The Journey of 26.2 Miles

…begins with purple, orange, and green confetti!

I ran my first full marathon on Sunday, December 13:  The 40th Annual Dallas White Rock Marathon.  Weeks of training finally culminated in just under 4 hours and 13 minutes of running for 26.2 miles.

I have to say that Victory Plaza looks amazing in the darkness of pre-dawn.  Kathryn and I used the DART Rail and arrived there just around 7:00 AM on a cool and hazy morning.  After getting our bearings, I went for a 15-minute warm up jog.  About 20 minutes to race start, I kissed Kathryn goodbye and went to line up in my starting wave.  For some reason, they put me in the A wave even though I’m not particularly fast.  It was fun breaking through the B line to an open area.  Things filled up quickly though with almost 20,000 participants in the full, half, and relay events.

The race start was AMAZING!  There were people everywhere!  Smoke was shooting out above the starting line and multi-colored confetti was flying in the air!  I waved to the TV camera as we passed under it.  I’ve been told since that I made it on TV!  That never happens to me!  I also found Kathryn further along than I expected along the spectator fence.  She cheered me on and I whooped back.  I would not see her again for over 4 hours.

Some of the memorable moments along the course were…

• Chugging down Hall and Blackburn towards Turtle Creek.  I might have taken that a bit fast, but it was early and I was having fun.
• Speeding through the first relay exchange point and along Longview, Greenville, and Ellsworth between Miles 6 and 7.  This was some of my fastest running of the day.  I had the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing at this point.  I was running down the M Streets as the Fellowship were running to the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.
• Running through the marathon/half marathon cut off and yelling, “Go Halfers!”  Most, if not all, of the half marathon runners would be finished long before I returned to the finish line.
• The quad-killing downhill at Mile 9 as we approached the lake.
• Crossing the halfway point at just over 2:02.  This was the last point at which I hoped to break 4 hours.  I’ve made it a goal to run a half marathon under 2 hours next year.
• Seeing a female runner with prosthetic leg pushing a girl in a wheelchair with no arms below her elbows.  If that isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what is!  You can find more about the two amazing people on the Dallas Morning News website.
• Seeing Matt Crownover, my ultra-runner hero, between Miles 17 and 18.  He was wearing his trademark flannel shirt and running with a friend who was trying to qualify for Boston.  Matt ran the Western States 100 this year.
• The guys dressed as Dolly Parton at the aid station in the Dolly Parton hills.  Hilarious!
• The lady who baked chocolate chip cookies between Miles 19 and 20.  Just what I needed!
• Numb fingers.  It didn’t warm up as much as we expected it to before noon.  I started having trouble using my gels during the last half of the race.
• Passing an old running acquaintance around Mile 21.  He is a much better and more accomplished runner than I am, but was taking it easy with some friends that day.
• Tears around Mile 25.  That was my wall.  I became very emotional and had to dig deep to keep going.
• High-fiving Kathryn and several more spectators about a hundred yards out from the finish line.

I was finished!  They gave me my finisher medal and heat wrap and pointed me to the finisher shirts.  I got a couple of finisher photos taken, grabbed my shirt, and headed for the food tent.  After grabbing some bagels, bananas, oranges, and water, I went to find Kathryn.  I was so glad to see her and so glad she came with me.

Here’s a link to my results on Active.com. http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=71829680&rsID=88520

RunPix has also provided some really cool stats about my results. http://www.runpix.name/dwr09/00/finord.php?LastName=5056&lan=&aset=0&dist=42

I am done for the year.  My first event of 2010 is the DRC Frigid 10K on Saturday, January 2.  The race will serve as a time trial for the DRC spring marathon training program I’ll be using to prepare for the 10th annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in April.  2009 was a big year for me.  2010 will be even bigger and better!

jb

A Month of PRs

BAM!  BOOM!  POW!!  Just like that, I ran three races in September and got a personal record (PR) in each.  The first was the Labor Day 15K put on by Thruston Racing.  I ran the 5K course last year and won 2nd place in the Clydesdale category.  This year I rose to the challenge of the 15K course.  I wasn’t heavy enough to race as a Clydesdale, so I was competing in the Male 35-39 age group.  Even though I had run my first half marathon just a couple of weeks before this race, I had the shadow of a painful 15K from back in January hanging over me.  I was determined to best my performance and enjoy the race at the same time.  I finished in 1 hour 29 minutes and 18 seconds; well over half a minute faster that my previous time.  I was stoked and ended up winning 5th place in my age group!  I also felt much better afterwards, which I’ve chalked up to three things:  improved fitness through better training, the right running shoes, and the right nutrition (in my case, GU Energy Gels).

