CENTURY RIDE – Sunday July 19th, 2009
Two weekends age Kris and I signed up for a Minnesotab Tri Club’s Century Ride, a real bargain if you ask me for just $10 for non-club members. You ride with the group and get to take advantage of 2 aid stations along the route, approximately at miles 18 & 39 on the way out and miles 61 & 82 on the way back. Each aid station had energy bars, gels, water, Gatorade powder, fruit, pretzels, cookies, extra bike tubes, CO2 cartridges, sun block, bug spray, hand wipes and more. It was nice to be able to restock every 20 miles of so and not have to carry such a huge amount of food for the majority of the ride. The morning started out a bit cool and I was wearing my cold weather mock-turtleneck for the first 18 miles, but the first aid station I had warmed up enough and I was able to drop the extra layer and the pick it back up on the final 18 miles.
The route was their northern route and took us up Highway 47, 10 miles beyond Princeton/Highway 95, which was where aid station number 2 was located. By the time we got back to aid station number 2, which was then our third stop, we were getting into was new ground for me as 62 miles was my previous longest ride. At about 75 miles my left knee was beginning to hurt and lose a lot of strength on the uphills. I had experience this pain a little bit before on my 60 mile ride but this was the longest I had to keep going after the my knee started to hurt. I was able to finish the ride with no serious pain but it is defiantly something that I need to be aware of in the future.
By the last aid station, Kris and I were the last ones on the ride, except for the ride leader, but he had to stay at the aid stations until they were picked up by someone. So we basically finished alone but that was OK as we were both nursing sore knees and testing the waters at this distance. We finished the ride with 6:31:58 of saddle time, which was a 15.4 mph average, not bad considering this was a learning experience. Now you might think that after a 100 mile bike ride that would be plenty, but no not in the world of Ironman training. After we got off the bikes we went for a easy 50 minute run. Yes I know we are crazy. ;)
TORCHLIGHT 5K – Wednesday July 22nd, 2009
On this past Wednesday night was the Torchlight 5K, just a fun run with a few thousand of your good friends. I like running the Torchlight, it is another one of the Lifetime Fitness runs that I like to do every year; Turkey Day, Reindeer and Torchlight. Large races where you get to run down the streets of Minneapolis and have fun. This year’s race was unique in the fact that it was my friend Steve’s first 5K race, actually his first race period. He was very nervous about this being his first 5K and was concerned that he might not be able to finish the race without needing to walk it, he actually asked me if there would be any shame if he could not run the entire race. Steve shouldn’t have been so worried; he actually ran the entire race without any problems or even looking tired. I think a lot of that had to do with the race and the amount of people that were running. It is easy to get distracted by what is going on around you during a race and forgot that you’re actually running. Congrats Steve!! 31:12 for your first 5K is pretty good!
CHISAGO HALF IRONMAN TRIATHLON – Sunday July 26th, 2009
OK, so this was the big race of the first half of my year, no doubt about it. The really odd thing is that during the past couple of weeks leading up to the race I was not nervous, worried or even concerned about trying to complete a half ironman. I don’t want to imply that I was nonchalant about the race, but because of training and the experience that I gained at the 3 previous triathlons this year, I knew I was ready. And surprisingly, I was not even nervous about the swim, my worst skill. I just knew that I could swim 1.2 miles now. I guess that is one of the benefits of all the training, you just get to a comfort level and know what you are capable of.
The day started out really, really early as we have to make sure all the pets are feed and let out so we have to get up at 3am so that we could be in Chisago by 5:30am. One of the problems I have discovered with Triathlons is that you typically have to be there so early to get a good spot and setup transition that Caribou’s are not open. And Sunday was no different, so I had to settle for a cheap SA coffee, works in a pinch but defiantly not my first, second or even third choice. But on some level coffee is coffee.
So we got to Chisago and picked up our race packet, which was a little wired, no bike number and no swim cap, I was not even asked about a swim cap and Kris was told that you could grab one if you needed it. Of course I need a swim cap, especially if there are caps that say Chisago Lakes Triathlon, need to add it to the collection. So I got number 345, sort of a fun race number, Kris was number 69, for the second year in a row, how weird!! Anyway, Chisago in different in the fact that all of the transition spots a marks on the bike rack, you number tells you the exact spot you are going to be in. So as I was looking for my spot, somehow I transposed my number and Kris’s number and tried setting up in spot 369. That is until the real number 369 showed up and I realized my mistake, so then I went looking for spot 345, which once I found it I was very happy, end spot next to a tree, a lot of room to setup and for my gear bag. But then I discovered that I misplaced my race number, my day was not starting out very well. So I went back to the information tent and a new hand written number was created for me. So now I am walking back to my transition spot and I hear over the announcement, “Would a Mark Kuhn please report to the announcement area, we have your race number” Sigh…… OK, at least I got my real race number back. After that the transition setup well, and I was just about ready, just need to empty the tank, put on my wetsuit and head down to the beach. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea, and we waited in a long line at the johns, so long that Kris just made it down to the beach with 30 seconds before her wave started. I was in wave 7 so at least I had a little time, no warm-up but I was not cutting it as close.
