August 2012

Running

August was consumed by tapering for Howl at the Moon, running Howl at the Moon, and recovering from Howl at the Moon. Over half of my miles in August came in that one day. The rest of my runs were very short, but the average distance per run was heavily skewed by Howl. My knees took a real beating during the last 10 miles of that race, so I've been super cautious with my recovery to ensure I don't have any long-lasting injuries as a result.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	78.06 Mile	9	8.67333 Mile
February	75.2586 Mile	9	8.36206 Mile
March	126.15 Mile	14	9.01071 Mile
April	146.28 Mile	16	9.1425 Mile
May	166.75 Mile	18	9.26389 Mile
June	54.83 Mile	7	7.83286 Mile
July	115.76 Mile	9	12.8622 Mile
August	91.81 Mile	9	10.2011 Mile
Total	854.899 Mile	91	9.39449 Mile

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Cycling

The weird thing about my knee pains is that while I have recovered reasonably well with respect to running, I can't say the same about cycling. 10 days after Howl I went to my regular Tuesday night practice race and by the end my knee was killing me. I took another week off of cycling. The next week I intended to go back but I didn't make it 2 miles from home before my knee started to hurt. I took 2 more weeks off of cycling. At this point I've only done one serious ride in the past 6 weeks, and that one didn't go well at all. Now that road racing season is over I can just wait this thing out and make sure it's gone before starting up in earnest again. I'd like to do some cyclocross racing this fall, so hopefully I'm back to 100% soon.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Pocket Rocket	18.7 Mile	5	3.74 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	63.17 Mile	3	21.0567 Mile
Total	81.87 Mile	8	10.2338 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	25.33 Mile	2	12.665 Mile
February	40.08 Mile	3	13.36 Mile
March	213.43 Mile	20	10.6715 Mile
April	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile
May	322.147 Mile	24	13.4228 Mile
June	282.57 Mile	13	21.7362 Mile
July	260.12 Mile	16	16.2575 Mile
August	81.87 Mile	8	10.2338 Mile
Total	1478.82 Mile	109	13.5671 Mile

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Walking/Hiking

I made up for the lack of cycling with a bunch of walking and hiking. This doesn't hurt my knee at all, and I'm more convinced than ever that walking/hiking is actually remarkable effective training for long/ultra distance running. It allows you to put in a lot of time on your feet, working your legs, without the impact of running.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	51.53 Mile	16	3.22063 Mile
February	42.92 Mile	18	2.38444 Mile
March	41.15 Mile	14	2.93929 Mile
April	31.89 Mile	12	2.6575 Mile
May	37.5107 Mile	13	2.88544 Mile
June	39.4 Mile	18	2.18889 Mile
July	2 Mile	2	Mile
August	64.99 Mile	25	2.5996 Mile
Total	311.391 Mile	118	2.6389 Mile

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Swimming

It's both fortunate and unfortunate that I don't have to swim much to maintain my fitness for swimming. I just have little motivation to spend time in the pool, when I could be doing any number of things that are even more enjoyable. There's a chance I might to one more triathlon this year, but that depends on whether my knee feels well enough to bike.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard
May	8050. Yard	7	1150. Yard
June	4100. Yard	3	1366.67 Yard
July	2993.61 Yard	3	997.871 Yard
August	2150. Yard	3	716.667 Yard
Total	19043.6 Yard	18	1057.98 Yard

July 2012

Running

The slight knee pain that started in June effectively disappeared in July. I took it easy by only running twice per week, but I made my runs really count. With the Howl at the Moon 8-hour ultra coming up in August I did a lot of long runs. The first week of July I ran a total of 8 hours in 100˚F+ temperatures, and I didn't back off from there.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	78.06 Mile	9	8.67333 Mile
February	75.2586 Mile	9	8.36206 Mile
March	126.15 Mile	14	9.01071 Mile
April	146.28 Mile	16	9.1425 Mile
May	166.75 Mile	18	9.26389 Mile
June	54.83 Mile	7	7.83286 Mile
July	115.76 Mile	9	12.8622 Mile
Total	763.089 Mile	82	9.30596 Mile

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Cycling

I didn't ride that frequently, but I had some good quality training and racing. I did several practice crits and time trials in 95˚F-105˚F temps. I had a strong race at the New Town Triathlon. I finished 2nd in the Great Egyptian Omnium TT and 1st in the masters 30+ 4/5 crit. This may be the first month ever I've ridden my TT bike more frequently than my road bike.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Lynskey	98.13 Mile	7	14.0186 Mile
Pocket Rocket	14.5 Mile	4	3.625 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	147.49 Mile	5	29.498 Mile
Total	260.12 Mile	16	16.2575 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	25.33 Mile	2	12.665 Mile
February	40.08 Mile	3	13.36 Mile
March	213.43 Mile	20	10.6715 Mile
April	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile
May	322.147 Mile	24	13.4228 Mile
June	282.57 Mile	13	21.7362 Mile
July	260.12 Mile	16	16.2575 Mile
Total	1396.95 Mile	101	13.8312 Mile

