Run with Eric:
shoes

beep beep.

The faint sound of the alarm on my watch pierces my consciousness. 5:30 am. It is Saturday. I click the button to turn it off and cherish for a moment how warm and comfortable the bed is. Most nights, one, if not both, of our kids has climbed in the bed at some point and last night was no different. The soft sound of their breathing slowly lulls me back to sleep. As I struggle to keep my eyes open for a moment, I consider the day in front of me. Saturdays are a big family day. After a full week of work and school, this is our chance to do something as a family. Maybe the playground for a couple hours. A birthday party in the afternoon. Some errands and maybe dinner out.

But, besides being a husband and dad, I'm also a triathlete. So that means I need to ride today. So, while most sane people sleep in on the weekends, I am lying awake at 5:50 (shoot, I dozed off) and considering the fact that if I want to get a ride in, I need to go now. And I'll be back before the girls are finished watching cartoons. But, if I go back to sleep, the opportunity will be lost. So I roll out of bed. Quietly.

The dog stirs, looks up at me with a confused look... then lays his head back down. The girls and my wife continue to sleep peacefully while I grab my gear that I laid out last night, and step into the bathroom to pull it on. I wouldn't want a light to wake them. Once dressed, I head into the kitchen and brew a cup of coffee while I mix up my bottles. The first sip of caffeine tastes like heaven. A quick bathroom stop and a few minutes later, I walk into the garage, put my helmet and shoes on, check the tires and roll out the door.

6:18 am. I can see my breath in the brisk morning air, but the sun is rising and the sky is turning blue. The legs feel good as I turn the pedals. It's going to be a beautiful day.

The most frustrating thing about being injured is not getting to do what you love. Running on a nearly daily basis has been a part of my life for so long now that not being able to do it is screwing me up.

I'm trying to fill the gaps with hitting the weights, riding the bike and the pool as much as I can. But it is sort of like trying to fulfill a burger craving with a Big Mac. Yeah, its a burger. But it's no Double-Double.

And as much as I love getting out on the bike, which I truly do... most of the time, my schedule doesn't really allow for daily outdoor rides. So, instead of the daily run to get my head straight, I'm lifting weights or hitting the trainer or jumping in the pool... when most of the time, I'd rather be slipping on my running shoes.

But, the good news is that I'm on the mend. After a handful of short treadmill runs to gently test the Achilles, I went for my first outdoor run yesterday in nearly 2 (!) months. 30 minutes. 3.6 miles... at a glacial 8:10 pace. Well, it didn't feel glacial... actually it felt like I was running pretty hard, but I guess that's what happens when you get out of shape.

The achilles still has some twinges every now and then, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm out of the woods and will be back to the daily runs within a few weeks.

On the flip side of the coin, while my run fitness has fallen through the floor, my cycling is getting stronger. On Sunday, I did a ride I'm calling the Three Sisters. For those familiar with North County San Diego, the climbs are West Lilac, Old 395 to Deer Springs and Twin Valley Oaks to San Elijo. Below is a pic of the profile... the overlying graph is my HR. Twin Valley Oaks in particular is a pretty tough climb, not long..only about 2.5 miles at about 6%. But there is a section in the middle at around 11% that definitely puts the sting in the legs. Gave me a chance to work on my Contador-esque climbing style.

Next time, I'll take some pics...

The first big race of the season is in the books. This is my 3rd year racing at Oceanside. It's a great event that I look forward to every year.

My weakness has always been my cycling so my goal heading into the winter was to really work on my cycling and with improved bike fitness, put myself into a position where I could be top 10 in my AG and go sub 4:30 on this course.

Overall, I'd give my winter training an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. I certainly made some huge gains in my cycling ability, but I didn't get the mega-mileage that I was really hoping for. Most of this was simply less-than ideal time management and my other life commitments springing up from time to time. It was good, but not great.

On to the race report.