Swim
My swim went very well, this was the longest continuous swim I have ever attempted and I was surprised on how smoothly it went. I did make a point not to rush, stayed to the outside and avoid as much traffic as I could which generally helps out my anxiety level and I was rewarded with a decent swim, 35:24 which is a 1:49 pace/100m average. I am going to go out on a limb and say with an average like that it was either a short 1.2 miles or the fact that there was a long run up to transition that helped keep the average down. First segment down and I was very happy.
T1
I will be the first to admit that I tend to lollygag in T1, bad habit or just my concern about clean and somewhat dry feet for the bike. I bike without socks so I am concerned about getting all sand off of my feed, don’t need and sand between the toes to rub and cause a problem later. But I will admit that 4:06 time in T1 was a bit long, leisurely even. The plan was that since Kris was 10 minutes ahead of me, Wave 2 vs. Wave 7, I would haul ass on the bike to catch up with her and when I did catch her we would be going at her pace I figured I had a little extra time in T1. Little did I know how fast the bike course would be and how long it would take me to catch her.
Bike
Off on the bike now and I loved every minute of it, very flat, very fast course. I had heard complaints about the previous course, rolling hills and rough roads, but not with this new course. The majority of the roads were either new or recently resurfaced and very smooth. My only complaint would be that for the first half of the course, a very long straight first half of the course, there was a slight head wind. After we made the turn to come back at about mile 29, I was able to add on even more speed. The course was marked every 5 miles and I was lap timing my 5 mile spit times, prior to the turn I was averaging about 18+, after the turn I was averaging 20+ with my final average as 19.5mph, 56 miles in 2:50:04.9. Even with my high average speed, it still took me about 55.75 miles to catch up with Kris. I was beginning to be sure that I would not catch her on the bike but within the last mile I spotted her up ahead, and by the time we were going through the tunnel back to the park, I was on her back wheel. At least we would get into T2 at the same time and would be able to run together.
T2
Much better, 1:57 but still nothing to write home about. Of course miss transition speed demon was out of T2 ahead of me and I had to play the catch up game again. At least this time she slowed a bit to let me get caught up, fixing her ponytail is the official story.
Run
If you were to ask me what my strongest skill was, I would tell you run, but not today. Either the fact that this was a Half Iron or the fact that I was really pushing to get caught up to Kris, I was totally burned out when I started the run. Wow the jump to Half Iron distance is significant and does require some conservation of energy, when I completed the LTF Tri two weeks ago, I was able to maintain and even higher bike average, 20.5mph and I was able to still run with a sub 8 minute miles but today was a different story. I just consider myself lucky that I was running, and I use that term loosely, with Kris as she was the one to carry me today. The run course has more then it’s share of hills and my legs were having nothing to do with it, walked most of those, in addition I think my stomach and digestive track had enough of hammer gels, and was not happy with me, requiring a pit stop at the half way point, very unusual for me. Kris was an angel to stick with me, she could have had such a better time if she ran her own race, probably get back the time difference that I made up during the bike and she would have finished in the low 5:50’s but she stuck with me. And I am glad she did, we finished together, in sync as it was pointed out to us in several pictures, hand in hand.
For the record, my run time was 2:20:37, which is a 10:44 average pace. :(
So now I am a 70.3 Half Ironman!! Total time 5:52:09.2, a sub 6 hour half ironman, but I would have been much happier to share that honor with Kris as she deserved it more than I did. Next 70.3 maybe??
It is the Wednesday after the race and my legs are still sore, part of the problem I think is that for the past two days I have been wearing and older pair of boots with poor support, ankle, knee and hip was causing me issues yesterday. Needless to say those boots are history. We got to Masters yesterday morning but I have yet to run, and I should, I really think it would help my legs at this point. The plan is for tomorrow morning.
This coming weekend, we will be headed to Madison to ride the Ironman bike route on Saturday and then on Sunday morning, we are running in the Chicago Rock & Roll Half Marathon. Hopefully I can redeem myself and who knows, we might even get Kris a new PR, do I hear a sub 2?? If anyone is interested you can track us at competitorwireless.com.