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Swimming

Despite a race with a decent swim performance, swimming is kind of in maintenance mode right now. I just don't have the time to devote to really improve.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard
May	8050. Yard	7	1150. Yard
June	4100. Yard	3	1366.67 Yard
July	2993.61 Yard	3	997.871 Yard
Total	16893.6 Yard	15	1126.24 Yard

New Town Triathlon

Early in the season I found the New Town Triathlon outside of St. Charles and thought it would be a good race to try. Then I took a break from racing and completely forgot about it. A friend at the weekly Wednesday night TT reminded me of it a few days beforehand, and I thought, what the heck… I'll do it.

Last Sunday morning I arrived with plenty of time to setup my stuff. I did a very brief warmup on the bike, running, then swimming before they cleared the water to start the race. The (longish) 1000m swim had a staggered start, with competitors beginning the race every 3 seconds. Unfortunately, since I was one of the last people to register for the race, I started near the very end and I had a long time to wait for the 600 people in front of me.

When it was time the line moved very fast and I was in the water before I knew it. A few minutes in I realized that with all the commotion I forgot to start my watch, so I hit the button and kept going. I was very concerned that the swim would be a complete clustercuss, but it was actually the most pleasant open water swim I've ever done. Sure I was passing a lot of slower people (and a handful passed me as well), but we weren't running into each other at all. There was plenty of room for everyone to get by. 17-18 minutes later I exited the water. It was a good hard effort, but I didn't kill myself.

I had an awful first transition. Something went wrong with my bike helmet straps and I couldn't get the dang thing on my head. I must have wasted 30 seconds fumbling with it. Then I left the transition with my bike only to get caught in a traffic jam at the bike mount line. I couldn't get around the slower people so I just had to stop and wait before I could get on my bike. Once mounted, I ripped the hell out of there, a bit pissed off. I started too fast, but things settled down quickly enough. About halfway through the 20 mile effort I started experiencing severe, um, discomfort in my saddle area. Something wasn't right and I was in quite a bit of pain for the last 10 miles. It slowed me down, as I had to frequently stop pedaling when my legs felt fine just to readjust things in an attempt to relieve the discomfort. I was disappointed my bike wasn't as fast as I wanted, but I was incredibly relieved to get off the bike.

My second transition was better and I was out on the run quickly. This is usually where I excel, and this would be no different. Having started at the back, I had been passing people the whole race, but now it was a steady stream. Speaking of streams, several residents along the course pointed their sprinklers and garden hoses out into the course so competitors could cool down. It was well into the 90's at this point and most of the people seemed to enjoy it. Not me. I tried to avoid it like the plague, but the sprinklers covered the entire course in many places and some people actually sprayed me with their hoses after I did my best to ask them not to. The result of this is that my shoes were soaking wet for about 3 of the 4 miles during the run and I developed horrible blisters that made running very painful. My legs felt fine and I wasn't having trouble breathing, but with the intense effort the heat was starting to get to me and my stomach was feeling a bit queasy, so I couldn't really go any faster.

After the finish I gulped as much water as I could. It was brutally hot. I hobbled around for a while trying to find some shade. Once the race started to thin out a bit I was able to get back into the transition area and pack up my stuff and take it back to my car. It didn't take long to get results (since I started near the end) and I was quite surprised that, despite feeling like crap for much of the race, I actually had a pretty decent result. I finished 30th overall (including the elites, 14th not including them) out of over 600 participants, 3rd in my age group. I averaged 1:35/100 in the swim (about what I expected), 22.9 mph on the bike (a tad bit slower than I hoped), and 6:04/mile (the course was short, my actual pace was closer to 6:28/mile) on the run.

So it turned out to be a good race.