Of course, my girlfriend Kathryn was there to support me and celebrate with me.  She rocks!!

The second race was the Toyota Tour des Fleurs 10K.  I missed out on this one last year, so I was really excited to finally get a chance to run this race.  A LOT of people turned out for this one so I started out slow.  Negative split racing struck again and I was bookin’ it on the last couple of miles.  My favorite moment was coming down to the finish line and running past some drummers from one of the local high schools.  They were playing a really cool cadence and I was running the last few yards to their tempo.  The race photos even caught a really good picture of me smiling and having a good time just before finishing in 55 minutes and 16 seconds.  I beat my previous 10K PR from October 2008 by almost a minute!

The final race for September was the Autumn Equinox 15K, another Thruston Racing event.  Once again, I had run the 5K last year and won 1st place in the Clydesdale division.  This year I was going long.  The hardest part of getting a PR comes when you do your next race at the same distance.  You’re just wondering how the heck your supposed to do better than last time when you remember giving it everything you had.  How can you give more than everything?  Maybe if your everything is more than it was last time…

Evidently I had more on September 26th 2009 because I demolished my PR from the Labor Day 15K less than three weeks earlier by well over 7 minutes!  My finish time was 1 hour 22 minutes and 6 seconds.  This was a stunning accomplishment that still amazes me today when I think about it.  I needed that because apparently all the fast folks decided to turn out for this one and I ended up sans medal.  Also, Kathryn was sick and couldn’t come with me to the race.  But she would make it up to me next month…

jb

The Not Hot Enough Hundred

When it comes to racing, the weather is my friend.  I rode my first Hotter'N Hell Hundred bike ride in Wichita Falls on August 29th.  It didn’t get over 80 degrees that day.  It took me just over 6 hours to ride 100 miles.  Total ride time was 5 hours and 21 minutes.  I drove out there by myself and met up with some friends from the Bicycles Inc. group rides.  I got a killer massage and a bike cleaning at the expo.  The Bike Medicine guys were out there with Golden Degreaser cleaning solution and Purple Extreme lubricant.  My bike had a great ride the next day!

My friends hooked me up with a spaghetti dinner and a place to sleep.  I drank way too much tea and couldn’t sleep at all that night.  But I felt okay in the morning.  It was very unusually cold for late August but I wasn’t complaining.  The adrenaline was in full effect as I prepped for our departure to the race start.  I’m always afraid I won’t get everything ready and end up getting left behind.

We drove into town and found a parking spot about a mile north of the starting line.  We got on our bikes and rode the rest of the way.  There were SOOOO many people there!  The line of cyclists stretched for several blocks.  Being opportunists, we pulled way over next to the starting chute and turned our bikes around right at the front.  We waited with 14,000 of our closest friends as the sky grew lighter.

Finally, just as the sun was rising, they sang the National Anthem.  As the song neared the end, I looked back and saw the jets flying high in the air directly above all of the riders.  Right as they reached the starting line, a REALLY loud BOOM from the cannon signaled us to take off!  It wasn’t until then that we realized we had been standing very close to the cannon. It really scared the crap out of us!

We scrambled to get our bikes moving and get up on them and clipped in.  I very quickly lost most of the group I was with.  Most of them were riding faster than me so I slowed down to wait for a couple of them to catch up.  They were going quite a bit slower than I expected and it took them a good 2 to 3 miles before they caught up.  In the meantime, I watched the madness of the Hotter’N Hell Hundred going on all around me.  Lots of riders passed me and I saw several pace lines go flying by!  It didn’t take long before I saw some nasty wrecks.  It’s bound to happen with that many people out there.

