challenging enough, but doing so at dusk presented a rather unique hurdle…

 

 

The next morning I found that the humidity had severely hindered the drying process, and with huge storms threatening, I decided to bring the final stages into the apartment where I could do touch-ups and plug in a few fans.

 

After “drying” all day (the quotes are necessary because the humidity dragged the process out forever) I finally put it all back together to yield a finished product that I’m pretty happy with.  I probably should have done a second coat of velvet brown, but that sounds like a project for another weekend.

 

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Caught On Film

The DC Tri I did recently was really a world-class event.  They actually produce individual DVDs for those interested.  Take a look here for some low-resolution footage of my race.  Just scroll down the page a little and click on swim (to see my struggle with my wetsuit), bike, or run to see that portion.  Below are a few screen captures from those videos.

 

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Halfway There

With June in the books, I wanted to give a quick run-down of my totals for the month.  I’m hoping to keep up my training with long rides and by increasing my weekly runs from 5 to 6 miles (along with being diligent about long runs on the weekend).  My main goal being to have a stronger running base for the end of my races and maintaining my cycling fitness.  I’m hoping to find a few sprint tris and maybe a few road races to capitalize on my current training.

Swimming – 20,030 yards (59,050 for the year)
Biking – 336 miles (1,090 miles for the year)
Running – 69 miles (408 miles for the year)

My goals remain 2,000 miles on the bike and 750 miles running.  I’m still right on track for those!

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Official Philly Race Pictures

My previous post should have sufficiently warned you of what you are about to see…

 

  

 

Proceed at your own risk…as the photographer was positioned perfectly enough to catch the fall of Ryan (much like Rome, only sweatier), as I reached my (s)low point on the run and was passed back by Mr. No Shirt and Mr. Calf Sleeve (who said something inaudible to me after the race, leading me to think he was trying to chase me down).

 

Finally…the finish!

 

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