The Bassman Half Distance Tri

I knew that after these months of training I would need to test my progress. I also knew that the best way to do that would be to sign up for half distance races. A couple of months ago, I did some investigating and found a few options. As the weeks have gone by, I've narrowed down my options based on what's feasible and relatively easy in terms of travel.

Last week, I determined that the first of these would be the Bassman Triathlon at Bass River State Park in Tuckerton, NJ. It's not terribly accessible in terms of public transportation, but it is relatively close and soon. Unfortunately, it's also very expensive (as most half distance races tend to be). It took me the whole week to finally decide that I needed to do it. I mean, I already knew I needed to do it, but it took a lot of convincing to finally register.

So what have I gotten myself into? Well, the term "half distance" refers to the distance of a half Ironman. This means a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, followed by a half marathon. And actually, I think the distances here are a liiiittle different. Bike looks like it's 58 and run is 13.2.

This is a map of the two-loop swim course:

It's described as being "calm and clear" and temperatures are typically in the mid-sixties. I'll be wearing a wetsuit for this one.

Bike course:

I'm seeing some definition there on the altitude map. This worries me.

Run course:

The run is the least of my worries. I know as long as I can make it to the start of the run, I'll be able to slog my way through it. It's just making any cutoffs so that I can get there. This is what I'm most worried about, as I encountered this issue at my first half Iron attempt a couple of years ago.

So here it is. My first big test.

Oh, The Indignity

Today as I sauntered up three blocks from my office to the gym, I relished the thought of finally returning to my beloved lunch run. Until I was confronted with a dreadful discovery.

I’d forgotten my shirt. I had shoes, socks, shorts and a sports bra. No shirt. My mind reeled and excitement ebbed. The thought of returning dejectedly to my desk, less 25 minutes of my day and with no workout to show for it was unappealing.

Let me give some context to this situation. I have always been that person who scurries off to change in a bathroom stall instead of in front of a locker. Don’t ask me why. Changing in public makes me uncomfortable. Yet I knew that a critical decision had to be made. I’m training for an Ironman, the very foundation of which is built on toughness and guts. Bailing because of minor discomfort (mental discomfort, not even physical) is the worst thing I can do. It was time to woman up. I weighed the options.

Sweater. No sweater. Sweater. No sweater.

Sweater. I felt that I could deal with being hot better than I could deal with being shirtless in the middle of the gym. I stepped out of the locker room in my goofy outfit and found a treadmill. I pressed the Quick Start button, set it to 7.5 mph, and hoped for the best.

Sometime during that first tenth of a mile, another realization dawned on me. Aside from the fact that I was overheating, I recognized that my sweater would surely be unwearable after almost 3.5 miles of heavy sweating. Then I’d be left shirtless for the rest of my workday. I knew what had to be done.

But first, I wanted to scope out the situation from all directions. Front: free and clear. Sides: one guy on the treadmill to my right. Back: two people on ellipticals, though I waited a little bit longer hoping one would leave. No luck. The situation deteriorated as a third joined the pack. Time to move. With shifty-eyed, sideways glances, I removed the sweater in one quick motion. The deed was done. And I was flustered.

So flustered, in fact that I ratcheted up the speed on the treadmill to 7.9 mph at mile 2, which is about half a mile sooner than I normally do. But my desperate move had emboldened me. I firmly believed that the hardest part of this run was over. Too much speed? Pfft.

It was a fair assumption. I killed the lunch run and improved my distance in 26 minutes to 3.37 miles. And somehow went from being the stall-changer to the shirtless person...and back to the stall-changer in half an hour.

Downside: I was THAT person at the gym.

Upside: Hell yeah I was THAT person at the gym!

A Little Catch-Up

Oh, my goodness. Here we are already a month since I wrote about the NYC Half and I haven't bothered to post since. And now there are too many things to talk about and some of them aren't even relevant anymore. But whatever, here goes.

Twitterpated!

As a former twitter skeptic, I continue to be impressed and delighted with the site and the kinds of networks it helps create. I've met multiple people in person that I didn't know until I met them on Twitter! It's been fantastic. Just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Christopher Brisley of http://www.takeachallenge.org/ for a 6 mile run in Central Park. Chris lives in the UK but was in New York City because he won a Shorty Award in social fitness. Only weeks prior to that, Chris ran the Thames Path 100, which is a trail race along the Thames from London to Oxford. It should be noted that Chris underwent a 5-year recovery period after being struck by a car while riding his bike in 2002. He's since completed multiple Ironman and ultramarathon events. I know there are a lot of links in this paragraph, but I want you to have a full understanding of what Chris has overcome and accomplished. Read them. Follow Chris (@takeachallenge) on Twitter.

