Double Du Weekend

Saturday - Beloit Duathlon (1.8m, 10.4m, 1.8m)

Saturday morning was the annual Beloit Du, a race I've done every year since 2007.  The weather was perfect - sunny and warm with light winds.  

Quick race report - I came into T1 in third.  I took over the lead on the bike pretty early, but got passed about the halfway mark.  I repassed for the lead with a few miles to go but couldn't pull a gap and came into T2 just in front of second.  I lost the lead coming out of T2 and that was it.   2nd place this year.


Sunday - Delafield Duathlon (3.1m, 17m, 3.1m)

 

Another beautiful morning - warm, sunny skies and light winds.  This was the inaugural race and they did a great job. The race took place at the St. John's Military Academy, which was a great venue for a race like this.  

With this being my second duathlon of the weekend, and this race being nearly twice as long, my goal was pacing.  I wanted to test out my goals (mainly the run) for my next olympic distance tri a bit, so I went into the race aiming to run about a 6:30 pace for both runs and bike about 90%.  

Run 1 (20:11 - 6:30 pace)

I was in the last wave and headed out slow and built into a 6:30 pace, which I held the entire time.  It felt surprisingly comfortable.  I just stuck to that pace and chased down as many people from earlier waves as I could.  The run course was awesome.  We ran on some roads, sidewalks, then on boardwalk and then on a golf course.  I was loving it.  Very fun. 

A rare pic of me smiling in a race (heading into T1).

Bike (41:03) 

I had a smooth transition and headed out on the bike with the goal of starting out easy and building my effort throughout the ride.  After a few easy minutes, I cranked it up a bit and could instantly feel yesterday's duathlon and the first run in my legs so I dialed it back a bit and held it there the rest of the ride.  Honestly, the bike was pretty easy.  I finished with an IF of about .85 and was very surprised to later find out I set the fastest bike split of the day. That is the result of the work I've done improving my position.  I can't quantify the difference, but I'm definitely going faster on less power this year.  Working on my aerodynamics is paying off.

Heading out of T1  - slipping into my shoes.

Run 2 (19:19 - 6:20 pace - run was a tad short)

I started out the run just under a 6:30 pace with the hope of stepping up the pace a bit, but first I wanted to settle in and see how my legs responded.  I was in second with the leader in sight, but I had passed someone from my wave late in the ride so I knew he put a fair amount of time on me on the first run so he was a runner and would be chasing me down.  I was slowly gaining on the leader so I gradually increased my pace and chipped away at his lead.  I passed him about 3/4 of a mile into the run, right before we turned onto the golf course, so then I just put my head down and started pushing.  My legs were really heavy at this point and I was ready to be done.  I was running along the fairway on a long, gradual uphill and had to fight hard to keep my pace.  I was hurtin'. 

About the two mile mark, the guy I passed late in the bike caught up to me.  The words of running coach Jack Daniels came to me, which worked for me late in the race at IMWI, "When struggling....speed up."  Just as he tried to pass, I surged and took the lead back.  He hung with me but I remained in the lead for the next mile.  There was a small hill that brought us out of the golf course and onto the roads that lead to the finish line.  I attacked it hard trying to put a few seconds on him and that put a serious hurting on me.  As we neared the finish line, he put in a surge and took over the lead.  I did my best to respond, and we sprinted to the finish, but he got me by 5 seconds.  Even though I lost the race at the very end, I was really happy with my results.  I paced the race really well, negative split the runs, ran a 6:11 pace on the third mile of the second run (this proves I have more running speed in the tank and possibly need to learn how to suffer more on the run), set the second fastest second run split, and had a lot of fun.  He was flat out a better runner than I am, and duathlon wins often go to the runners, but I gave him a run for his money and made him earn it so I'm happy about that.  And my running is improving.

2nd Overall.

The Delafield Duathlon was a great race and assuming I can fit it into my schedule next year, I'll be back.  It was well-run, and I loved the course.  Double duathlons was a fun and tough challenge.

After the race, I headed out for a 50 mile ride to New Glarus.  I was riding easy and enjoying the weather when, about 20 miles from home, I looked back and saw a nasty thunderstorm closing in on me.  Oh crap....nothing like being an hour from home with very tired legs and a storm brewing.  I pushed hard and did my best, but couldn't out-run the storm.  It was one of the worst storms I've biked in.  Hail, heavy rain and very strong winds.  Fortunately, I had a tailwind.  It was so strong, I was passing traffic in Verona doing 38 mph on flat ground. Things got a little sketchy, but I made it home safely....completely soaked.

