Yesterday I went out for a little ride and really had no idea of how far I was going to go or how it would go. So, after I crawled out of bed at the crack of 10:30, had a little breakfast I hopped on the bike and headed east. For whatever reason (perhaps it was the 11 hours of sleep) I was feeling good and just kept riding until I came upon Manor. When I pulled into the Dollar General on the outskirts of town, I looked at my watch and it had only been about an hour and 15 minutes to get out there. Once I got home I found out that my route was a little over 21.5 miles. While this might not come off as astounding speed, I was very happy with it. The better part of the first half of that journey was through Austin and involved a fair amount of stop signs and traffic lights. Perhaps I am being a tad optimistic, but I think I was probably averaging over 20mph once I got out on the open roads. (20mph or greater is my arbitrary barometer of what I need to do at a minimum in my races.)
After my last race, I realized that I do not spend near enough time in the big chain ring and then shift way to early on hills and kill all of my speed. This ride I tried to not be afraid of dropping it into the big ring and gain the speed whenever I had a chance. The other real tri geek tidbit of this is that I mixed two bottles of Pure Sport Workout drink. It is an electrolyte powder that also contains protein in it. The initial taste is a tad different than what you expect from a lemon-lime drink, not really sure how to explain it, but it didn't take too long to get used to it. But it certainly seemed to keep me going for the duration of the ride. I took one Hammer Gel in Manor and then one when I got back home. Somehow I managed to make the return trip in just about the same time. Though as I was sitting at the light at Wickersham and Riverside I realized that I was one water bottle light from what I started with. Crap! I littered somewhere along the route. I AM A LITTERER!!!!
Oh well, as I dragged my guilt ridden butt into my house I realized that I still had a fair amount of energy. I had thought about making this a brick workout, but was not really thinking I would feel as good after the bike. So I grabbed my fuel belt and two water bottles and headed out. As I took off I decided that I would try to run down to the hike and bike trail and do the four mile loop and head back. It is about a mile and a half down to the trail so it would be a 7 mile run. My surprising amount of energy managed to stick around until I crossed the river at I-35 and reality started to catch up with me. By the time I left the trail and started heading back to my place, reality decided to really put me in my place. It felt like the end of a race just to get back to my place.
Alas I made it home. After a short stint in the pool to soak, I started to feel back to normal. I did try to wave to the other runners on the trail, but apparently an overly sweaty dude decked out in Lycra is even more frightening than just a typical waving runner. Oh well, I still tried and I will continue to do so. So - run friendly!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Rookie Tri
The first race of the season is under my belt. It wasn't the best race I have ever raced, but it was my first top ten in my age group! The Rookie Tri is a sub-sprint distance race and is the first of the five races that make up the Texas Tri Series.
Padre, a friend from my training group, picked me up insanely early and we headed down to New Braunfels together. We got there just as the parking lot was opening an got a great spot near the front. As we unloaded the our bikes it tried to rain a few times but nothing too bad. After we had our transitions areas setup, we had about and hour and a half before race time. So we sat in his Forerunner for about an hour before going for a brief mile long warmup run. After that, it was time to head to the start.
I dipped my toe in the water and felt that it was actually pretty warm, so I felt comfortable not diving in for a warmup swim and settled for just swinging my arms around to loosen up. Perhaps this was a mistake; I don't know. My swim wave was the second one to go off. After swimming all winter, my swim has become very strong so I was looking to devour this 300 meter swim. The gun went off and I took off hard trying to get in the mix of the lead pack and then just draft my way to the finish line. Apparently I was not the only person to have this idea. After about 100 meters, the pack was still incredibly dense and there was no stride not draft to find. I was out of breathe and couldn't seem to catch it no matter what I tried. I started to panic. After a few attempts at taking a stroke I realized I wasn't going to be able to just shake it off. So I struggled to make it out to the outside of the swimming "lane" and started to side stroke. I was still paniced and could not settle down. Somehow I managed to make the turn around the buoy and finally started to calm down. I decided I would try to get back to freestyle and see if I could bring it in. Outside of going horrifically offcourse, I managed to bring it in fine. After the race I was amazed to see that I did the swim in 7:02 or somethig like that. It felt like 20 minutes.