I finally gave up on my slower companions and sped up so I could finish riding before sundown.  I really wanted to make Hell’s Gate before the cut off at 12:30 PM.  Riding 60.3 miles in 5-and-a-half hours isn’t all that difficult but I just didn’t want to cruise along for the ride.  I skipped the first rest stop and stopped at the second one about 20 miles along the course.  Back on the road, I encountered a really bad slowdown and had to walk my bike because of a really bad wreck.

I got going again after that and started noticing some of the pace lines that were zipping by.  I decided to give one of them a try.  They seemed to be pretty free form with people joining and dropping out as they saw fit.  I was amazed at how fast we were able to go!  I was still pushing myself to stay with the group, but there is no way I could have gone that fast under my own power.

I kept using pace lines through the rest of the ride and stopped at every other rest stop.  I paid my pace line dues by leading one for several miles.  Going east was tough as the wind was coming from that direction.  The chip seal pavement is the bane of my existence.  During much of the ride I keep thinking “the faster I finish, the faster I can get back home and see my girlfriend.”  That often gave me some much needed inspiration.  The last 10 or so miles were my favorite.  I finally got back on a well paved road with smoother, faster ride and the wind was at my back.  Still, it seemed like the end would never come!

We finally had to ride up and over an overpass to get into downtown and reach the finish line.  On the final stretch, I rode over what seemed like the finish line.  The people around me seemed to ease back like they were done.  But then I saw the real finish line with the inflatable arch over it.  I tried to strike a good photo pose sitting up on the bike with my arms outstretched and almost fell over.  And then I was done!

I immediately called my girlfriend, Kathryn, and told her the awesome news!  Then I went and found some of my friends who’d already finished and collapsed in the grass.  After recovering for a while, I got a hankering for a corn dog with mustard.  It was truly an awesome experience and I hope to go back and do it again sometime.

jb

The Hottest Half

I ran my first half marathon on an unseasonably cool August 23rd this year.  Lucky for me the weather did not help The Hottest Half live up to its name.  I learned once again the utterly reliably strategy of negative splits.  I was SMOKIN’ in the last two miles!  My finish time was 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 13 seconds.  Afterwards, I felt like I could have run it faster.  But you never know your first time out.

My thanks to my girlfriend, Kathryn, for coming out to support me.  We started the race at Winfrey Point by White Rock Lake.  The course had us running up and down the east side of the lake.  I ended up passing the starting point twice on the run.  Each time, Kathryn was there cheering me on.  The first time, I told her I loved her.  The second time, I told her I’d see her at the finish line at the top of the hill.  And then after I crossed and got my medal, she was there.  Thank you, Kathryn!

jb

Tour de Goatneck

It’s been a few months since I road my first Tour de Goatneck bike rally down in Cleburne, TX on July 25th.  Not much fanfare here but it was fun and I learned a few things.  This was only my second cycling event and I rode the 41 mile route.  I started out on my own but soon started drafting behind others.  I made no attempt to be a pro or expert and ride the thing completely unaided.  Within the first few miles I struck up a conversation with a more experienced rider.  He taught me a few things about riding up hills.  We plowed through all of the rest stops and finished in 2 hours 15 minutes at a little over an 18 mph pace.

An interesting aspect of this rally is that they staggered the ride starts based on the route length.  The 70 mile riders started at 7:30 while the 41 mile riders started at 7:45 and so on.  Or at least that’s how it was supposed to work.  When we started passing folks riding REALLY slow on our route, I realized that many of the riders paid absolutely no attention to the race start instructions and started with the 70 mile group regardless of the distance they were riding.  I’m running into (almost literally) this phenomenon more as time goes on.

At any rate, starting after the main group afforded me the chance to watch them ride out and snap a few photos and cheer them on.  It’s not often that athletes get to be a spectator, so I’m grateful for those opportunities.  Enjoy!

jb

We Swim. We Bike. We Run. We Disco!

I am now officially an Olympic distance triathlete!  I finished the Disco Triathlon yesterday morning with a total time of 2:43:23.  It felt awesome in spite of an incredibly horrible night’s sleep beforehand.  My splits and transition times were really good.  I finished 27th in the Male 35-39 age group.  I completed the 1,500 yard swim in 28:42 with an age group rank of 24.  T1 time was 2:32.  My 23 mile bike split was 1:13:18 at a 18.8 mph pace (age group rank: 29).  T2 time was 0:55.  Finally, I ran 10K in 57:57 (age group rank: 25), which is not far off my sub 57:00 10K PR.

