Tri RobbyB Tri

After aquathon #3 was delayed twice due to blue-green algae blooms, aquathon #4 was upon us. My legs are tired from marathon training. The hamstrings are tight, my calf is on the verge of cramping, and my shins are a touch on the sore side. I notice Mark Harms, local triathlete extraordinaire, and instantly everyone's gunning for second. "At least I can draft off him (in the swim)," I say to myself.

SWIM
Right off the bat, and I'm behind. After a few lunges and it's me & Mark. Then it's just me. Then it's Mark & me again. Then just me. Mark was all over the place, hardly keeping a straight line. Oh well. I'll just swim by myself. I concentrate on my stroke as I tend to drop my head. Long strokes...breathe right once in a while...keep the head up...sight for the buoy..."Why isn't it getting closer?"...long strokes...so on and so forth. The wind carried the second buoy off course to make the course a touch long, and I notice (with my picked up head) the bubbles in front of me. I surge a bit to latch on Mark's wake and actually catch a draft to the turn. Then, he's gone. Way to the right. Sigh. I make my way to the transition and let some thoughts creep into my head that perhaps I'm in front? Nope. Mark comes in from the right and nips me by a few seconds.

RUN
Mark is out of transition first and I'm not too far behind. And then he's gone again. Not to the right, but right off the front. After the first turn, I couldn't see him. I commented to the volunteer at the turn, "Man, he's fast!" And she replied that he beat her to her spot. I was induced by his speed and went out too fast. At the first mile, it felt like I should be at the 2.5 mile mark. I blame the marathon training, but not necessarily unhappy with it. I laid back for the next mile, and then tried to build up the final mile. Coming down the final hill into finishing stretch, two guys pass me, but encourage me to finish with them. I pick it up, so do they. I hold my pace, they pull ahead. I finish just behind, collapsing to my knees on the timing mats.

Overall, not too bad given the lack of non-running training and crazy life this summer.Everyone concluded that the swim course was long. It was about a minute longer for me, so I was right at a PR if you take a minute off. I've got two more months before the marathon and hopefully can get all the house projects done by then.

Erin tagged me a long time ago to answer some questions. I figured since xt4 just tagged me for something else, I better get this one done.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, I was finishing school, not doing any physical activities whatsoever. Unless you count multiple late night sessions of 12-oz curls. Multiple late night sessions.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?
My best was the last half-mile of my Ironman. Ted caught me right at the top State St, heading towards the finish line. He asked how I was doing, I replied, "I'm finishing!"

The worst hasn't happened yet. As much as some of these intervals suck, I still am learning much about my running and how much the mind plays a role. In fact, just this morning, on my fourth half-mile of six, I stopped running. For no real reason other than my legs hurt. For a small second, I couldn't believe what happened. But within an instant, I started again and finished out the workout according to plan. For me, the mind is weaker than my running legs. Every tough/bad run tells me how to get better.

3. Why do you run?
I run because it's my weakest leg in a triathlon. When looking at results, almost always I will have the slowest run time of all those that finish in front of me, and probably another ten that finish behind me.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
The best was for a racing a 5K; "When you think you are about to blow up start using your arms. They will be hanging by your side. Pump them. Pull with them."

The worst was when I was told I don't need motion control shoes. Must've been a bad day for Endurance House that day. They made up for it when I went back.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
There was this one time at band camp...

I ran a whole twenty miles yesterday! I think that's my longest, continuously running effort ever. The legs are a bit stiff today, but not sore. A massage would really hit the spot right now.

BUT, I would be remiss to not thank my awesome wife, Kris, who was my magnificent sherpa. She woke up early just to bike next to me, carry extra water bottles and keep me company for the nearly 3-hour run. We've got a nice routine going every Sunday morning.

It was a perfect day with slight cloud cover, no wind and warming temps. I ended up seeing the same guy in three different locations each one further from the previous, with two different groups. He was old school; no shirt, no heart-rate monitor, no GPS, a simple watch, longer hair, and bushy, 70s-era mustache. He let out a loud "HI!" which grew louder with every successive pass. I loved it.

Here's the route if you're interested. Below is my pace and heart rate per mile for each mile in the run. I should've averaged 8:45 per mile, but I felt too good to slow down. Especially those middle miles, I don't know what got into me, but I was really cruising quite well. I'll have to remember to hold back in the race, though; can't be expending too much energy too early.

Unknown to me, it was 85° out with a dewpoint of 68. Good conditions for a interval run -- NOT! My body told me so about four-tenths of a mile into my second of three mile intervals.

I struggled through the first one and significantly missed my scheduled pace of 6:30/mile. Immediately starting the second I felt weak. I fought off the overwhelming need to stop for only so long. I caved at 0.51 miles and rested, fighting for any breath I could manage.

And then when I convinced myself to start up again, my legs didn't respond. Empty and weak, I fought to continue running, no matter what the pace. That's when I got a touch dizzy and felt my face get flush with heat. I stopped my watch and quit the workout and started walking home, overheated and frustrated.

After I cooled down and thought about what I was doing to myself, I looked again at the training paces and corresponding marathon goal pace and realized my mind was writing checks the body simply couldn't cash. Why did I ever think that a 3:23 marathon was possible? Some day maybe, just not now.

So I'm retooling and re-timing. With a new goal and set of paces, I'll be able to meet my training times (hopefully), which keeps from getting frustrated mentally, and best yet, allow my body to see another week. I should've done it after the first week, but I blamed the blisters and not the pace. Let's hope the next 11 weeks works out.

I've found that running intervals is a bit like taking cough syrup: It sucks to do, but it's good for you in the long term.