Transitions always suck for me and this was no different. Nothing bad happened, but just like all aspects of my life; smooth is not something I do. OK, I'm on a bike.
At the suggestion of my coach, Panther, I set out to go as hard as I could on the bike. Of course, my ineptitude in transition is only surpassed by my cycling capability. But off I went. Typically I get passed left and right but this day I only got passed by a few folks. Nothing exciting or eventful happened other than realizing that I am not fast going up hills; something to work on. Finally in right around 35 minutes I came up on the dismount line of the 11.2 mile bike ride. I unclipped without falling (which did go through my mind) and strayed trotting to transition.
Now this transition was by no means speedy, but for me it went pretty well for me. Grabbed some water at the gate and headed out to run.
Running is by far my strongest event, but for whatever reason, I was not feeling quick at all heading out. I had forgotten to look at my watch when I started the run so I didn't really have any idea what my pace was like, but I kept coming up on people and passing them. Finally we made the final turn to go run around the lake for the finish. I gave it all I had and managed to cross the finish line in just under 58 minutes. The run had taken me 12:39 which was good for the 3rd fastest in my age group.
After my poor swim I still managed to come in 9th in my age group. All in all I am very happy with the race. Hopefully I learned a little from the swim and can avoid having anymore panic attacks. Until the next time, run friendly! -Tanner
Padre, a friend from my training group, picked me up insanely early and we headed down to New Braunfels together. We got there just as the parking lot was opening an got a great spot near the front. As we unloaded the our bikes it tried to rain a few times but nothing too bad. After we had our transitions areas setup, we had about and hour and a half before race time. So we sat in his Forerunner for about an hour before going for a brief mile long warmup run. After that, it was time to head to the start.
I dipped my toe in the water and felt that it was actually pretty warm, so I felt comfortable not diving in for a warmup swim and settled for just swinging my arms around to loosen up. Perhaps this was a mistake; I don't know. My swim wave was the second one to go off. After swimming all winter, my swim has become very strong so I was looking to devour this 300 meter swim. The gun went off and I took off hard trying to get in the mix of the lead pack and then just draft my way to the finish line. Apparently I was not the only person to have this idea. After about 100 meters, the pack was still incredibly dense and there was no stride not draft to find. I was out of breathe and couldn't seem to catch it no matter what I tried. I started to panic. After a few attempts at taking a stroke I realized I wasn't going to be able to just shake it off. So I struggled to make it out to the outside of the swimming "lane" and started to side stroke. I was still paniced and could not settle down. Somehow I managed to make the turn around the buoy and finally started to calm down. I decided I would try to get back to freestyle and see if I could bring it in. Outside of going horrifically offcourse, I managed to bring it in fine. After the race I was amazed to see that I did the swim in 7:02 or somethig like that. It felt like 20 minutes.
Transitions always suck for me and this was no different. Nothing bad happened, but just like all aspects of my life; smooth is not something I do. OK, I'm on a bike.
At the suggestion of my coach, Panther, I set out to go as hard as I could on the bike. Of course, my ineptitude in transition is only surpassed by my cycling capability. But off I went. Typically I get passed left and right but this day I only got passed by a few folks. Nothing exciting or eventful happened other than realizing that I am not fast going up hills; something to work on. Finally in right around 35 minutes I came up on the dismount line of the 11.2 mile bike ride. I unclipped without falling (which did go through my mind) and strayed trotting to transition.
Now this transition was by no means speedy, but for me it went pretty well for me. Grabbed some water at the gate and headed out to run.
Running is by far my strongest event, but for whatever reason, I was not feeling quick at all heading out. I had forgotten to look at my watch when I started the run so I didn't really have any idea what my pace was like, but I kept coming up on people and passing them. Finally we made the final turn to go run around the lake for the finish. I gave it all I had and managed to cross the finish line in just under 58 minutes. The run had taken me 12:39 which was good for the 3rd fastest in my age group.