Swim - 28:01 (15th AG, 126th OA)
Oceanside is notorious for having a cold-water swim, there is always a lot of angst in the transition area with people wondering exactly HOW cold is it? The posted water temp was 58.5 and the race director was allowing booties, but in all honesty, it wasn't that bad. I wore two swim caps to help keep my head warm and I was fine. Once the gun went off, I quickly got into a pretty good rhythm. Unfortunately, there were no good feet for me to draft on, though I did feel the occasional hand on my foot. Someone was catching a ride off of me for a while... I hate it when that happens. Oh well. After the 2nd or 3rd buoy I started to catch some of the slower swimmers from the waves in front of me which forced me to zig-zag a bit to get around them. Before I knew it, I was at the turnaround and heading back into the harbor. There were some slight swells near the harbor mouth, but again, it wasn't bad at all. I do have to mention that I picked up some new googles at the Expo, which I absolutely love... the TYR TRacers. They are great... visibility was perfect, no leaking and no fogging. I usually have to clear my goggles at least a couple times during a race... these were perfect. Anyway, I made it back with no issues and climbed out the water feeling pretty good. My time of 28:01 is a PR for me, but not by a big margin. I seem to always swim close to the same time... (2007 - 28:31, 2008 - 28:59).

Transition 2 - 3:43
This race has a very long run from the swim exit to the far end of the transition area and around again. I was running pretty fast to get to my bike and probably pissed some guys off that were jogging slowly when I pushed passed them. Sorry dudes. Got to the bike and briefly considering putting on the arm warmers on that I had laid out. But, despite the fact that air was cold, the sun was out and I skipped them. Got the bike and got on the road quickly from there.

Bike - 2:35:39, 21.6 mph avg (34th AG, 158th OA)
New bike, new position and a focus on cycling for the winter... I had made the investment, this is where I was hoping to see the big improvement from last year. Nutrition on the bike was two bottles of my GuH20/CarboPro mix, 2 scoops of each which equates to approximately 325 calories. This is a proven mixture that I've used a lot in training which my stomach handles easily. One bottle on the downtube and one in my aerobar-mounted bottle cage. I also had a flask with 14 Thermolyte tablets in a small bento box. No solid food. Once out on the course, my legs came under me pretty quickly and I started to roll through the field, passing lots of guys right away. I race without a HR monitor, but I could tell that my adrenaline was pumping and I was being too aggressive. After the first little climb on San Mateo (about 4 miles in), I dialed it back and just kept it steady. The first 20 miles of the course is mostly flat with just a couple little rollers, its very tempting to hammer and put lots of time in the bank. But after having done the race a couple times, I know that it's the back half where the race can be made or broken. Even so, I felt really good and was keeping a nice pace... I hit the 20 mile mark in 52:32 (22.8 mph avg). After the left turn at around mile 23 onto Christianitos, the course gets more challenging with a series of rollers until the first major climb at mile 28. By this time, I had finished my first bottle of nutrition and at the first bottle exchange I swapped it for a bottle of plain water. I also took 1/2 of my electrolyte tablets. From this point on, I alternated between taking drinks of plain water and my drink mix. Just after the aid station, I caught up to a guy with nearly the same exact bike set-up as me (same model Cervelo P2C, same wheelset) in this section who I ended playing cat and mouse for about 15 miles. He would pass me on the uphills, I would catch him on the downhills and the flatter sections, back and forth. It made the time go faster and we ended up working our way past a lot of riders as we passed and repassed one another. I managed to get away from him on the final climb and that was the last I saw of him the rest of the race. Once over the final climb, I caught another guy on a black Guru and we did the same thing on the descent and on the final approach down Vandergrift. I passed him, he repassed me... I fell back to 10 meters... repassed, repeat. All the way back into transition. Rolling back into the Harbor, I finished off my second bottle of nutrition, took the rest of my electrolyte tabs and was feeling really good and optimistic for a good run. I was really hoping for a ride closer to 2:30, but after seeing how my relative performance improved this year, compared to prior years (2007 - 224th, 2008 - 386th ), I was pretty happy.

Transition 2 - 1:47
A pretty quick transition. I had my feet out of my shoes as I rolled in. Got the bike racked quickly and was into my running shoes. Grabbed a flask of TriBerry-flavored GU (w/caffeine, natch) to carry with me and my sunglasses and was off.

