Monday, April 25, 2011

Don't Be Lame


A lot of people out there are training hard, as am I and I just wanted to post a friendly reminder that its ok to have goals and work your ass of toward attaining them. However, sometimes its not ok to blow off your friends and neglect your family. When you get sick or hurt from over training, whos going to come to your aid? Whos going to talk you up to a speedy recovery and most of all, whos going to be your fan club if you are too focused on the training?

Its ok to go out and have a beer everyonce in a while, just like rules, schedules were made to be broken. Just as it takes cross training to become an amazing athlete, it also takes multidimentional living to become a well rounded individual.

If competing in 3 IM or HIM races a year is taxing your life, maybe it would be better to enter shorter races that in turn require less training and time. Leaving you with free time to experience life. How I look at it in CO is that I can run anywhere, but I can never experience the CO lifestyle if I dont engage in the things that make it great. Including hiking 14ers, going skiing, going on a brew tour or two. These things may or may not make me a better triathlete but also they will help me enjoy my 3 sport races more and fortify my decision to live in CO. In the end do what makes you happy, but take some time out on your long run or ride to step out of the box and ask, am I doing what makes me happy and is it worth it? Life is short and there's so much to see and do.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Show Review: Zoot Suit Riot

ZOOT OVWA


As a triathlete I've been wanting to try out Zoot for a while now and now I see why they are so popular in the transition area. Last season I was using the Pearl Izumi Streaks but never could wear them without socks (tried during a sprint distance time trial-no short races other then that to try this out), and I always had trouble with traction on them. The first thing you will realize with light weight racing flats is that they dont have much material, there isnt much to them and they are designed to feel that way as well. This can be a blessing and a course, a design flaw when you want to use them on gravel surfaces (more on that later).

This is a transition shoe and in that regard I didn’t feel like I could get them on and secured to my foot any faster than a regular racing flat fitted with elastic laces. The heel pull tab was difficult to hold on to while jamming your foot in even with dry feet and I’m sure difficulty would increase with wet feet. Once in, my foot did feel secure with the quick lace system which never even hinted of slipping or come undone during any of my runs.

My runs were a mixture of gravel and paved surfaces and I found that these shoes just couldn’t hold up to gravel surface. It was less then 5 miles into a run that the issue began to present itself, the sole suffered some damage in areas not covered by the rubber traction. Those concerns aside, this is the first pair of tri running shoes I’ve been able to wear without socks, without blisters and feel with a few minor tweaks this shoe could be exactly what I’ve been holding out for and would quickly be added to my transition mat.


ZOOT OTEC
(Very much like the Ultra Tempo 4.0)



I fell in love with this shoe from the moment of my first few strides; Light and flexible yet supportive. Very comfortable upper with no seams. Great color combo, good luck trying to get a run without someone stopping you to check out your kicks. I had an effortless training run that was surprisingly at race pace, I checked my watch twice! I will without a doubt be racing in these this weekend at the Cherry Creek Sneak 5 miler. They compliment my toed running style nicely with a little forward lean that you dont notice until the next morning's calf soreness. They have a narrow toe box without sacrificing frontal landing surface and stability.

"Less Weight, Less Water retention, lower temps, less exertion per stride. Upgrade to Zoot."

See a continued review here!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Mt SAC Relays...First time in Cali

On Friday I flew out to LA to attend the Mt. SAC Relays and cheer on some of my kick ass running friends from Boulder including Jason Hartman, Bobby Reyes, Pat Rizzo, Steve/Sara Slatery, Jenny B. (Simpson), Emma Kennan and a bunch of others from the CU and Boulder Running Company teams. I also took the trip for some a motivational recharge, I though attending a track meet would take me back to my running roots where I used to spend hours on the bus and live out of a hotel each weekend when I competed for UB. Alt training, sea level time trials! Good plan.



Friday as soon as I landed I headed to Newport Beach. Great low key beach (except for all the annoying HS kids that should have been in school). After I had a good base sunburn going it was time to head back inland to Mt. SAC and cheer on some great Colorado runners. LA can be described with one word: Traffic! I lived in NYC for 6 years and consider LA worse namely because its never ending. Least in NYC you know that rush hour will be doubled but will eventually end.