After my poor swim I still managed to come in 9th in my age group. All in all I am very happy with the race. Hopefully I learned a little from the swim and can avoid having anymore panic attacks. Until the next time, run friendly! -Tanner
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Another Running Departure
For those of you that know me well, you know that I am a very political person. But, I try very hard to not bring politics into this blog as it really is a very divisive topic and this blog is really supposed to serve as a reminder of the things that bring us closer together - not further us apart. While political in nature, this article really seems to fit with that attitude.
So when I read this article, it echoes a lot of what my thoughts and feelings are right now with politics and the world in general. At the end of the day we almost all want the same things; a feeling of security that tomorrow the sun will rise again and for that to happen to our neighbor.
As I have said before, and will continue to do so; when you see another runner out there on the trail, give a smile and a wave. Even say hi. At least you know you have something in common with them. In the mean time, run friendly! -T
So when I read this article, it echoes a lot of what my thoughts and feelings are right now with politics and the world in general. At the end of the day we almost all want the same things; a feeling of security that tomorrow the sun will rise again and for that to happen to our neighbor.
As I have said before, and will continue to do so; when you see another runner out there on the trail, give a smile and a wave. Even say hi. At least you know you have something in common with them. In the mean time, run friendly! -T
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Texas Round-Up 10k Report
This morning I awoke to run the Texas Round-Up 10k. I had not been planning on running this race until about a week and half ago when I found that my employer offered free entry to it. Well, who can argue with free?!
The last 10k race I ran was last year's Round-Up and my standing PR, 42:36. Now, I have certainly become a stronger runner over the past year, but with the exception of a 12k leg of a marathon relay last September, I have done no speed events, all triathlons and the Austin Marathon. And most of my training has been geared to more of the endurance events, so I really had no idea what to expect. My pipe dream of a goal was to break 40 minutes, but just bettering my PR would be great too.
I got to the race about an hour early to get a good warm-up in, drop off my clothes bag, and just not be rushed. Well, the warm-up was a little harder than I would have liked. I didn't do anything that I don't typically, I just felt more winded than I would have preferred. Oh well. Off to the portajohn, grab a sip of water, and head to the start line. Apparently I was not the only one that thought of this agenda. I got to the starting gates with about 5 minutes to go, this left me well back in the pack. I was about 10 yards behind the 11:30 pace sign; my goal pace was about 6:30. My work of weaving through the masses was set. The gun went off and a little more than a minute later I finally shuffled across the starting line and punched the button on my watch (my free entry fee was not for a timed bib).
Just as expected, it was a mad house and I was trying to running back my way through everyone without bumping or cutting them off. Things had thinned out a little bit by the time I hit the 1 mile marker at 7:08 according to my watch. Not as bad as it could have been but I definitely had a hard race in front of me if I wanted to pull of anything near 40. Luckily I found my stride and was able to hit mile 2 at about 13:30 and the 5k split at 20:45ish.
OK, breaking 40 was now out of the window, but a good race and a PR were easily in sight as I was still feeling pretty good and maintaining my pace. Miles 4 and 5 came and went without much ado, my pace still seemed fine. As I was making my way around the State Cemetery I came up on two guys wearing Rogue shirts. As I gave them the typical, "Go Rogue!" shout one of them shouted back to "Take it home!". That was the motivation I need to pound up the hill and turn towards downtown. Then there was the hill going up to the Capitol that is a killer. But I made it up that and realized that I was sitting at about 37:30. I wasn't sure how far I was from mile 6, but knew I had to be pretty close so I tried to pick it up a little and give it everything I could. Finally we worked our way around the Capitol and I knew I was close so I tried to pick it up another notch and just kick as hard as I could.
And then there was the final turn onto Congress and the straight away to the finish. As I crossed the line and stopped my watch I looked down to see 41:34 frozen on the display. I PRed by a minute! It wasn't the time that I had hoped for, and my time was certainly hampered by getting stuck at the back of the starting line, but still - I PRed!
