Saturday, April 26, 2014

Race Day Goals

Today I am running the Willi Whammer Half Marathon up in Willimantic, CT. Below are some of my race day goals for this morning's race:

A) Finish the race and be able to both stand and walk for the remainder of the day.

B) Finish the race and simply survive.

C) Dont crap myself.

Considering I am woefully undertrained and clearly not in race mode, today's race will be taken more as a base training run for the upcoming season. I'm basically using a half marathon as a jump in off point. Clearly a great idea.

But as we all know, I'm really just in this for the beer and there will be plenty of that at the Thread City Hop Fest located at the finish line.

Sign me up!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Cowboy Up

With a little less than three weeks to go until the WilliWhammer Half Marathon up in Connecticut, I am starting to ease into my taper. And by "ease into my taper" I mean that I am running even less than I have been in the lead-up to this half marathon. As it's been since I finished Philly way back in November, my running has been spotty at best and not-at-all at worst. There have literally been weeks where I haven't put on my running shoes. Whole weeks, which is rather unlike me. 

At first, I figured I just needed some time. I had come off a really hard fall where I had an A race triathlon in September, Ragnar Washington DC in October, then two marathons in November. I was beaten up, tired and sore. I had nothing on the race calendar so I gave myself December to rest up and let my body return to a somewhat normal state. I figured that by the time January rolled around, I would be ready to get back into the swing of things. A whole month off - with no real plan of any kind - is unlike me and I thought for sure I would be itching to get back to doing something - anything. 

But three full months into the year and I still haven't found my groove. Even with this half marathon coming up at the end of the month - which we signed up for in January and I thought might jump-start my racing flow - has proved to really be a non-starter. Sometimes I have good weeks where I put in 15-20 miles, but I have followed them up by a week of maybe going for a five miler. Running just isn't there for me right now. I can say it's because the weather has been awful this year and that it's been hard to get outside, but that would be a lie. Yes, the weather has been awful, but I don't mind running in the cold and it would just be an easy excuse. I've had plenty of time to get outside and put in the mileage, I've just chosen not to. I just need a break.

However, the one thing I have been doing is swimming - a lot. I joined a new pool last month and swim with a group of people on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and try and go at least two other times during the week. For what seems to be the first time in a long time, I have been consistently putting in anywhere from 6,000 - 8,000 yards a week. Considering last summer I probably swam 10,000 yards in total, I guess you could say that my groove is coming back. A large portion of the group I am swimming with happen to be coached by someone that I had been looking into signing on with before other life-issues started getting in the way of dropping hundreds of dollars a month on coaching, but I can already tell that I am getting the bug. They are all triathletes, so they are continually talking about what races they are doing, have done or would like to do in the future, and seeing as how I have also not planned a race calendar or even considered what races I would want to do this summer, I am starting to feel the pull. 

Maybe choosing my races will get me back into it? Maybe a little change of scenery was just what the doctor ordered and all this talk about races is what I needed? Maybe I just need to sit down with myself and have a little mental pep-talk and tell my inner whiner that I just need to shut the fuck up and stop complaining - that it's high time I cowboy up, get a training plan together and get my ass in gear. 




Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Consistently Inconsistent

As the title of this post implies, my training over the past few months has been all over the map. In fact, I don't even know if you can actually call what I've done 'training' and should instead just call it 'activity'. When I was gearing up for the Nation's Tri and the NYC Marathon last summer and fall, my training was spot-on. I rarely missed a day of training, let along went an entire week with nothing planned. However, ever since I finished the Philly Marathon, I've been all over the place.

Usually, after my last race of the season, I'll give myself a little mini-break from running, biking and swimming. I generally don't do a lot of biking during the winter as it is, because the thought of riding outside in 30* weather isn't all that enticing - and the horrific winter that we had this year just put an exclamation point on why I don't ride in cold weather - and the thought of doing indoor rides on the trainer is equally as blah. I'm not a huge fan of spin classes because the bikes are awful so that means a nice long winter break from the bike - but that also leaves me super pumped when those warm weather days start to roll around and I can get back out there.

However, swimming and running is usually my bread-and-butter in the winter. I don't mind cold-weather running - maybe one day I'll write about the reason's why I'd rather run in the winter than the summer - and swimming is inside anyway so there's no real reason to stop. In fact, during last year's season I did way more yardage in the winter and spring than I did in the summer - either inside or outside - so my swimming actually fell off during my peak training times - not exactly an ideal way to train but whatever.