This was my first Olympic triathlon and the first beach swim start.  The swim felt really slow.  I figured I was in last place or very near it.  But I kept my cool and worked hard to use the Total Immersion technique created by Terry Laughlin.  In the end, the swim was cake and I burst out of the water, crossed the timing pad with a hearty “WHOOP!”, and sprinted to the transition area.

Once out on the bike course, I got my heart rate in check and stayed in my zone just about the whole way (144-159) with the exception of a couple of hills that I just had to attack.  A big thanks to Coach Kristen of Texas Triple Threat for helping me get my zones and telling me to slow down on the bike.  My capacity has REALLY improved such that I have to push myself to keep my heart rate in the lower end of the zone.  Most of the course was pretty smooth and fast until we turned on to this one road with that rough chip-seal pavement.  I really felt slow during that part.  Then we turned down a smaller road that had smoother pavement but a lot more bumps.  I ended up being able to stay with a group of folks from about that point until the bike finish.

I ran out of the transition area and doused myself with water.  The run was my favorite part.  As I made my way out, I gave encouraging shouts to the runners on the sprint course making their way back in to finish.  I continued that through just about all of the run encouraging those who passed me and the few whom I passed.  I saw my buddy Ironman Phil and gave him a shout out but he didn’t acknowledge.  I found out later he was trying hard not to throw up.  The final mile or so got even better.  I started talking to my fellow runners trying to break the tension for myself and hopefully for them.  I started speeding up, too, forgetting about staying in my steady state zone and trying to leave it all out there on the course.  I told one runner to leave it because we wouldn’t need it after we finished.  Someone could carry us if necessary.

Getting closer to the finish, I came up behind this big dude and starting singing the chorus of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.  He cheered me on as I passed him and ended up coming in not far after me.  I found out later that he’d won a medal in the Clydesdale category.  I overheard him telling his girl about my singing.

Coming down the finish chute, I heard them announcing my number, name, and city and gave two thumbs way out and another “WHOOP!”. I “Superman” landed on the first timing pad, crossed the second, and then got down on one knee to say a quick thank you prayer to Jesus for bringing me through.  A lady rushed up to me and asked if I was okay.  I think I almost knocked her over when I stood up quickly and pointed up to the sky.  They gave me a sweet Finisher’s medal and t-shirt and congratulated me.

By far, the ultimate moment was kissing my girlfriend, Kathryn, and having her put the medal around my neck.  She was my strength before and after the race:  getting up sooo early and arriving at my place in time for us to leave; getting us to the race site on time and driving so I could get a few extra moments of rest; just being there through the whole event.  I was very focused during the race, but I could see her out of the corner of my eye and hear her yelling for me as I came out of the water and went through T2 and charged down the finish chute.  I can’t imagine experiencing my first Olympic triathlon without her there with me.

With that under my belt, I now have the confidence to take on my first half-Iron distance triathlon:  the Longhorn Ironman 70.3!

jb

Cardio Fitness Testing

I went in for a Cycling and Running VO2 test with Texas Triple Threat yesterday afternoon.  I was very encouraged by the results.

I’ve been running for few years but only seriously biking for a few months.  That definitely showed up in the results.  I have a lot less control on the bike but an excellent base on the run.  I was pleasantly surprised by my performance on the run.  But it makes sense because I started out slow and have been gradually increasing my speed over the past few years.  I’ve heard it said, “It’s all about the base.”  That is so true.

So what do I do with this information?  The best part is that I get to increase my speed on my run workouts.  I need to do steady state workouts at a HR between 153 and 162.  I’ve been doing my long and easy runs in the mid- to high-140s between 11:00 and 11:30 per mile pace.  I should be able to do those workouts at a 10:00 or faster pace going forward.  At the same time, I need to pull back on my running and get more bike workouts into my schedule, as well as swimming and strength training.  I also need to slow down on the bike and work on building my base in that discipline for a while.  This next week, I’ll put together my new training plan and have a consultation with Coach KW to go over it.