The last 10k race I ran was last year's Round-Up and my standing PR, 42:36. Now, I have certainly become a stronger runner over the past year, but with the exception of a 12k leg of a marathon relay last September, I have done no speed events, all triathlons and the Austin Marathon. And most of my training has been geared to more of the endurance events, so I really had no idea what to expect. My pipe dream of a goal was to break 40 minutes, but just bettering my PR would be great too.
I got to the race about an hour early to get a good warm-up in, drop off my clothes bag, and just not be rushed. Well, the warm-up was a little harder than I would have liked. I didn't do anything that I don't typically, I just felt more winded than I would have preferred. Oh well. Off to the portajohn, grab a sip of water, and head to the start line. Apparently I was not the only one that thought of this agenda. I got to the starting gates with about 5 minutes to go, this left me well back in the pack. I was about 10 yards behind the 11:30 pace sign; my goal pace was about 6:30. My work of weaving through the masses was set. The gun went off and a little more than a minute later I finally shuffled across the starting line and punched the button on my watch (my free entry fee was not for a timed bib).
Just as expected, it was a mad house and I was trying to running back my way through everyone without bumping or cutting them off. Things had thinned out a little bit by the time I hit the 1 mile marker at 7:08 according to my watch. Not as bad as it could have been but I definitely had a hard race in front of me if I wanted to pull of anything near 40. Luckily I found my stride and was able to hit mile 2 at about 13:30 and the 5k split at 20:45ish.
OK, breaking 40 was now out of the window, but a good race and a PR were easily in sight as I was still feeling pretty good and maintaining my pace. Miles 4 and 5 came and went without much ado, my pace still seemed fine. As I was making my way around the State Cemetery I came up on two guys wearing Rogue shirts. As I gave them the typical, "Go Rogue!" shout one of them shouted back to "Take it home!". That was the motivation I need to pound up the hill and turn towards downtown. Then there was the hill going up to the Capitol that is a killer. But I made it up that and realized that I was sitting at about 37:30. I wasn't sure how far I was from mile 6, but knew I had to be pretty close so I tried to pick it up a little and give it everything I could. Finally we worked our way around the Capitol and I knew I was close so I tried to pick it up another notch and just kick as hard as I could.
And then there was the final turn onto Congress and the straight away to the finish. As I crossed the line and stopped my watch I looked down to see 41:34 frozen on the display. I PRed by a minute! It wasn't the time that I had hoped for, and my time was certainly hampered by getting stuck at the back of the starting line, but still - I PRed!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Departure from running
I just finished reading an article on the new iPad and then a follow up article on the death of the book. A couple of years ago I remember there being a similar series of stories on the death of the CD and the iPod and iTunes. It prompted me to write a post on a now deleted blog and I guess I feel obliged to write again about this.
The post that I did before was about the death of the CD at the hands of iTunes and the mp3. I am a huge fan of albums and CDs. There is something about just putting on an album and letting it play all the way through and just listening to it. Not on shuffle. Not as background noise. But to simply sit down, listen to it, and let it engulf you. And if you play it on a decent stereo, the sound quality (noticably bass) is so much better than that of an mp3. How can we allow the CD and the album to die? There is such an experience to be had that we are losing.
But then I started looking at my CD collection and noticing its sheer size. The amount of CDs, the cases, and the liner notes. All of this...material. And it dawned on me. I need to try and embrace the mp3 not for the convenience factor but rather the environmental impact it can have.
I think the same argument can be made about books and ereaders. There is definitely an experience that is to be had flipping the pages of a book. The smell of a book store or a library. Even the black smudges that get on your fingers from reading a newspaper. But think of all of the trees that have been harvested over the years to bring us this. Are the words any different just because they come on a screen relative to a leaf of paper?
All this being said-I don't know if I will be looking at getting an iPad. Yes it is cool and pretty and can be a fine vessle for all that I mentioned above. But I am not so sure that I want to sail down this river in the exact fashion that Steve Jobs tells me to. Apple makes great products, don't get me wrong on that, but they are not open by any stretch of the imagination. If I want a laptop/netbook replacement I think I am going to want something that can surf the entire web, not just the Flash free portions. And if I want to download pictures onto my tablet, I don't want to have to go back to my computer to sync them on. And if Apple's history is any indication, it will be quite some time before they open their products up to this. I would like some choice as to where I buy my books and songs from. So I think I will hold off on getting a tablet.