I got to the track around 7pm just in time to see some of the final laps of the elite women's 5k which included big names such as: Sara Hall, Jenny (B) Simpson, Molly Huddle. Numerous heats of the 5k then followed for the rest of the night with an intermission of a very exciting 4x1mile relay of high schoolers. In the girls heat one of the lead off runners from Saugus fell at the 800m mark but got up and went on to not only hand off first but also in a speedy time of 5:04! That team went on to win with its three other legs of 5:02, 5:04, 5:02, and 5:01.







Emma didn't run until the final heat of the 5K, the moment I was waiting for all night. Due to restarts and delays this didn't happen until midnight and the temps were dropping quickly. This was her first time on the track since HS and her first time running this distance at sea level. She went out conservatively and pretty much ran it like a road race in CO where you sit and draft, waiting until after you've passed the large hilly sections of the course. After the 2 mile mark she started picking off runners one by one and kicked it into gear with @800 to go and ended with a 16:52 which was good enough for about a min PR. I didn't get to bed till @1.





Next morning the plan was to run to a near by track and get in a mile repeat workout and some hurdle drills. The track was Rowland Heights HS about 1.5 miles away. So I warmed up with that, but when I got there the track was closed! Again, why do we have to lock up our tracks and protect them with 8' fences?

So I ran to another track, Nogales HS in West Covina about 3 miles away, but by this time the temps were on the rise, it was humid and I was running out of water. I made it to the track and found one gate open. Stretched out and converted the workout into a "tired mile trial." I managed a 6:10 which could have easily been sub 6 but I saved some energy for the 1 mile run back to the hotel.

Run: 6.5

I got back, showered to cool my body temp down and get ready to hit up Venice beach for the first time. This place I can only describe as being between a prison yard and the places in Mexico where tourists done travel to. It was raw!

The water was @55* so I didn't really go in. We stayed until I was good and lobstered up (even though I was religious with the sunblock). Stuck in LA traffic for 3 hours I had time to further increase my worked up appetite. Finally enough was enough, we pulled off to find a quaint Mexican restaurant with the added bonus of Karaoke and some dancing. The sure cure for tight legs.





Sunday was a planned adventure day to include sight seeing and hiking in and around LA to see what the fuss was about on TV shows and movies. We visited Hollywood and even hiked 4 miles on and off trail in Griffin Park to the summit of Mt. Lee to the Hollywood sign. I think I just might be a natural for some trail running races.











We drove around in Beverly Hills and saw Diane Keaton driving in her Range Rover. We took shelter from the heat in the Westwood Shopping Center for lunch and finished out the day at the Marina Del Rey. Just before heading to LAX for our flight back to Denver we had to make a impromptu stop at Trader Joe's for supplies. I highly recommend the trail mix.



It was a great trip to get in some sea level training, support my athletic friends and explore new areas in great company. Bonds were certainly formed, and the memories wont soon be forgotten.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Build your house with steep walls

That was the advice of a pro cyclist thats a world champion indoor and outdoor and TT
On Tuesday night of this week we had our RMTC meeting at Retul in Denver to discuse bike training and bike fit. Retul was nice enough to host a massive crowd of 70 packed into their fit/show room. And this was the advice he gave:

Shift before you need to
keep a 90-110 cadence at all times (even up hill)
And view your training as if you were building a house with steep walls. Meaning as little base prep as posible but including Anaerobic Zone training.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Trail Running Shoe Review

Competitor was nice enough to send me a few trail running shoes for review. First off we have the Tecnica Diablo Sprint



The Diablo Sprint is an extremely light weight, stable, and somewhat durable trail running shoe great for hill repeats on grass (wet or dry) or gravel, and loose descends taken like you're being timed. I don't know about you but when I'm doing interval workouts of hills or stairs I include the full cycle from start, back to start again in my timing for that interval. In the past I've done the majority of my trail running in Merrell Moab GORE-TEX® Hiking shoes that are bulky and have a flat tread. The Diablo's do offer a lot of traction but at the cost of stability when jumping on rocks, descends, and flat rock face surfaces (which we have a lot of here in CO). Ideally these shoes would be great for desert hiking, snow hiking (14ers possibly) and in temperate semi tropical climates on softer trails made of pine needles.