We met bright and early (6am) for a nice sunrise run. I did my best to play tour guide and we made it up to the reservoir, did a loop of that and a loop of part of the Bridle Path and then continued along the east side of Central Park and back to his hotel on Central Park South. All the while we talked about all kinds of things. It was fantastic. And afterward, I got to take a picture with him!

Another twitterer that I got to meet recently is Libby Jones, race director of the New Year's Double series of races in Allen, Texas. It's involves a 5k, half marathon and full marathon on each of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It's a pretty cool event and probably one I should do sometime in the future.

How did I meet Libby? Once again, the magic of Twitter. I spent last week visiting my family in Texas and ran the Big D Half Marathon on Sunday. Libby sent out a call for packet pickup volunteers. Since I'm a sucker for this kind of thing I was naturally all over it and spend last Thursday morning helping out with packet pickup at the Mockingbird location of Run On! It was great getting to meet Libby and other people who are active in the DFW running scene. You should follow Libby (@libbyruns) and consider doing one (or two, or three) of her races.

The Big D Half Marathon!

As mentioned above, I spent last Sunday morning running the Big D Texas Half Marathon. This is relevant in multiple ways, as you'll see later on in this post. This small paragraph will serve as a mini race report, since this post is already too long. I ran the Big D Half with a few friends. Marathon veteran Sharon, bootcamper extraordinaire Torch (Sarah), and newly minted race junkie Marilyn (who also ran the NYC Half). Not only did I get to run with them, I got to see friends Faith and Alex, who picked perfect spots to cheer for us along the course.

The most striking thing about this race was the weather. The night before, we were worried that it would be cancelled due to lightning. Although we woke up to rain on the morning of the race, it had subsided by the time we started, giving way to a wall of sticky humidity. That lasted for a good four or five miles before the skies became what I can only describe as apocalyptic and heavy winds started. THEN the rain came back and we spent miles 8-11 in heavy rain, which had slowed to a drizzle by the time we finished. It was definitely the largest weather spectrum I've experienced during the course of one race.

Sharon and I finished around 2:30, a little bit before Torch and Marilyn. Then we went into one of the buildings in Fair Park and I ate the best breakfast tacos I've ever had in my life. THEN I got to see friends T (of Choice Training, in Dallas) and Sue Ann at lunch right before I left for the airport. It was really the best possible way I could have ended my trip home. Here's a picture of us after the race:

Runniversary!

Before I left on vacation, I wrote a very introspective post about the birth of my running career. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to edit and thus have delayed posting it. It'll go up soon, but it's too long to go here and I still haven't finished editing. So stay tuned for that. For now, have a fantastic Friday!

My NYC Half by The Numbers - Part II

This is a follow-up to Part I. So here's my big news, I finished the NYC Half in 1:51:39. I was shocked when I looked at my stopwatch at mile 12 and realized what was about to happen. It's also worth noting that this is the first time in over a year that I self-timed a race. Normally if I have access to this kind of information, it only serves to freak me out and ruin my race. So although I found my overall time to be of interest, I did not look at it until mile 12, when I knew the likelihood of me blowing it was slim to none and that I had just enough time to muster up a good kick.

The splits provided by NYRR include 5k, 10k, 15k, and 20k times. These are as follows:

From this information, I did two things. The first was to split my race up into 5 segments and take my average pace for each segment (sorry these are so small! Click on them to make them bigger):

The difference between this section and the one that will follow is that I calculated my average pace per mile for each segment independently. So my average for segment 3 did not take into account the first 6.2 miles, only miles 6.2-9.3. Finally, I calculated my overall average at the end of each segment:

Hopefully I didn't make this all too convoluted. Anyway, the trend that is apparent from both of these graphs is that I actually got much faster throughout the course of the race, with my first 3 or so miles averaging out to an almost 8:50/mile pace to my end pace of 8:31. This is exciting news.

What made this race different?

1. Speedwork - I've been doing two different kinds of speedwork. The first is Yasso 800s. Read up on them if you're unfamilar. The second is my lunch runs, during which I run for 26 minutes with the goal of beating whatever my current record is. This started out as just a game I made up for myself, but has turned out to be quite valuable, as I start off much slower (usually at an 8:13/mile pace) than I finish (a 6:50 or 7:00/mile pace).

2. More Miles - Ever since I've started doing the 2012 Miles in 2012 Challenge, the number of miles I run has increased tremendously. And when I take a rest day, I know I have a lot of ground to recover and this sometimes leads to lengthy (7-10 mile) weekday runs.