June 2012

Running

As I explained in the previous post, I intentionally stepped my training way back for the month of June. The good news is that I'm feeling good again now, so July should look much better. I still somehow managed to run my fastest mile since I was 18.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	78.06 Mile	9	8.67333 Mile
February	75.2586 Mile	9	8.36206 Mile
March	126.15 Mile	14	9.01071 Mile
April	146.28 Mile	16	9.1425 Mile
May	166.75 Mile	18	9.26389 Mile
June	54.83 Mile	7	7.83286 Mile
Total	647.329 Mile	73	8.86751 Mile

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Cycling

Marin Headlands

I was able to get three good rides in on our trip to San Francisco, which really made the month. Two of the rides were just in the Marin Headlands, but I felt really good climbing some really big hills for a change. After the conference ended I went over to the East Bay and rode Mt. Diablo. I felt much stronger on that big ass climb than I did last time (three years ago). The heat was brutal though. It was 68˚F when I left downtown San Francisco and it was 98˚F on the unshaded slopes of Mt. Diablo. I drained both of my water bottles by the time I was halfway up the mountain. Luckily I found a place to refill them so I could continue on up. I flew past a number of riders closer to the top, which is always motivating.

Summit of Mount Diablo (4000 ft, 98˚F)

After returning home I did a couple of the Tuesday night crits, finishing one of them in 7th place, my highest finish yet. I also rode the Wednesday night TT for the first time and did by far the fastest TT of my life, averaging 25.3 mph for the 9 mile course (with my chain rubbing the derailleur the whole time). I think I only hit 24 mph twice on the old Seymour 10 mile course. I'm definitely getting more and more accustomed to my (relatively) new TT bike.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Lynskey	14.44 Mile	1	14.44 Mile
Pocket Rocket	102.31 Mile	8	12.7888 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	165.82 Mile	4	41.455 Mile
Total	282.57 Mile	13	21.7362 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	25.33 Mile	2	12.665 Mile
February	40.08 Mile	3	13.36 Mile
March	213.43 Mile	20	10.6715 Mile
April	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile
May	322.147 Mile	24	13.4228 Mile
June	282.57 Mile	13	21.7362 Mile
Total	1136.83 Mile	85	13.3744 Mile

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Swimming

I made it to the pool a few times before taking several weeks off. The good news is when I started back again I picked up right where I left off. I love that about swimming. Maybe it's harder to do if you're actually any good though. I'll probably never find out.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard
May	8050. Yard	7	1150. Yard
June	4100. Yard	3	1366.67 Yard
Total	13900. Yard	12	1158.33 Yard

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Walking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	51.53 Mile	16	3.22063 Mile
February	42.92 Mile	18	2.38444 Mile
March	41.15 Mile	14	2.93929 Mile
April	31.89 Mile	12	2.6575 Mile
May	37.5107 Mile	13	2.88544 Mile
June	39.4 Mile	18	2.18889 Mile
Total	244.401 Mile	91	2.68572 Mile

May 2012

Running

Remember how I said April was my highest mileage month in over 10 years? Well, I ran 20 miles farther in May. And I really only did one long run. I did a number of shorter races (5K, 10K, sprint triathlon), with good results in each. I've built up a level of base aerobic fitness I haven't seen since college. I can run at a faster pace with a lower heart rate than at any time in the past 15 years. Of course, I do quite a bit of my training at a slow pace, which is one of the keys to such aerobic fitness.

Now I just need to avoid injury and burnout. I'm planning very deliberately to step back my mileage in June. After six hard races (nine if you count the three practice crits) in the past three weeks I'm ready to rest a bit.

Additionally, I've fully acclimated to the summer heat earlier than ever before. I regularly run in 85˚-90˚F temperatures with sun blazing overhead and I think nothing of it. I used to do whatever I could to avoid that kind of nasty weather. Two minor changes have played a big role here.

• I wear a visor instead of a hat, and I keep my hair cut super short (shaving it with a razor every couple of weeks).
• I run without a shirt.

I never would have believed how much of a difference these two changes could make if someone had told me. I've mentioned over and over again that I run hot. I sweat more anybody I've ever met. Having more of that sweat evaporate in the breeze than soak in my shirt and hat cools me down like never before. The one downside is the increased risk of sunburn, but I can take preventative measures to avoid that.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	78.06 Mile	9	8.67333 Mile
February	75.2586 Mile	9	8.36206 Mile
March	126.15 Mile	14	9.01071 Mile
April	146.28 Mile	16	9.1425 Mile
May	166.75 Mile	18	9.26389 Mile
Total	592.499 Mile	66	8.97725 Mile