The second pair I received was the La Sportiva Crosslite from their Mountain Running Series.




Its a good thing that I live in Boulder with great local access to some rough terrain because with these shoes its the rougher the better. Flat paved surfaces are ill advised! My first impression of these shoes was, "when did La Sportiva start making soccer cleats?" I haven't had access to a turf pitch and a size 5 ball to try them out for other sports but for running uphill in loose, muddy, steep, snowy/icy topography this equipment will get you there faster then probably anything out there. Hands Down! and I'm not just saying that. On the other hand, conditions are constantly changing and in my opinion that's when its time to change out these shoes and bench em. I was a train wreck on down slopes that weren't snow covered, I had to slow down and have careful foot placement so as to not roll an ankle. Rock hoping is my style of trail running, in my mind, you waste too much time going down to the ground in between rocks instead of hitting the high points and minimizing your vertical deviation as you progress forward.

These shoes were increadibly lite as their name suggests. The integrated gator over the laces was great at keeping pebbles and ice/snow out of the shoe and the fit was snug.

Leaving you with a positive note the Crosslite would also make a for a great shoe to wear with snow shoes and in snow shoe races. You will be guaranteed with all the traction that the snow shoes wont move around under foot and your exposed toe will still get traction as you toe off.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Platte River Half Recap



I got up at 6:40 and had half a bagel with pb and a glass of water while I checked the weather report. Predicted was an overcast day with a high of 41* during the race. Too cold for a tank top and shorts.

I got to the race site an hour early with enough time to tape my feet, mount my bib number and chip, check my shoes and running fuel. As an added precautionary measure I also wore smartwool cushioned socks to protect my feet from the pounding. I followed that up with a short warm up of no more then a 10 min jog around and some drills. By this time the sun started to shine as well, the temps were debatable warm enough to go with selves and shorts but I decided to keep the wind pants and Under Armour on. Id rather be hot than cold on a run.



The race stared promptly at 9am and I had good position in the middle of wave 1 (of 3 waves), standing next to a few familiar faces including some of my other Runners Roost teammates (of whom I knew were going to smoke me in this race). My race plan was as follows:

Go out no faster then 7:25 first mile
Hit 8 miles under an hour
22 min final 5k

Drink water at mile 4
water, Gel, and Powerade at mile 6
water mile 8
Powerade mile 10



I didn't deviate from that plan all that much, but like in any race, there are always factors out of your control that you can not plan for. I went out out at 7:14 pace the first mile, really smooth and controlled. So most of that pace must have been due to the amount of downhill inclination. At about 800m in I had a twinge in my left hip flexor and feared that I had pulled it due to my limited warm up but I was able to take a few leaps on the fly and stretch it out enough that the pain went away. In mile 2 not much changed, we traded windy streets for the windy Platte River Path again @7:17 pace. Waiting at the conclusion of this mile was the first water station which was run by Runners Roost volunteers, where I did take a small sip to wet my mouth/lips and tried to slap some high fives without getting too excited. After all I had a lot of race left to run at this point.

With no major problems I settled into a 7:25 pace and marched on. I tried to tuck behind people when I could and stay out of the strong headwind. I stuck to the plan alternating water and Powerade at each stop (however they were not at every 2 mile mark so at some points I was getting a bit dehydrated). At 2 of the stops I actually walked a few steps in order to take in more fluids without making myself choke, it truly is the best method as long as you can get yourself moving back at pace afterwords.

I passed through the 8 mile mark under an hour and I knew I was going to be able to finish, I was on pace for a strong half marathon debut of 1:36. However, my legs grew tired at @9 miles, neck got stiff and my feet hurt but a lot less then they had during my longer training runs. Mile 9 has a mental barrier associated with it (which I was successful in overcoming in training runs), its the mile marker where I stopped and withdrew from the race in the Syracuse 70.3 (click here to read why.)
At @10.5 miles I really started to fall apart, I slowed as my legs grew heavy and each stride was a fight against the wind and foot pain. My training buddy Chris had finally caught up to me, we conversed a little and I just couldn't hang on with him. I swear as the miles increased, so did the wind! My bare minimum half marathon SLR training just didn't take into account the extra energy needed for this added factor.