3. Form Improvement - I've been trying to read up more on form and have recently started looking at my cadence and how I carry my upper body. I'm sure there's a weaker relationship here than to the previous two, but it's still been progress.

So that's that. If you see any glaring errors here, please let me know. Congratulations to everyone who ran the NYC Half, LA Marathon, Rock n' Roll USA or any other race this weekend!

Race Report: The 2012 New York City Half Marathon - Part I

For better or worse, at this juncture in my life I am in love with two things: running and New York City. You can therefore imagine my delight when, yesterday, I had the opportunity to experience the best of both in the New York City Half Marathon.


Pre-Race
After getting back from the Expo, Marilyn and I determined our plan for the morning. I spent the afternoon doing laundry, watching TV, and running. Maybe I shouldn’t have run, but I wanted to keep things as close to normal as possible. I get myself into trouble when I start doing pre-race things that I don’t normally do. They make me nervous, and rarely have a good effect on my race performance. So I did a six mile run the night before, trying to keep it slow (I could feel myself speeding up) so that I could preserve most of my energy for the race. Is it something I might have regretted? Perhaps. Ultimately, it came down to an understanding of my routine and current level of fitness to know that getting that six miles in would do more mental good than physical harm. I regret nothing!

Marilyn arrived at my apartment at about 6:15. In terms of attire, I decided to wear my Nike Tempo 2 in 1 shorts and a Nike sleeveless top. It looked like the temperature might reach the 70s during the day, so I thought I would prepare for that rather than dress warmly and be hot. I also wore the jacket I got at Multisport World to the start, where Marilyn and I walked from my place because the subways between those two points are a little inefficient.

I initially wasn’t sure whether or not to keep my jacket. It was cold for what I was wearing, but again, I was banking on the temperature rising significantly (it didn’t). So I took a risk, checked it, and then dealt with being cold for the hour or so between when we got into the corrals (~6:50) and when I crossed the start line (~7:50).

The Course
For the purpose of review and discussion, I’ll split the course into three parts: Central Park, 7th Avenue, West Side Highway. The race started out on the West Side just south of the 72nd street transverse. Predictably (15,000 participants!), it took a long time to start. I didn’t cross the line until a good 15-20 minutes after the gun went off.

The Central Park portion of the race consists of one full (6 mile) loop. While it’s certainly not mountainous, Central Park is also not flat. The first hill of note came around a mile in. It’s just past the Boathouse and is known as Cat Hill. Even worse than that, though, is Harlem Hill, which is at the very north end of the park. I knew the park loop would be more challenging than the rest of the race, so I did a good job of pacing, trying to make sure that I was doing just under 9 minute miles because I didn’t want to lose any ground early on. So I watched every mile marker, making sure the second digit of each time was at least one less than the last (27, 36, 45, 54, etc.). It required some math on the fly. But I like math, so it worked out.

Once we hit the final mile of the park, I was ready to break out onto 7th avenue. I knew it would be filled with cheering spectators, including my roommate Jeremy and his boyfriend, Giri, who were waiting for us outside our apartment building, which is conveniently right on the course. As we exited the park, I could feel myself speeding up. I couldn’t help it! The adrenaline was kicking in and my view of Times Square opened up. I was energized by the beautiful chaos that is my favorite city. We crossed 59th street, passed Carnegie Hall, my apartment (Jeremy took a nice picture of me coming in for a high-five), the Barclays (formerly Lehman) building, which is a point of interest since I used to work there. Then we entered the heart of Times Square and the crowds grew. People held signs and reached their hands out for high fives. Spectators read runners’ names off their shirts and cheered these total strangers on.

Before I knew it, we were turning onto 42nd street and beginning the journey over to the West Side Highway. From Central Park to the West Side Highway couldn’t have been more than a 2 mile stretch, but it was definitely my favorite part of the race. And by this point, I wasn’t even doing any math on the mile markers. I knew I was going fast and all I did was make sure I stayed at a pace I could maintain for the duration of the race.

Oh, also, as we ran along 42nd street between 7th Avenue and the West Side, I made my one and only Gatorade grab. It was a massive failure. I grabbed a cup that was only about a third full, drank 3 swallows, and promptly spilled the rest of it down my shirt. Remember, kids, it’s not a race until you slop water and/or Gatorade all over yourself.

I finally got to the West Side and was well into the second half of the race. This part is kind of a blur. I was still moving, but this section was more monotonous than the first two and certainly 7th Avenue. To its credit, though, the views of the waterside and Freedom Tower were nice and constant. We also passed the Javits Center, Chelsea Piers, and the Meatpacking District before moving toward Battery Park. The first half of the last mile went through the Battery Park Underpass, which was a surreal end to the race but also a source of much spirited hootin’ and hollerin’.

