"Galena Triathlon"

Where do I start?  I’ve fallen a little behind as this month has been nothing short of insanity when it has come to my racing and training schedule…. I’ll go over Galena in this post and follow up with the other races.  So Galena went just awesome, it was my first real triathlon with full equipment and it did not disappoint! 

The morning started early as my brother Nate and nephew Gavin picked me up around 5pm and made our way across the bridge to Galena… on the way to the T1 (transition 1) beach I got my first view of the biking course and it confirmed my suspicion that this would be a very challenging course.  I was not complaining though as the views were just as breathtaking as the hills would be during the race.  Once there I registered, dropped my gear and we headed back out to T2 which was in Galena.    This would be my only complaint about the race, having the transitions in two different locations that were 15 miles apart caused a logistics nightmare… very lucky for me I had Nate there to drive me.  I got my run gear dropped and hopped on the last shuttle back to the beach.

On the shuttle ride to the start I was pressed for time so I put on my wetsuit mid-ride.  The shuttle arrived at the beach a minute or two before 9am and I had a 9:03 start so I sprinted to the beach and chatted with some friends quick before prepping to start my race.  I will mention I had some great last minute tips given to me by a very nice guy riding the shuttle with me to the start… I was nervous asking questions and coming off as a newbie and he was very cool and really steadied my nerves before the start. 

I took off in the swim portion toward the front of the pack, I’m pretty confident in my swimming ability and didn’t have any reservations pushing myself up to get a good position.  What I did not expect was the cold temp of the water made me instantly start gasping for air, this combined with my goggles fogging up made the first 100 yards or so a little scary…  I flipped over, hit backstroke for a bit and removed my goggles only to find I was still sitting in good position… I slowly got my breathing into rhythm and caught a couple people toward the end finishing 7^th.  I ran up the beach and transitioned smoothly although a little slow into the bike.

Off on the bike I tried to put myself on cruise control and enjoy the race.  I’ve only had my road bike for about a month and have barely been able to get on it, I knew this would be my weak area and decided to take it easy rather than pushing myself and getting injured.  The ride was awesome, there were many hills but I tackled them fine, I only averaged about 15mph and came in the middle of the pack but I was just fine with that… I transitioned a little quicker into the run and took off for the final leg.

Running is obviously my strong suit and I took off out of the gate at a 5:30 pace… I felt very strong right until I looked up and realized I had a 150 foot hill barreling down on my to start the running leg.  I shortened up my stride and powered up the hill passing a few on the way, I then settled into a comfortable running pace and finished off the remainder of the course running strong but under control… my average was 6:28 which I was just fine with.

Upon finishing the race I felt just awesome and was delighted to see my DRC friends cheering me onto the finish!!   I knew right away I was hooked and have been thinking about doing my next one ever since.  I learned a lot and possibly the most important thing was I learned I have a lot more to learn…  I am determined to train hard and improve and look forward to seeing how I progress this year.

"MY FIRST TROPHY"

I hit my sub 18!!!!    As previously discussed I had the MVRA Heritage Trail Run this past weekend and I was gunning for a PR of sub 18.  I followed through with one hell of a race, I was very proud of myself as I pretty much perfectly executed my plan and nailed my splits pretty much to the second on pacing!   Normally I have many regrets after a race, most are about my 2^nd mile where in the past I've slowed down about 10 seconds.  Saturday I pushed through and managed to hit a 5:40 even with the turnaround point and I was very happy about that!