I highly encourage you to go in for this testing.  I did mine with Texas Triple Threat, but there are other groups such as PlayTri that will test you, as well.  It will help you determine where you are fitness-wise and what your training schedule should look like.  Who knows?  You may be in better shape than you thought.

jb

The Hardest Part of My Triathlon

Since I completed my first triathlon a little over a week ago, a couple of people have asked me, “What was the hardest part?”  It’s been difficult to answer because, in reality, it wasn’t really that hard! 

Thinking about it more, I’ve come up with two reasons for this.  First of all, I’ve been training for several weeks for the event.  The hard part came before the race as I took time to get in the pool or get on my bike or go for a run.  Those early mornings and busy Sunday afternoons paid off.  All the reading up on nutrition information and incorporating that into my diet and pre-race routine benefitted me.

The second reason is that I feel like I could have pushed myself harder.  Being my first tri, I really didn’t know what the actual experience would be like.  My goal was to get out there and finish in a respectable time.  I actually set my goal time at under 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I wasn’t timing myself during the race.  I just watched my heart rate on the bike and did negative splits on the run based on my breathing.

As I approach my next triathlon tomorrow and future events, the hard part now is figuring out how to balance my training to include enough of all three disciplines as well as strength training.  More on than in another post.

jb

Cycling Events Calendar

I should point out a REALLY good calendar resource for cycling events in the North Texas area. Bicycles, Inc. has a great calendar that includes weekly rides from their various locations and others. They also have upcoming races, rides, and rallys. The cool thing is that they include triathlons and duathlons. If you ride a bike in the events, it's on their calendar!

That's how I found out about the Cleburne Ironhorse Sprint tri. After the Frisco-to-Fort Worth MS 150 bike ride--actually on Day 2, which got canceled due to the threat of bad weather--I was like, "What's next?" I checked out of few other calendars but they weren't very complete. When I saw the one at Bicycles, Inc. and saw the triathlon events, I knew I had found what I was looking for.

Go check it out and find your next ride.

jb

Inaugural Post

I wanted to start this blog before my first triathlon but blogging is just one of those things that takes a lot of effort for me. So here it is: The first post.

I am now officially a triathlete.

I completed my first triathlon yesterday morning in Cleburne, TX. The 2nd Annual Cleburne Ironhorse Sprint Triathlon. What a great feeling! It was a whole lot of fun and very neat being in the midst of people of all ages and fitness with one thing in common: a love for that which we call "triathlon". What makes the triathlon unique is the fact that it is truly an individual test of fitness. Everyone there has different strengths and weakness across a fairly broad range of physical efforts. This is exaggerated when the swim start is staggered. You really don't have any gauge on your performance other than what you know of yourself. You can't look at the person on the bike in front of you and go after them with a whole lot of confidence that it will be worth the extra effort. The aspect of racing against others is quite far removed from the time you start to the time you finish.

At least that is my view from a little behind the middle of the pack and as a noob.

As far as results go my chip time was 1:28:22. My splits were as follows: 300 yard swim in 5:31, T1 3:30, 15.2 mile bike in 50:07 (18.2 mph avg), T2 1:12, 5K run 27:59 (~9:00 pace). I finished 117th out of 246 and 24th out of 29 in the Male 35-39 age group, a highly competitive one I might add. I'm happy with my performance but feel I can do better. That will come with experience and increased fitness over time. There are quite a few "free" seconds and possibly minutes I could reclaim in all the segments, especially in T1.

I could probably go on for quite a bit about the experience but if you're really interested, you can read much more detail about the experience on my race log over at BeginnerTriathlete.com.

My thanks go to all of my good friends and family who provided support and inspiration. This includes texafornia over at Zen and the Art of Triathlon for his super cool podcasts as well as holisticguru and her awesome nutrition info. Extra special thanks go out to Jack Weiss and the team at Ironhead Race Productions for putting on a great race that was well planned and executed.

Next up: Day 2 of the 14th Annual Metroplex Sprint Triathlon over at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie, TX. This one will be my first open water swim. Should be fun!

jb