It should be noted that I wrote this post on my iPhone. I never said I wasn't a hypocrite. More running posts to come; just felt like writing my thought down. Until next time, run friendly.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The post that I did before was about the death of the CD at the hands of iTunes and the mp3. I am a huge fan of albums and CDs. There is something about just putting on an album and letting it play all the way through and just listening to it. Not on shuffle. Not as background noise. But to simply sit down, listen to it, and let it engulf you. And if you play it on a decent stereo, the sound quality (noticably bass) is so much better than that of an mp3. How can we allow the CD and the album to die? There is such an experience to be had that we are losing.
But then I started looking at my CD collection and noticing its sheer size. The amount of CDs, the cases, and the liner notes. All of this...material. And it dawned on me. I need to try and embrace the mp3 not for the convenience factor but rather the environmental impact it can have.
I think the same argument can be made about books and ereaders. There is definitely an experience that is to be had flipping the pages of a book. The smell of a book store or a library. Even the black smudges that get on your fingers from reading a newspaper. But think of all of the trees that have been harvested over the years to bring us this. Are the words any different just because they come on a screen relative to a leaf of paper?
All this being said-I don't know if I will be looking at getting an iPad. Yes it is cool and pretty and can be a fine vessle for all that I mentioned above. But I am not so sure that I want to sail down this river in the exact fashion that Steve Jobs tells me to. Apple makes great products, don't get me wrong on that, but they are not open by any stretch of the imagination. If I want a laptop/netbook replacement I think I am going to want something that can surf the entire web, not just the Flash free portions. And if I want to download pictures onto my tablet, I don't want to have to go back to my computer to sync them on. And if Apple's history is any indication, it will be quite some time before they open their products up to this. I would like some choice as to where I buy my books and songs from. So I think I will hold off on getting a tablet.
It should be noted that I wrote this post on my iPhone. I never said I wasn't a hypocrite. More running posts to come; just felt like writing my thought down. Until next time, run friendly.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Fatigue or Illness?
Yesterday morning I woke up after over 8 hours of sleep feeling as if I had hardly slept a wink. As I tried to go through my morning routine I become more exhausted. So I decided to call the office and let them know that I would be running a few hours late-thinking that all I needed was a little rest. Well, I never seemed to get any more energy. So I decided to just take the day off.
My training has not been as consistent as I would like it, but I have been getting more time in the gym in addition to my run and swim workouts. Today I made it into the office but am feeling only moderately more energetic. As I don't have any other symptoms I am hoping that this is just a simple case of fatigue, but am getting a tad worried.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
My training has not been as consistent as I would like it, but I have been getting more time in the gym in addition to my run and swim workouts. Today I made it into the office but am feeling only moderately more energetic. As I don't have any other symptoms I am hoping that this is just a simple case of fatigue, but am getting a tad worried.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Tri it again
Once again I have been horribly remiss at blogging. And once again I shall make what by now is merely an empty promise to do better.
Since my last post I completed the Austin Marathon. It was my first and a very good experience. Despite being under-trained and dealing with a personal ordeal that left me quite ragged and sleep deprived, I finished in 4:09. All things considered I was pretty happy with it.
Now tri season has come around. My goal is to do as well as I can in the Texas Tri Series and see if I can't possibly break 5 hours at Longhorn 70.3. We shall see. I started my training regiment last week and will do my best to keep this posted with my progress.
OK, that's it for now. Run friendly!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Since my last post I completed the Austin Marathon. It was my first and a very good experience. Despite being under-trained and dealing with a personal ordeal that left me quite ragged and sleep deprived, I finished in 4:09. All things considered I was pretty happy with it.
Now tri season has come around. My goal is to do as well as I can in the Texas Tri Series and see if I can't possibly break 5 hours at Longhorn 70.3. We shall see. I started my training regiment last week and will do my best to keep this posted with my progress.
OK, that's it for now. Run friendly!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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