Run - 1:29:53, 6:52/mile avg (19th AG, 107th OA)
Last year at Vineman, I had my best run ever in an half-ironman (1:25) by running the first 5 miles very conservatively then slowing picking up the pace the back half of the course. My intention was to use the same strategy and I kept telling myself to take it easy, get the HR under control and let the legs get loose before trying to make any moves. The only wrinkle I hadn't really trained for was the 1/4 mile sand section which was re-introduced this year. We had to run over the sand section at the beginning and end of each loop, so there was about one full mile of running in semi-soft to soft sand. However, my first mile was 6:47 even with the sand section and I was feeling pretty good. Mile 2 was 6:45. I took sips from my gel flask and got some gatorade and/or water at each aid station and I kept the pace right around 6:45-6:50 range for the first loop. I tried not to pay attention to the other athletes or worry about catching anyone, I simply concentrated on keeping a steady, strong pace. Once out on the second loop and through the 3rd (of 4) sand sections, I tried to pick up the pace. I started looking ahead at the runners and worked on reeling them in, one by one... especially if they were in my age group. Despite my efforts, my pace was not improving and even slowing slightly. At the aid station just before mile 9, I started taking cola to try to get a boost from the sugar and caffeine. After doing some mental arithmetic, I realized that I couldn't afford to slow down at all if I was going to break 4:40, I needed to maintain nothing slower than 7:00 pace. That was my motivation the last 2 or 3 miles. Finally, once through the final sand section, the finish line and crowd was in sight and I even managed a slight surge to pass one last guy in my AG in the final straight.

Final time 4:39:02 (14th AG, 95th OA)

I'm happy with the performance. It's not the 4:30 I was looking for, but it's a solid improvement from previous years. Execution was solid, there isn't anything I'd do differently and it's a lifetime PR for the distance (though not by much... I went 4:39:4-something way back in 1999 at Eagleman, a far easier course). Both the swim and bike splits were PR's. The thing I'm happiest about is that my relative performance in all three sports was much more consistant than it ever has been. I still have a lot of work to do on my cycling, but now my ability on the bike is at least somewhat on par with my swimming and running.

Now onto to Wildflower.

We just got back into town after a killer weekend up in Sonoma County. We stayed with my cousin and his family in Sebastopol, it was great to have some local support for the race. And, of course, the local knowledge of the area wineries came in handy for the post-race festivities on Monday!

Here's the race report.

Pre-Race:

3:45am alarm. Shower, change and pre-race breakfast consisting of a cinnamon-raisin bagel with schmear (aka cream cheese), 1 vanilla-flavored Ensure and 2 cups of coffee. Final gear check and we are out the door by 4:45. Arrive at in downtown Guerneville at 5:20, park and walk down to transition. We are among the first to arrive, I set up my gear, hit the porta potty, get bodymarked and relax until 6:20 or so. Sip on a bottle of Gu20 sports drink. The official water temp is 71.5, so wetsuits are legal. I don my trusty blueseventy helix and get in the water with my fellow 37 year old green-capped comrades and do some light swimming to warmup for my 6:46 wave start.

Swim:

I've been swimming virtually zero the last few weeks, so despite the fact that I'm a strong swimmer... I'm feeling a little nervous about my ability to swim a decent 1.2 miles. The gun goes off and I immediately get on some feet. I swim with a group of 4-5 other guys to the first turn around. The water gets very shallow after the turn and my hand is hitting bottom. I opt to walk and porpoise my way forward for about a hundred yards or so. Some guys chose to keep swimming though. Start swimming again and once I do, I start feeling pretty fatigued. I am at a pretty high effort level to stay with my group. Now, I question my thinking of choosing to stay with the group versus swimming solo... but at the time it seemed the right thing to do. Get back to transition and exit the water in 28:09. A decent time, but I wonder if I emptied the tank a bit too much.

Bike:

Get to the rack, rip off the wetsuit and get my shoes, helmet, sunglasses and race number on. I promptly drop my bike and spill the contents of my aero bottle on the ground. Rookie mistake!! Another athlete gave me a heads up about a steep little hill coming out of transition, so I had my bike in my 39-23. This was a good tip as I got on my pedals and easily spun out onto the course, while several others weaved and struggled to stay upright in their big chainring on the sharp incline.

The nutrition plan: 1 Gu every 20 minutes and 2 Thermolytes every 30 minutes, alternating sips of water and sports drink every 5 minutes. Since I spilled most of my sports drink, all I had was my frame bottle with water and had to wait for the first aid station at Mile 15 to get some Gatorade. Fortunately, the weather was quite cool so I wasn't too worried about dehydrating.