Riding hard at the end of that ride was the straw that broke my legs...as if double duathlons wasn't enough.  I've spent the majority of the week trying to recover from the weekend.  But it was a fun weekend so it was worth having heavy legs for a few days.

Next up:  The Cooney Duathlon tomorrow - 2m, 21m, 2m.  The Delafield Du was all about the run for me so I think I'm going to make the Cooney Du all about the bike and test myself there a bit. 

Note to Mother Nature - Seriously?  This was the second time in May that I had to bike through hail.  Enough already.  Cut us a little slack....please.

Learning To Time Trial

There's a Thursday night time trial series in Madison, and every year I do a few of them.  I also try to do a couple of the MATTS (Mid America Time Trial Series) time trials every year.  

I've typically done okay at them, but never great. I've never won my AG or category at a MATTS race.  There's always someone faster.

This year, I've decided to change that.  I'm putting a bigger focus on becoming a good time trialist.  No more just showing up with my ironman set up and doing the best I can.  This year I'm putting some real effort into it and trying to see if I can be more competitive.  I'm planning on doing about 7 or 8 of the MATTS races.  I want to win my category or AG (I race either Cat 4 or M35-39) in at least one of them, make the top 10 overall in at least one TT and break 55 minutes at the WI State Championship 40K.

To start, I've been tweaking my position on the bike.  Gone is my ironman set up.  I'm still working on my fit and making adjustments, but this is the first round of adjustments....

Big difference.

   

I've lowered the bars quite a bit and brought my arms closer together.  I need to head out for some aero field testing and make some tweaks, but this is a good starting point.

I've also changed my training a bit.  With no ironman on the schedule, I'm doing less volume on the bike and working in more VO2 Max work and anaerobic work.  

My first test came a few weeks ago at the Cherry Valley 20K TT.  I raced this one a few times when it was a 30K so I was familiar with the course and knew what to expect.  When I signed up I was feeling ambitious and I signed up to race twice - once in the Cat 4 division and again in the Masters 35-39 division.  My goal was to win Cat 4 and just do my best on my second TT.

Race day was tough.  It was in the low 40s and the winds were howling.  The course is an out and back (more out than back since the start and finish lines aren't in the same place) with the way out dead into the head wind.  

The winds were brutal.  I did my best to keep my head down and just focus on my power. I came into the turn around a little too fast and hit a slick spot in the road and locked up my rear wheel and slid sideways a bit.  Not smooth.  It didn't cost me a lot, maybe a few seconds, so that's something to work on for future TTs.  

The way back had a tailwind which sucked as well.  I was spinning out and my legs were burning.  It was definitely better than the headwind, but far from easy.  In the end, my power was lower than I wanted and my time wasn't close to what I originally thought I could do on that course.  But with the winds, I knew times would be slow so I had no idea how I placed.

Twenty minutes later I had my second TT and my legs were shot.  My power was down about 20 watts from my first TT and I finished more than a minute slower.  I didn't have any goals for that race so I hoped it was good enough to keep me out of last place.  

The results:

Very happy to see I won the Cat 4 division.

 

I was surprised to see I won Masters 35-39.  Small group.

I'm really happy with this first TT of the year.  I proved I can win the Cat 4 division, which is encouraging, but I was still well out of the top 10 overall.  They only listed the top 6 fastest, but I was nearly a minute slower so I have lots of work to do.  

The top 6 overall.

Race Report: Rev3 Knoxville Oly

Brrrr........

Rev3 Knoxville was my first olympic distance tri in 5 years, my first triathlon of the year and my first Rev3 event.  My goals for the race were pretty moderate considering I haven't raced an oly in several years.  I wanted to get one under my belt, see where I am and go from there.  I was hoping to break 23 minutes on the swim, average 90% of FTP on the bike (which should have been about an hour bike split), run under 42 minutes and make the top 3 in my age group.

Then I saw the forecast - low 50s and rain with a water temp of 58 degrees.  At this point, I threw out the bike goal and decided to go conservative and not risk crashing and ruining my whole season.  I also decided to take the time in transition to put on arm warmers and gloves.  

Saturday Practice Swim.  "It's cold."

"It's so cold.  Don't make me get in."

 

The Swim:  (21:31)

Race morning.  The last time I would smile until after the race.