As the title suggests I also won my first trophy!... well first one as an adult anyway.   I was pretty excited going into the race Saturday that I would get to run behind some faster runners, I've won the last three 5K races I've run in and funny as it may sound, I was looking forward to trailing some quick guys and pushing myself to try and catch them.  Well for whatever reason those guys did not show up for the run and I was able to get out in front and pretty much carry the lead the entire race… I’ll be honest I probably would not have been that happy winning the race if I didn’t hit my goal time but being I ran a 17:52 without having someone pushing me was very exciting.  So I got my trophy and an interview for the paper in which I sounded a little air headed… but hey, I’ve been in the paper for worse so I’ll take it! J  

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"Race Season is Upon Us"

So another week has gone by in rapid fashion!!  Marathon training is cruising along great and I’m inching my way up on mileage, this past week was right around 70 miles and approaching the max for this plan.  I had the weekend off racing so I got a couple great workouts instead… Saturday I did my first brick workout of the year for triathlon training;  I’ll go into more detail below but had a great time and look forward to doing more as the weeks progress.  I also got my new wetsuit in this week so I’m itching to try it out in some open water!  I went with the X-Terra Vector Pro which comes highly recommended and although I’m very confident in my swimming ability, it’s nice to have the reassurance of good equipment.   So I’ve got a lot on my plate in the upcoming weeks, below is my schedule of events…

May 10^th – MVRA Trail Run  - 5K Race (Goal of hitting under 18 minutes)

May 17^th – Galena Triathlon – Sprint Tri (Goal of finishing strong and setting a benchmark)

May 24^th – Twilight 10K – 1^st Race of Madison Race Weekend (Goal of not tiring myself out for the race 10 hours later)

May 25^th – Madison ½ Marathon – (Goal of under 1:25)

SATURDAY – Brick Workout – 1 mile swim / 20 mile bike / 6 mile run

With the tri’s coming right around the corner I did my first brick workout on Saturday.  I got to the pool about 5:45, swam a quick mile (currently I’m around 28-30 minutes).  After the swim I hopped on the bike and cruised around town for the next hour or so until run club started at 7:30.. I was able to get a little less than 20 miles in.  I transitioned quick to the run and cranked out 6 miles with Shannon.  The swim to bike as expected was a very fluid transition and I felt just fine, the bike to run however always takes some work.  I felt a little sluggish for the first couple miles and experienced some shin tightness, this went away close to mile 3 and I was fine from then on out.   I felt great about the workout and encouraged since I did considerably more distance than my first tri of the season (660yrdswim/16milebike/4.3milerun).    I am itching to get outside and swim in open water though, my plan is to hook up with the Dubuque Triathlon Club in the next couple weeks and train with them Monday nights at Barrington once I join.

SUNDAY – Sunday Long Run – 21.07 Miles (8:06 avg)

This was my best long run yet in regards to how I felt throughout the run and after.  We started at OMB and went down Asbury, Grandview and to the Mine of Spain again. I was pretty impressed at the 8:06 average pace being that half the run was on the trails which add on a considerable amount of extra time.  The morning was misty and cool with rain hitting us the majority of the run, I was not complaining though as towards the end it felt just great.  I fueled with Honeystingers and also chowed down ½ of a Powerbar (trail mix flavor) which I handled just fine.  I started increasing the speed around mile 16 or 17 when we climbed the bike path to Grandview.. then the last 4 miles I kicked it in a bit to the finish (7:07, 6:44, 6:44, 6:35).  After I stopped I felt amazing and even went to the pool to get another short workout in.  I’m very happy with the way my body is adapting to the 20 mile plus runs, I’m getting to the point where I can continue my day without having to lay around dead tired all afternoon.    Hopefully this endurance will help me drop a decent ½ marathon time at Madison in three weeks, I’m excited to give it a shot.

TUESDAY – Brick Workout – 1 mile swim / 16 mile bike / 8 miles of running (speedwork and easy)

Tuesday was a series of good workouts (about 6 hours throughout the day), I hit the gym hard in the AM doing my lifting routine and a ½ mile swim.  After work I hopped on my bike and got a 16 mile bike ride in with Scott ending at the University of Dubuque where I ran some miles with the club and hit the track for some speedwork.  I did some mile repeats and hit in the 5:30’s so I was feeling prepped for Saturday… I cooled it down, biked back to the Y and swam another ½ mile cool down before heading home.   Now normally I run much further on Tuesdays (avg of 15 miles over last 6 weeks) but with the race Saturday and the upcoming tri’s I figured that I may cut back on the running and add more biking on my Tuesday workouts.  Oh, another Tuesday highlight was I received a box in the mail from Marion Marathon with an award for our first place relay win, a $50 visa gift card, free gear and a coupon for 100% free entry to next year’s race!  I am very excited and just thrilled to have netted $200 cash and 2 free race entry’s already this year, it is making my “hobby” much less expensive at the moment J