This season I just can't seem to find the groove. I've been much more consistent in the pool than anything else, getting in the water at least twice a week, but I've slacked off a whole bunch when it comes to running. I've been battling a knee issue ever since my two marathons in two weeks in November, and even with all the time off it still flairs up if I go longer than five miles. Obviously I haven't seen a doctor, because that would be something logical, and I'm just hoping that as I ease back into mileage it will sort itself out, but if it goes on then I guess a visit to the doctor is probably in the cards.

I have a half-marathon on the books for late April, so with only six-ish weeks to go until the race, I am woefully unprepared and untrained. Actually, that's a lie - I know that I can run the 13.1 miles, it will just be at a pace significantly slower than previous half-marathons. And I am actually okay with that. I can't expect to be in the same shape that I was leading up to the NYC Marathon because I trained my ass off for that event, but over the next few weeks I am vowing to at least get my body - and mind - prepared for the race.

And hey, if nothing else I'll get an awesome finisher's pint glass to take home.

Monday, February 24, 2014

A How-To Guide Scheduling Your Racing Season

Well, it's almost the end of February and seeing as how I haven't posted anything of importance in quite awhile - and how my training is not exactly at peak intensity and, frankly, quite boring (hence the lack of training posts) - I figured I would write up a little something on choosing your race calendar and provide some feedback into how I go into planning mine.

In reality, the end of February is pretty late to start planning your calendar. At this point in time, many of the races that have a lottery entrance are already closed (Aquaphor New York City, Escape from Alcatraz, Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS), etc.) and their lotteries have either already been drawn or will be done shortly. These races are, in general, the more popular, large city races and/or have a very limited number of spots available and/or require a qualification time (SOS). However, fear not, because there are still PLENTY of smaller races out there that are not full yet, and might not even be open for registration yet (typically the later season (September - November) races and any smaller local races).

As a general rule (which most of this column will be based on seeing as how I have no quantitative way of measuring any of what I say besides the personal experience of myself and triathlete friends), any race that is fancy enough to have a full-page advertisement in Triathlete magazine will probably sell out in a short amount of time, so if you see a race that looks interesting to you, write down the date registration opens for next year in your calendar (or your phone) and get on it early. Lots of races advertised in magazines are part of a series (HITS, Rev3, TriRock, etc.) that have multiple races across the US and multiple formats (sprint, Olympic, half/full), so if you are early enough - or want to travel - then you'll have your pick of races to choose from.

But what if you don't subscribe to any triathlon magazines? Well, you're screwed.

Just kidding.

There are plenty of different ways to find out about races, the easiest one being to go to Google or Bing or whatever search engine you use and type in: "triathlon races in (insert state/region/country/etc. here)" and there will be tons of different options that arise. A good website that I like to use is called TriFind.com - you can search using different criteria and narrow down options as you go. It's not going to list every race possible, but it comes close.

Another great way is to get in touch with other triathletes. Trust me when I tell you that no triathlete will turn down the chance to talk about races that they've done - ever. In fact, you will probably get more information than you cared to know, some of which are relevant (accommodation suggestions, parking) and some of which are not (their gastrointestinal issues, what kind of shoes they were wearing during their run and their caloric intake). But it's a great way to find out if a particular race sounds appealing to you or not. Sometimes a great race on paper is actually a logistical nightmare that just isn't worth it.

But hold on a second, before you start registering for races willy nilly, you have to do a little thinking - and planning. First and foremost, sit down with your calendar - work, personal, family - and write down every big ticket thing that you have going on between March and November of the year. I'm talking about weddings, vacations, work events/conferences, milestone parties, etc. Essentially, anything that will require the use of an entire week and/or weekend of your time should be included. Now that you have your "important life events" set, you can start to plan your season around them.

Listed below are the criteria that I use each year to come up with my race season. Each season is different, and I adjust things accordingly when I'm planning my racing calendar for the following year and you also have to be able to have some (but not much) flexibility.

Set Your "A" Race

What's an "A" race? It's essentially the race that you want to peak for. It is the race that will come above all others and the one race that you are aiming to do your best at. It doesn't necessarily have to be your longest race or the biggest race, or even come at the end of the season, but it is the race that you are shooting to PR in. You can have multiple "A" races during a season, but I don't recommend having more than two and they should be a fair distance apart to allow for better recovery and tapering.