The swim started a little rough.  I started on the left and about a minute into the swim the cold water got to me and I was having a hard time breathing.  I was gasping for breath so I decided to side stroke a bit and catch my breath and calm down.  A little bit of that and I got back to it and after a few minutes I got used to the cold water and was good to go the rest of the swim.  This was definitely the least amount of contact I've had in any triathlon race.  I was swimming in clean water most of the time.  

It's a river swim so you swim against the current for about a 1/3 of the swim and then with the current the rest of the way.  I broke 23 minutes like I wanted, but probably should have broken 21.  Overall, I'm happy with my swim but have some things to work on for my next race.

Things to work on:  Drafting, sticking closer to the buoys (I swam a little wide and tacked on some distance) and swimming harder (I can definitely push harder than I did - too used to Ironman pace).

Heading toward transition

 
 Transition:  (4:31)

There's a pretty long run from the swim exit to transition and my right quad started cramping up (odd - this has never happened before - maybe it was from the cold water?) which had me a little concerned about the rest of the race.  I took time to put on arm warmers and thin wool gloves.  Otherwise, transition went pretty smooth.  I got out of my wetsuit pretty quickly thanks to cutting it and using a lot of Body Glide and Tri Slide.  

The Bike:  (1:08:47)

Ugh.  The bike sucked.  About a mile in I dropped my chain.  That probably cost me about a minute because I couldn't get that thing back on without getting my gloves caught up in the chainring.  After that, I got under way and tried to push the pace but it was tough.  It was

Heading out on the bike.  Brrr....

raining pretty hard and I could hardly see.  There were big puddles and I started playing it safe and sitting up a lot and that cost me quite a bit of time.  My right quad wasn't much of an issue but it did get a little twitchy from time to time and threaten to cramp.


By the halfway point, I was so cold my teeth were chattering on the fast sections.  It was easily the coldest, most-miserable triathlon bike ride I've ever done.  In the end, I was nearly 40 watts lower than I should have been and my bike split was slower than I expected.  I figured going conservative would give me a 1:05 ish split.  I obviously went too conservative....but I lived to race again another day so I'm not too disappointed.  

Things to work on:  Not sure.  Since I went conservative it's hard to say where I could have improved.

Transition:  (1:24)

Not much to say.  Being so cold I struggled a bit getting into my run shoes, but otherwise transition went pretty smooth.

Heading out of T2....numb.

The Run:  (41:42)

My feet felt like bricks throughout most of the run because they were completely numb from the bike.  My right quad had loosened up at this point and wasn't much of an issue.  I thought I would warm up but I never really did.  I was cold the whole time and had worked my way into no man's land so there was a big group way ahead of me and I had a decent gap on the group behind me so I was alone most of the run.  I don't know if the cold affected my run or not.  I hit my target of sub 42 so I'm happy about that but I finished feeling like I could have pushed harder.

The finish.

Things to work on:  Push harder.  Suffer more.

Overall:  2:17:56.  3rd Age Group. 

My overall time isn't what I had hoped for, but I had a lot of positives during the race and it was a tough day so I'm happy with where I am.  I did some things right and if you compare this to my last olympic tri back in 2008 this was a huge PR so that's good.  I hit my swim and run goal and got top 3 in my age group which I wanted.  And now that I know I can podium in my age group at the olympic distance it's time to see if I can work my way up the podium. 

Score.  Age group award, new Blue Seventy goggles and Powerbars.

One thing I need to work on is just simply going harder.  I know I can race at a higher intensity for 2 hours so I need to work on that for my next olympic distance race, which is about 7 weeks away so I have plenty of time.


As for this being my first Rev3....they put on an awesome race.  Knoxville is a great venue for a race.  With better weather, this race would have been incredible.  Transition is in a parking garage so it's covered and we were able to park right above my bike so that was convenient.  World's Fair Park makes for a great finish line and Rev3 puts on a great race.  I'll definitely come back next year.

My next olympic tri is in Canada - Muskoka 5150.
     

 

Race Report: Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon

 When I originally signed up for this race a couple of months ago, I set a goal of 1:25.  I felt it was a realistic goal, yet aggressive enough to push my limits.  As I got into my training, it became clear 1:25 wasn't going to happen, especially on a hilly course.  I just wasn't hitting my times and the weather was making training tough.  I broke through and a couple of really good workouts and hit some of my goal times in the final couple weeks of training, but it was too little too late.  I adjusted my goal to 1:28.

After getting to Kentucky and driving the course the day before the race, I adjusted my goal to 1:30.  I knew the course would be hilly, but I didn't expect it to be THAT hilly.  I clearly had not run enough hills. 