Wrapping up, the rest of this week I plan to take it easy, I’ll scout out the course sometime over the next couple days although there are not too many surprises with that race… I’ll also lay off the biking and do a little more swimming, hopefully my next update I’ll be able to say I hit my sub 18 5K race, wish me luck!!

"Miles are adding up"

Ok, getting a breather to catch up on this week... it’s been a good one, by Wednesday night I’ve already hit 48 miles running and feeling strong.  Not too crazy as far as mileage goes but it is combined with a pretty large amount of swimming, cycling and weight lifting so far this week.  Triathlons are around the corner and while I don’t normally talk too much about my non-running activities here I will plug them today as I feel I’m progressing pretty well.  I've got the continuous mile swim down and right now sitting about 28 minutes at a fairly comfortable pace… it’s a start and will keep working to improve that time.  I’m getting more comfortable on my bike as well, I recently purchased a Trek Madone 4.3 Road bike as I want to do a half Ironman next year and my mountain bike was not cutting it anymore, I’m hoping the weather warms up over the next few days so I can get it out a little bit more.  Galena Tri is the first of my list this year on May 17^th and I’m looking forward to breaking up the weekend race routine with a different kind of event… Ok, enough about tri’s, on to the running…

SUNDAY -  22.1 miles -  Long Run with Bill, Shannon and Scott

Link to Garmin Data on Sunday's run

So Sunday was quite the run, I did a total of 22 miles which was enough itself but to add to the challenge we ran in 45+ MPH wind gusts and pouring rain… add in a few nice hills and it made for a pretty fun morning.  This was definitely a run I will never forget as the wind was so strong it blew my had right off my head and almost tipped me over twice.  Despite the less than ideal conditions I continue to feel more comfortable with every 20+ mile run and I’m not feeling the ache in the muscles anymore that I used to at that distance.  This is a good thing as the month of May has 20+ mile long runs every weekend.   

TUESDAY – 18.7 miles – Hill Run with DRC

Link to Garmin Data for Tuesday's run

Tuesday night started nice and easy but eventually we turned up the heat… Scott and I had an easy 8 mile warm up around town which was perfect as the combination of the race on Saturday and the long run Sunday had my legs feeling a little sketchy.  We ran to UD and met the crew who decided to take a night off the track and run hills.  From there we did a 10 mile hill route that included Loras, West Locust, University, Hill and Bryant streets… it was an awesome run and I felt surprisingly fresh picking up the pace on the hills.  That being said I did make a pretty big mistake by not drinking enough water that day… I felt great during the run but minutes after crashed pretty hard, lucky for me it did not last long and once I got some food and water in me I got back to normal quick. 

(I hit 1,700 feet of elevation on this run which I believe is a new

WEDNESDAY – 7.27 miles – Mine of Spain

Link to Garmin data for Wednesday's run

Wednesday night was a nice relaxing run at the mines… I really enjoy the Wednesday trail runs after work, I feel it sorta hits my internal “reset button” which I need after the tough Tuesday night runs and long weekends.  I just love running trails, I used to run 75% of my mileage off road and am looking to get a large portion of miles out there again this year.  The soft surface of the wet trails felt amazing and the cool air really hit the spot.  A few miles in I crossed paths with Matt Jasper and Jason Charley, they were doing an early run before their trail group run at 6pm.  It was a lot of fun chatting and running with those two, especially nice to talk triathlons for a bit as I’ve been training pretty hard for the upcoming “Tri Season”.   I’m going to make a point to join a few of their Wednesday night runs this spring and summer as I think it would be a really good time.