For example, last year I had both the Nation's Tri and the NYC Marathon as my "A" races, which complicated things, but was not impossible. One was in the beginning of September and the other was in the beginning of November, which gave me more than enough time for recovery after the first and then building and tapering for the second. I just had to budget my training time to ensure that I was logging the appropriate amount of running miles to ensure I could do the marathon, but also not neglect my biking or swimming. In reality, the speed and hill work that I did during my marathon training actually benefited me the most in terms of my 10k splits in the Nation's Tri, so two completely different "A" race events actually turned out to be a boon for my ultimate PR.

What Does Your Year Look Like?

Do you have five weddings, two bachelorette parties, work conferences and a two-week vacation to Africa planned? Well, that's going to complicate things when it comes to both the races that you can do and the races that you can adequately train for.

Is your calendar wide open? You should probably get a life, but at least you have plenty of weekends to choose from!

This is where planning comes into play and why it's important to know what big events you have coming up in your life. It's unrealistic to think you are going to PR in a race after being on vacation in the Bahamas for a week prior to the event - your training schedule will more than likely be thrown off as you sip Pina Coladas by the pool and while yes, dancing is a great form of exercise, it's probably not going to get you into peak shape a week before the big race.

So plan your "A" races accordingly. This doesn't mean don't do that race, it just means don't make it your "A" race and instead use it to work on your speed through transition or getting ahead of the pack on the swim or negative splitting the run. Whatever your weakness is, work on it.

Early Season vs. Middle Season vs. Late Season

Again, take a look at your calendar - if you are overbooked in the beginning of the year, but the later half looks open, think about trying for a late season PR. Or if you're second half of the summer is devoted to a family vacation, then try for an early summer race. But be aware of starting too early - I know when it's 25* and snowing outside in December that that early season race in San Juan looks inviting, but just remember that the majority of your training will have to be done either inside on a trainer, or outside in the cold and you're more than likely not going to be able to get any open-water swim training done prior to landing in sunny Puerto Rico. Your body won't be acclimated to the weather, so an early-season PR is unlikely, and might even be dangerous. Unless you are planning on spending a serious amount of time somewhere comparably warm in the month leading up to the race, you're better off picking another race.

Local vs. Long Distance

This is where your personality-type comes into play, as well as your triathlon prowess. Is this your first year of actually scheduling a race season? Are you still somewhat new to the triathlon scene? Do you freak out if plans get changed and you get thrown off schedule before a race? If any of these sound like you, you might want to keep your racing net within a car trips' distance, thus ensuring a relatively stress-free weekend.

Should you choose to fly to a race, there are a number of different factors to keep in mind:

Bike transportation - Will you be checking it, because depending on the airline you take, you could be looking at a $150 fee each way. Check the airline restrictions before you book your flight. There is also the option of shipping it out via UPS or FedEx which means that you would have to give yourself a minimum of a week, or pay the extra cost of guaranteed shipping, to ensure that it gets to the hotel in time. There are also a couple different services like TriBike Transport and Raceday Transport that will do the heavy lifting for you, at a cost.

Flights - Be prepared for delays and know the restrictions for luggage and carry-on bags. The last thing you want is to get to the airport and have to pay an extra fee because you didn't know that your gear or wheel bag would be over the weight limit or count as a third bag. When in doubt, call ahead.

Packing - Triathlons require stuff. And a lot of it. That means knowing exactly what you need on race day, laying it out before you pack, checking it, rechecking it, then rechecking it again as you pack it all. Some stuff you can get when you land, like PowerBars or gels or sports drinks, but if you just have to race with your favorite homemade granola and you can't even fathom thinking about starting the day without your favorite protein shake, you're gonna want to make sure that you can bring it with you. And while just about any major race in America and overseas will have a pretty big convention to stock up on any last-minute supplies, you really don't want to race in new shoes because you forgot yours.

Lost Luggage - It happens, more than airlines probably would like to admit it, especially if you don't have a direct flight (tangent: I coached women's lacrosse at the college level and the airline lost our bag of sticks that they required us to check on the way back from Florida, essentially leaving us stranded in the middle of the season until they found them and got them back to us. It happens.). To ensure that you don't get screwed, pack every essential race-day item in your carry-on. This includes: racing kit, running shoes, bike shoes, helmet and anything that you consider to be "vital" that you can't get at your destination. That being said, triathletes are friendly folks and should you get to your destination and the airline has, in fact, lost your luggage and you didn't heed my advice, just let the race director know and there are inevitably great racers out there that over-prepare and bring extras of lots of different things. No one wants to see someone else's hard work go down in flames before the race has even started.