Race Morning at Keeneland.

Race Day-

This has been the worst spring I can remember.  The weather has been absolutely dreadful.  Fortunately, race day was the exception - mostly sunny skies, a high of 60, green grass....exactly what I needed.  A little blast of spring.

The race started and I went out at a 6:50 pace and felt really good.  The course is constant rollers, some pretty steep, with a few big climbs.  I felt good on the rollers in the first couple of miles and was feeling confident I could hold that pace.  

By the halfway point, the hills had taken the snap out of my legs.  They were feeling a little heavy and I had fallen off pace a little.  I knew with several tough climbs left, I wouldn't be able to make up my lost time on the second half of the race so I adjusted my goal to finish with a sub-7 average pace.

A long, steep climb around mile 9 did me in.  I lost several seconds on my average on that climb and struggled to get my pace below 7 after that climb.  My legs were tired and my quads were hurting from the downhills.  This was by far the hilliest course I'd ever run.  All goals were out the window and it was survival mode.

The last 4 miles were really tough.  I felt slow, tired and weak.  Mentally it was tough to keep pushing hard.  I hit the finish line 1:33:30 with my quads threatening to cramp.  I grabbed some food and water from the finish line, did some stretching and found a good spot to watch and wait for Courtney and enjoy the warm sunshine.  My legs hurt more than they do after a half ironman.  

Courtney has always struggled mentally with hills.  They always get the best of her and she ends up walking so her #1 goal was to run the whole thing.  Her other goal was to break 2:20.  I told her the first goal was well within her control.  All she had to do was get really stubborn and flat out refuse to walk regardless of how slow she was running up the hills.  Just don't give in.  The second goal would be tougher, but I believed she could do it.

She conquered the hills and ran every step of that race and crossed the finish line 2:18.  She had a great race.  

Despite coming up well short of my goals, I'm not at all disappointed.  The course was really tough and I had fun.  And I have a new definition of a hilly run course.

Best awards ever.

Even though the course is tough, it's amazing.  I loved it and am considering running it again next year.  It starts and ends at a race track and runs you by some of the best horse farms in the country.  The roads were in great shape and the scenery was awesome.  I saw about 4 spectators out on the course, other than the thoroughbreds, and not a single car. The race was really well-run and the race director was really good.  I highly recommend this race. 

Check out the barrels.  Those are the age group awards.  I think I was about 6 minutes short of taking one of those home.  It makes me want to return next year and see if I can score a barrel...

   
 
 

An Update

It's been a while since I've posted.  So much for my New Year's Resolution of being a better blogger.  Maybe next year.

I've got a few ideas for posts for the next week or so, but I thought I'd start with a quick update since I haven't written in a while.

Winter has been typical.  Training is going well, although my run training didn't go as well as I'd hoped.  I'm training for a hilly half marathon at the end of March, and it looks like I'm not going to be able to hit my goal of 1:25.  I haven't fully given up on it yet, but my training isn't indicating I'm going to hit that time on a hilly course.  

Part of the reason is that I spent too much time on the treadmill this winter.  I tried to avoid the cold weather and paid for it.  I don't care what anyone says, the treadmill does not prepare you for outdoor running.  So as a result, I didn't hit my times on a few key workouts.  Then I got a case of runner's knee that cost me a few days of running.  I'm feeling pretty good right now, but I'm a little behind my plan so I may have to adjust my goals.  The race is just for fun so it's not really that disappointing.  My main focus this year is olympic distance triathlons and my first race is coming up  - Rev3 Knoxville on May 5 - and I feel like I'm on target to hit my goals at that race so all is good.

My cycling is going really well, and I've set some PRs already this year.  I've got a 20K time trail coming up in a few weeks so that will be my first real test of the year so I'm looking forward to that.

Swimming is okay.  I haven't put as much time in the pool as I did last winter, but I just swam my best set of 500s ever yesterday so I'm feeling good about where I'm at with my swimming right now.

That's about it.  Business as usual.
 

 

TrainingPeaks Tip: Workout Codes

I mentioned a few posts back when I announced I made the TrainingPeaks team that I was going to write the occasional post with a TrainingPeaks tip.  This is the first of those posts.  I have no plan for them.  I'll just throw out the random tip from time to time.


Now that I'm getting into coaching, I had to create a new TrainingPeaks account.  You don't just upgrade your personal account.  You create a coaching account and then you can link your personal account to your coaching account.  Talk about the ultimate in self-coaching.