Mile 12 was a great sight but it brought the only uphill portion of the downhill race, a 1000m overpass. I barely had enough left in the tank to take this hill, and I probably could have walked faster then I was running. I overcame the last obstacle and just like my finish at the Virginia Beach 8k I made the last turn, opened up my stride and finished like a champ.



Other then the wind I think it was a great course. I was surprised to see so many fans out there on the path and the volunteers did a great job at the water stations, esp. the Roost Volunteers! I was happy that I didn't have any stomach issues, I didn't have to stop to go to the bathroom, I didn't feel light headed and my foot blisters weren't nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be. I could still walk. Just a year ago my longest run was around 3-4 miles and now I'm a half marathon finisher. Its a long race, and great personal accomplishment but I'm not sure that this distance is ideal for me. Only time will tell though as I progress into a hardened endurance athlete and continue my switch over from pole vaulter.




The day after my knees/ankles were really sore and my quads had a dull soreness. Weak legs, I wouldn't even think of taking a run/jog but I did get into the pool.

Two days after my quads were even more sore, my knees were fine but my systems were a bit shaken up. Just like a few days after my 70.3 I found that my bladder had no capacity at all. At least I'm hydrated.



Coming up: Its time to start tri training, I have 7 Weeks till my first sprint Tri. Next race is 5/1 the Cherry Creek Sneak 5 miler.

Mile Splits:

1. 7:14
2. 14:28
3. 21:46
4.
5.
6. 44:25
7.
8. 58:18
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
13.1= 1:41:43
Over All Pace= 7:46

AG 43/137
Sex 176/893
OA 234/2235

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Ironman Boulder Tri Series Volunteer Party

This morning I went out for my very first morning run of the year. Lets face it, its hard to get up early, its cold and you dont always have time to make your lunch and take a shower. Mainly its been the cold keeping me away, oh and the darkness, but im off the wagon now (or is that on the wagon? People miss use the term so often im even confused now). To set it straight, you are on the wagon if you arnt drinking, or arnt running and you are off the wagon when you are on a bender of running, got it?

I tried to do one of my staple runs I call the Airport loop since it goes right past the airport runway and is on "Airport Rd" ha the only non science in my training is my naming conventions for run routes. Anyway, half way through the loop a bridge was out and I had to deviate, I back tracked for a mile and then ducked onto a dirt path detour. One of the greatest things about living and training in Boulder is that there is never a shortage of paths and routes to run and bike on and to be honest, after a year of training I still have not exhusted my run options within 6 miles from me. Its a difficult route in that it starts out flat then has a slight uphill and then a slight downhill, then a major downhill with a major uphill, followed by a slight uphill for 2.5 miles, a slight downhill (rest) for 400m, slight uphill for 1 mile and a down hill final mile stretch. I was talking about this route with Pro Triathlete Joanna Zeiger in a conversation about evenly paced runs and I had the arguement that this route and many others in Boulder make it impossible to run even pace. Instead I like to run this as percieved effort slow on the up, and faster on the down.

At mile 4 my enemy revisited, blistering. I've actually switched running shoes because I noticed my newest shoes have collapsed at the ball of the toe (im talking with the manufacturer about it and ill keep you posted). I wear running socks, my feet are dry and they are a heavy training shoe, why does this keep happening?... recommendations?? I think for my Half Mary this weekend im going to wear thick smartwool socks, tape my feet, use body glide and baby powder... all that should cover my basis right?

5.5 mile Pace=7:24



After work I attended the Boulder Triathlon Series Volunteer party put on by WTC hosted at the Energy lab of D3. I thought it was great for WTC to put on a party for all the people who volunteered last year for one of their local events, I was in the food tent for the Boulder 70.3, and will be there again this year! Props to Jessica the volunteer coordinator at WTC for setting this long awaited event. They went all out with free food, beer provided locally and tons of raffle prizes (see picture above). My ticket landed me a winning entry into the Boulder Running Series (formerly the Pearl St. Series) which includes a 2k, 3k, and 1mi race in Boulder on or near the Pearl St. Mall. Could be a great opportunity for me to break 5:25 again for the first time in 3 years (see postings about the Wagner Mile annual trial).