Obviously, traveling by car has its' issues as well, especially if you are racing around a holiday weekend and you happen to live along the I-95 corridor, but in general, you are a bit less stressed knowing that all of your important items are never truly traveling out of sight or out of your hands. And while destination races are always fun, racing locally has it's perks as well, including getting to sleep in your own bed the night before and also meeting up with lots of other local triathletes.

Building Distance

If your "A" race is a half or full Ironman distance, I recommend building up distance as you progress through your training. For example, let's say you're racing Timberman 70.3 in August as your "A" race, I would try and race an Olympic race in both June and July, a sprint event in mid-to-late May, and begin the season with some road races to get your legs going, as well as add a 5k or 10k in June and July for some added speed work.

After your (hopeful) PR is set in August, then you can either relax and take some time off, or continue racing other events but at a more casual speed. This isn't to say that you won't be racing those later events hard, but just know that a PR is not necessarily your main goal. If you felt the burning desire to add a second "A" race to the calendar, I would shoot for a late September into October race, giving yourself plenty of recovery time, especially if you are racing a longer distance, or even switching gears entirely like I did.

Athletic Supporters 

By this I don't mean "cups" or "bras", I mean your cheering section. Do you want one? Because don't expect friends and family to follow you to those exotic racing locations, no matter how many pina coladas you promise to buy them. And especially don't plan on them traveling anywhere along the East Coast during any holiday weekend. If you have an amazing significant other (shout out SJ), then yes, they will probably be waiting at the finish line waiting to give your sweaty, nasty smelling body a giant hug - as well as a cold adult beverage - no matter where you race. However, if you want to pack the house with friends and family and generally have the loudest cheering section at the event, stick to local, easy-to-get-to or fan-friendly events. Just remember, triathlons usually start at ungodly hours before most normal humans without infants or toddlers are even thinking about waking up or, in my case, before some of my friends have even gone to bed, so you may have to entice people to come with the promise of post-race booze and food or, since they aren't racing, pre-race Bloody Mary's and mimosas, too. And it never hurts to bake fresh banana bread!

There you have it friends. I'm sure there are things that I have missed and things that I will think of to add, and if so then I promise to edit this list, however, as a general guideline I think I've hit all the important parts. Just remember, your season is only as good as your training plan, so no matter how meticulous you are in planning your racing calendar, if you don't train you won't get the full benefit of that meticulous schedule anyway. If you have any questions then shoot 'em at me and I'll try my best to respond with something witty and useful!

And, as always, don't forget to tell your triathlon widow how much you love them and appreciate all of the delicious meals that they cook so you don't get the runger pains, or how the yard looks amazing because while you were out tooling around in your spandex for three hours they mowed the lawn AND trimmed the hedges. Or you can always add up the cost of your bike, triathlon registration fees and hotel costs, multiply it by two, and then buy a diamond of similar cost - that usually does the trick.*












*Note: I have never done this, but I'm sure SJ will be waiting now.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

It's Going Down. . .

It's been a few days since my last real training post, but in all honesty, this has been a pretty quiet off-season. Seeing as how I really don't have anything in the books as far as races go this year, I can't really say that I've been really killing at getting in my base mileage. Not to mention the fact that this winter has been giving us a steady stream of winter storms, which means that a fresh round of snow arrives just as the previous one has melted away, leaving some not-so-great roads to run on.

However, seeing as how I have dedicated the first few months of the year to getting my ass back into the pool, this winter has been perfect for actually forcing me to do it. I've had a steady stream of three and four day weeks in the pool the past few weeks, so I've started to slowly - oh-so slowly - see my swim form come back as my yardage has picked up. And with winter storm Maximus hitting us like a ton of bricks yesterday - and winter storm Nika fresh on its' heels - I don't really foresee myself getting outside anytime soon.

This past weekend was a bit of a boozy one as well. Fifteen girls packed a ski chalet at Hunter Mountain to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a certain crazy someone, and I'm pretty sure the town of Hunter has warrants out for at least three of us. I'd be surprised if they let any of us back in. Here are some pictures for frame of reference:




It's hard to get on the training wagon when you're having that much fun. Needless to say, it was an epic weekend, although I did get a day of snowboarding in so at least I feel like I did something productive besides destroy my liver, as well as all sense of dignity that I previously had.

Here's to a good time! Cheers, bitches. . .