Kept the effort steady through the first 15 miles or so. At one point, I heard a faint flapping and discovered that my spare tubular, inflator and C02 cartridges were no longer strapped to my saddle. (the flapping noise was the strap moving around in the wind). I guess they came loose somewhere on the rough pavement of Westside Road. Now, if I flat, I'm done. Put that aside, I tell myself, and try not to worry about something I can't control.

At around Mile 20, a race official rolls up next to me on his motorcycle and informs me that he is giving me a yellow card for blocking. WTF? I guess I was riding in the center too much. In my defense, I was passing a series of slower riders, trying to cut the corners of the curvy, technical course and avoid the rough pavement on the far sides of the road. But, the rules are rules... so I bit my tongue and as instructed, stopped at the penalty tent. There was no time penalty, but I did have to sign an acknowedgment and get my race number marked with a big 'P'. That stop cost me a minute or two. Again, try to put it aside... just keep rolling. From here on out no big spikes in effort, just keep the intensity at a moderate/steady level.

The rest of the bike course was uneventful... other than the spectacular scenary, of course! The 'big' hill on Chalk Hill Road (Mile 45) was not too bad at all. The rest of the ride went according to plan until I got back to Windsor HS. There was a lot of traffic on Windsor Road and somehow I missed the left turn into T2 and ended up riding past about a 1/4 mile past the HS to the next stop light. Very confused, I realized my mistake, turned around and finally got back into transition, glad to be off the bike and getting onto the run course. Bike split was 2:44:44. My goal pre-race was to ride under 2:40, so with the 4-5 minutes I left on the course due to the penalty and wrong turn, I was still pretty much on target with my goal.

Run:

Got my shoes on, grabbed my Gu flask and visor and go! The out and back run course was flat for the first 1.5 miles and than is rolling out to the La Crema Winery turnaround. I typically come out of T2 with guns blazing and in my two earlier 70.3 races this year, have blown up spectacularly on the run course. A repeat of those incidents was not in the game plan, so my strategy was to keep the effort level 'easy' the first 6 miles, than pick it up coming back from the turnaround. For fueling, I sipped on my Gu flask and took water at every aid station. I definitely remembered to pack the running legs for this race, because my first three miles was all under 6:45 and I was feeling very strong. Still, I held back... chatted a bit with a fellow athlete and held the 6:40-6:45 pace through the turnaround. At Mile 7, I started to feel the ever-so-slight hint of a muscle cramp in my left hamstring, so I start taking Coke along with water at the aid stations. The pure sugar/caffeine boost is like rocket fuel. The dreaded bonk never comes, I hit Mile 10 in 1:05:51 and run the last 5K in 20:06... certainly my strongest finish ever in a 70.3 distance event. Final run split is 1:25:57 (17th fastest of the day, not including pros)

Final overall time is 4:44:37. 18th in my AG and 86th OA

I'm esctatic about the day... a beautiful course and perfect weather for racing. Despite leaving some time on the bike course with some dumb mistakes, in my third 70.3 this year, I finally nailed my nutrition and pacing and ran the run split that I've known I've been capable of.

Third time is a charm!

I'm writing this in the car as we make the drive home from Wildflower. My wife is driving...

Thoughts of the past few days at Wildflower are still fresh, so I figure now is a good time to write my race report.

The Wildflower Long Course is a widely considered to be one of the toughest half-ironman distance events in the world. Two years ago, I did the Olympic distance race and this time around I decided to give the 'big' race a shot, half to take on the challenge and half to enjoy some post-race beers on Saturday night instead of going to bed early to prepare for a Sunday race.

We arrived at Lake San Antonio mid-day Thursday and were able to get a good camp spot in Harris Creek, right next to a playground for our kids, and strategically positioned close to the bathrooms and the showers. Score! Once we got our tents set up, I did a short 1 hr bike ride to make sure the bike was functioning well and to loosen up the legs after the long drive. I noticed my rear derailleur needed an adjustment. Friday morning, we drove the bike course... I've heard horror stories about tough 56 mile route and wanted to get a sense of what to expect. I'm glad I did. Then we hit the festival and race expo, got some lunch, picked up my race packet and I went for a short swim. I also got my bike checked out. Aside from the long walk back to our campsite, it was a pretty relaxing, restful day.