The last half mile or so was slightly east of the Seaport, in the Financial District. As we exited the underpass, there was a sign that read 800 meters. Even though I was enjoying myself and knew that I’d finish well, it was the longest 800 meters of my life. Crossing the finish line was exhilarating, and as I stopped the timer on my phone, I knew I’d killed it.

I’m working on an in-depth analysis of my time and splits. That’ll be in a separate post, coming soon!

NYC Half Marathon Expo

Tomorrow marks the very first time in my New York City running career that I'll be racing at the NYC Half Marathon. Why? Well, a couple of reasons. First, it's kind of hard to get into and, until this year, there was no guaranteed entry option like there is for the marathon. Second, it's an expensive half! The five races in the Half Marathon Series each cost $30, I believe. The NYC Half costs $117! So that is a little hard to stomach. But I've heard good things about it, and last year I ran four of the five borough halves, and so accidentally qualified. I figured it was a sign that this was my year to run.

What also makes this exciting is that my friend Marilyn is running. She flew all the way from the Bay Area to visit and run! So hats off to her (and her boyfriend Amir) for making the trek.

This afternoon we went to the expo to pick up all our race materials. In retrospect, I wish I had taken some pictures to put up here. Alas. What I can do is put up a link to the course route. It's one counterclockwise loop of Central Park, a mile-ish stretch down 7th avenue and then about 5 miles down the West Side Highway before finishing at South Street Seaport.

If I have anything like a home course, this would be it. I run the West Side Highway on almost a daily basis and Central Park...well, it's Central Park. If you run and live in/around NYC, it's inevitable that you've run a considerable number of miles there.

I'm optimistic about tomorrow's race. Baseline goal: break two hours. Ideal goal: PR (under 1:58). Optimistic goal: I won't say, because I'm afraid I'll jinx it.

Multisport World Expo 2012

Last weekend I had the rare opportunity to attend a triathlon expo. My first, in fact. The expo is/was called Multisport World 2012. It’s actually a series of three expos that take place in New York, Washington DC and Boston. I should have attended this last year but didn’t because it’s kind of a hike from where I am. After this year, I wish I had! I wasn’t expecting much more than a collection of vendors though honestly, that probably would have made it worth the trip for me.
Having a big group of vendors in one place was helpful and I found a couple of things I’ve been looking for. The first was a light, waterproof jacket for running in the rain. I found one that not only fit that bill, but was also reflective and had an abundance of pockets. Fun fact: I freakin’ love pockets. I also found a triathlon backpack. These are handy, since being a triathlete comes with carrying around an amount of gear that’s not insignificant. I currently use a large shoulder bag and I can tell you right now that trying to keep it from sliding off my back while riding a bike is a less than fun, mildly terrifying exercise.

In looking for these things online and in local stores, I probably could have gotten both for $170 at best. At the expo, I got both for $100. Remember, folks, despite the title of my blog, triathlon is not a cheap hobby. But I try to save where I can, and this was one of those opportunities.

Back to the expo. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it’s much more than a marketplace for sophisticated sporting goods. There were clinics, classes, and seminars running all day long. Not to mention a neat indoor triathlon and time trial that the organizers had set up. When I first started hearing about this event at the beginning of the year, I read about the indoor tri and was intrigued because participants would row, bike and swim. I didn’t sign up for it, but wish I had because it sold out.

Another interesting event was the bike time trial, sponsored by Toga Bikes (where I got my lovely bike in November). Each heat had anywhere from 2-6 participants and their progress was tracked on a large monitor which was visible to spectators. I wasn’t confident enough in my abilities as a cyclist to sign up for this, but it was very cool to watch. I only really followed one heat closely, but the conclusion I reached from my experience as a spectator was this: triathletes are machines.

I didn’t sign up for any of the clinics, though I’m sure they were very informative. What I did do was sit in for the Ironman-specific portion of the seminar schedule. The last hour or so of the schedule was dedicated to long course (Ironman aka 140.6 distance) races. If I remember, I’ll do another post on the specific things I learned. Overall, though, they covered topics ranging from the NYC Ironman that I’ll be doing in August, race nutrition and race planning. I felt that the most interesting part of the conversation had to do with the NYC race details. The most informative, however, was about nutrition. I have a lot to think about and plan going into race day.

Overall, Multisport World 2012 was a great success. I learned a lot, but even more importantly I truly felt like a triathlete and part of the triathlon community for the first time. This feeling inspired new vigor in my training and I've looked forward to every workout since. I can only hope I can carry on this new level of enthusiasm to August.