Having a coaching account means my workout library was empty.  I could have shared my personal one with "Coach Mike" but I opted to rebuild it instead.  This was an opportunity to clean things up and set up a better system.

We all have workouts we repeat.  They're workouts, but they're also tests.  These workouts help us track our progress, and can sometimes be a better indicator of progress than official tests because we only test occasionally and if the test doesn't go well, for whatever reason, it doesn't provide a good data point. 

The problem can be finding these workouts, especially if you want to compare current data to previous years.  How do you quickly and easily find all of your 2x20 workouts?

That's where workout codes come in.

Trainingpeaks.com and WKO+ come with search and filter options that help you find these workouts quickly and easily, but you have to set things up on the front end.  If there is a workout you do often that you use to track progress, I recommend giving it a workout code.  Then you can search by that code and pull up all of the times you've done that workout.  

Rebuilding my workout library has had me thinking about workout codes.  I came up with a system and I think will work well.  I'm starting the codes with letters that indicate the type of workout and then I'm adding a dash and numbers to some workouts to add a little more detail.

Here's an example:  BTH-220.  That code is for a 2x20' at threshold workout.  The "B" is for bike (run workouts begin with R, swim with an S).  The "TH" stands for threshold so that indicates it's a threshold workout.  The "220" after the dash stands for 2x20.  

So now that I have a code on that workout, I can easily search for that code and pull up all the times I (or an athlete I'm coaching) have done that workout.  You can also search for partial codes, which is part of the reasoning for my system.  If I want to pull up all threshold workouts I just type in "BTH".  Adding the "-220" to the code allows me the option of narrowing the search down even more and comparing just 2x20 workouts. 

You don't need a code for every workout, recovery workouts probably don't need a code, but I recommend them for key "breakthrough" workouts.  I'm adding them for every workout simply because I'm rebuilding my library and it's easy enough to add a code. And your codes don't need to be as specific as mine.  You could just type in "Threshold" for all threshold workouts. 

Here's a screenshot where I searched for all 2x20 workouts within the last 3 months.  You'll see down on the lower left of the screen where you can type in workout codes.

Searching for all 2x20 workouts in the past 3 months.

Here's a search for the same workout in WKO+.

Searching for workout codes in the calendar view of WKO+

If you're in trainingpeaks.com and you want to add or change workout codes to existing workouts, you can easily do that in the calendar list view.  Just click in the workout code box and add or change a code. 

 

Below you can see where you can add codes (at the top) to the workout builder.  You can get there by either creating a new workout for your library or clicking on an existing workout and then clicking edit.  Once you have workout codes for your library, you just drag and drop those workouts onto your calendar and the codes will be there when you upload your workouts.  Quick and easy.

You can add workout codes next to the title in the workout builder.

 
 
 

A Coaching Offer

Half the fun of triathlon for me is putting together my training plan.  I love reading about training - the different methods, the great coaches, the science, the studies, etc.  In fact, I enjoy that side of the sport so much I've been thinking about getting into coaching for a couple of years now. With my focus being on the Olympic distance for 2013 I'll be scaling back my training hours so I think the time is right to give it a go.

Obviously, a coach needs athletes so I'm looking for a couple of athletes to coach for 2013.  The cost is $35 per month.

What you get:

- A customized annual training plan built around your goals, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
- Weekly workouts
- Feedback/workout analysis
- Power file analysis (if you have a power meter)
- E-mail/phone support
- "A" Race plan - help with nutrition plan, pacing, goals, etc.
- TrainingPeaks Premium subscription


What I want from you:

- To follow the plan.

- Feedback.



Why $35 per month:

- Even as a TrainingPeaks ambassador, the coaching edition won't be free for me so I'll have some fees associated with coaching.
- I believe people take training plans/coaching more seriously if they're paying for them.



What type of athlete am I looking for:

- Someone motivated. Despite the low cost, I would like athletes who are serious about making improvements.
- Someone willing to follow the plan and provide feedback. This is a test to see if I can coach others to hit their goals, and the test is no good if athletes don't follow the plan.  

- Preferably someone training with power and/or gps, although this isn't a must. 


Are you interested?

- If so, shoot me an email at mdwolfgram146 at gmail dot com.
- Include a little about you, your racing/training history, your goals/races for 2013 and if you train with power and/or gps.
- I'll pick a few people that I think will be a good fit and we'll go from there.  To start, I only want a couple of athletes. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.


I hope I covered everything.  If you have any questions, email me.