Race morning. Despite the difficulty of the day ahead, I felt pretty calm. Breakfast consisted of cereal with milk, two bananas with coffee and a bottle of water. I took the boat shuttle over to the transition area and was ready to go about 30 minutes before my start time of 8:35. Saw the pro men and women exit the water. This year had a pretty stellar field so as a fan of the sport, it was cool to see some of the big names like Macca, Llanos, Lieto, McGlone and Gallo up close and personal.

Swim: I positioned myself one row back near the center... I would have liked to be in the front row but there were some guys that refused to concede their spots. No big deal, I'm confident in my swimming ability and a little contact doesn't bother me. Once the gun went off, I swam pretty hard the first 200 or 300 yards, than got in a nice little group and found my rhythm. The water was perfect, 65 degrees or so... very comfortable to swim in. Lost the pack at some point, ended up swimming solo on the way back. Swim time was 28:12, about what I expected.

Had some trouble in transition area, for some reason I couldn't get my bike shoes on. T1 time of 3:51. ouch!

Bike: the bike course starts out along the lake front for a mile, than goes straight up the infamous Beach Hill. I set up my bike with a 12-27 cassette and I was glad to have a extra gear to spin up the climb. I saw plenty of guys over-geared out of the saddle struggling to get the pedals over. I slid back on my saddle, put my hands on the arm rests of the aero bars and tried to keep my HR steady. Once over Beach, I relaxed, kept my effort steady and controlled as I left the park and headed out onto Interlake Road. After driving the course on Friday, I knew that the hardest part of the bike course was in the last 15 miles. Very different than Oceanside where the last 15 miles are pretty much entirely flat. I drank only water for the first 30 minutes and after than began taking on nutrition, three Thermolytes an hour, and 1 Gu (Tri-Berry w/caffeine) every 20 minutes. I alternated between drinking GuH20 from my aerobottle and water. Up to mile 40, I just concentrated on keeping it steady. No big efforts, no hard accelerations, just an intensity level slightly above what I would do on a steady effort training ride. Not easy, but steady. Mile 42 marks the left turn up Nasty Grade. Once again, I just alternated between my 25 and 27 cog keeping a high cadence up the climb. Only got out of the saddle once to stretch my back a bit. I said hello to the Energizer bunny as I crested the top. He pounded his drum in return.

The last 10 miles or so are up and down... but I felt pretty good as I rolled back into the park. 2:56:59 bike split. Under my sub 3hr goal. No cramps and no stomach issues. Another slow transition, my stuff got scattered a bit so I had to hunt down my visor and one of my socks. 3:01 T2 time.

Run: Heading out onto the run, I felt pretty fresh... Ran 7 min miles through the first 4 miles, which meanders along the lakefront. The first section was on a freshly paved with pitch black asphalt... it was getting hot out. I poured water on my head at every aid station. I briefly thought a sub 1:35 half might be in the cards, but Miles 4-6 were crazy hilly... I had to walk up a couple of the steep inclines... running up would not have been any faster. A 9 minute mile up the big hill. Once over the firebreak, the course mellows out a bit through Mile 9 as it goes through the massive Redondo Vista camping area. The crowd support was awesome, there were hundreds of people providing support and encouragement. I got into a small group and just hung on, but I really started to feel the day's effort and was fatiguing quickly. I developed a side stitch that wouldn't go away, so I just took sips of water. I couldn't stomach any more gels or Gatorade, which I probably needed. After leaving Redondo Vista, there is a short climb, than a long descent into The Pit. I mentally cracked here... running down a long hill only to turn-around and run right back out. I was toasted and had to walk for a couple hundred yards through the aid station. Once back on the flat I started running again and just tried to get to the finish line in one piece. The course ends with a long descent down Lynch Hill.

Running into the finish chute was awesome... it was a great sense of accomplishment to finish this very difficult course. My run split was 1:45:05, just over 8 min/mile pace and my final time was 5:17:10. 41st in my AG, 176th OA.

All in all, I was very happy with the day. Even though it was my slowest half-ironman ever and my slowest run split... it's really impossible to compare this course with any of the others I've done like Oceanside, Baja or Eagleman. This course is far, far more difficult. The hills keep coming and coming. It was a mistake not to do a full preview of the run course... mentally I was well-prepared to handle the bike, but the really difficult part of this race is the run and that took me by surprise a bit. All that said, its a fantastic challenge and I am really looking forward to giving it another shot now that I know what to expect.

I can't wait until next year...

Oh, and the post-race beers I mentioned earlier? They tasted damn good.