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Cycling

My cycling continues to be hit or miss. All the additional time I've devoted to running lately has had to come from somewhere, and this is where. It's not all negative, though, as my improved base aerobic fitness has actually applied equally to cycling as it has running. Additionally, racing makes for pretty decent training, and I've raced a fair amount lately (3 practice crits, 2 practice TTs, 2 crits, 2 tris). Somehow I've still managed to set a personal best average speed in both of my triathlons this year.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	11. Mile	3	3.66667 Mile
El Fuego	6.73 Mile	1	6.73 Mile
Lynskey	53.9674 Mile	4	13.4919 Mile
Pocket Rocket	17.1 Mile	4	4.275 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	226.05 Mile	10	22.605 Mile
Total	314.847 Mile	22	14.3112 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	25.33 Mile	2	12.665 Mile
February	40.08 Mile	3	13.36 Mile
March	213.43 Mile	20	10.6715 Mile
April	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile
May	322.147 Mile	24	13.4228 Mile
Total	854.257 Mile	72	11.8647 Mile

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Swimming

It feels good to have a swimming section in these posts again. As you can see from the chart my numbers are modest, but it's a good start. I always find it remarkable how quickly swimming comes back to me. Before I ever started swimming I always assumed success in the sport was solely the result of super strong, highly specialized muscles (that I don't have), when in reality it's almost entirely technique. I'm certainly not suggesting my technique is perfect (far from it), but simply remembering the technique does allow me to pick right back up (almost) where I left off.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard
May	8050. Yard	7	1150. Yard
Total	9800. Yard	9	1088.89 Yard

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Walking

More running also means less walking, but I'm still getting in a few miles on most days. It took me a while to fully realize this, but walking may just be one of the keys to my recent success. It helps build base aerobic fitness (super low intensity), while working similar muscles to running, all with near-zero risk of injury. In fact, when my legs are sore I always feel significantly better after walking a few miles.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	51.53 Mile	16	3.22063 Mile
February	42.92 Mile	18	2.38444 Mile
March	41.15 Mile	14	2.93929 Mile
April	31.89 Mile	12	2.6575 Mile
May	37.5107 Mile	13	2.88544 Mile
Total	205.001 Mile	73	2.80823 Mile

Trifesta

The Trifesta Sprint Triathlon was last Saturday at John Logan College near Carbondale, IL. Coming off a good sprint triathlon the week prior I had high hopes for this one. The distances were roughly the same, but I had a little more time to prepare.

My first order of business was to deal with the nagging problem that both pairs of shoes I wear during triathlons were literally falling apart. My bike shoes are 12 years old and the shoes I run in are almost 5 years old. A few days before the race I upgraded both sets of shoes to shiny new pairs. I did the minimal amount of due diligence by testing them each out once before the race. No real problems.

Between the longer drive, my internal alarm clock, and my desire not to repeat last week's late arrival I left super early and I was by far the first person to arrive at the race. I took my time and prepared all my gear. I warmed up running & biking without incident. I grabbed my goggles to go warm up swimming and noticed they were in two pieces. My first minor problem of the day was fairly straightforward to rectify. I was able to reassemble the goggles into working order. Crisis averted.

Unlike last week's open water swim, this race had a pool swim. Each competitor estimated their 400 yard swim time and we lined up from fastest to slowest. My 6:00 estimate put me about 12th in line. The swim went reasonably well. The guy behind me caught up to me a couple lengths from the end, just as I was catching up to the guy in front of me. I made room for him to pass on the last length and we came out of the water together, my split being 5:48.

My first transition was good (I passed several people in the transition area), and I was quickly out on the bike. I passed a couple more right away. We started with a bit of a tailwind and my speed was high. About 3 miles in a guy blew past me on the bike. I tried to increase my speed to stay within reach of him, but it was hopeless. I rode the two fastest miles of the race at 27 mph and this guy kept pulling away. I slowed down a bit, though I still caught and passed a few more people. It was clear I wouldn't be the overall winner, but I was doing quite well. Things got tougher on the way back into the headwind. Furthermore the roads were a bit congested with automobile traffic. The roads were in good shape, but the course took us through 3 small towns, which seemed a bit unusual for this sort of event.

About 2/3 of the way through the bike I noticed a problem with my (new) shoes. The velcro straps were a bit too long and they kept rubbing up against the cranks. The flapped up and down with every pedal stroke. It probably didn't cause any delays, but it was hugely distracting, and not at all what I needed at that point. So my second minor problem the day I just had to deal with for the remainder of the 14 mile bike leg. I ended up averaging 23.5 mph, which was a wee bit faster than last week for a slightly longer, more difficult (on account of the rolling hills) course.

My second transition was good and I started the run fast to catch up with a few racers right ahead of me. At the first aid station 1 mile into the run I accidentally snorted some water up my nose. As soon as I got that under control and I could breathe again my shoelace came untied. Sigh. I was running fast enough that I really didn't want to sacrifice the 10 seconds or so it would take to retie them so I ran the last two miles like that. I wasn't in any danger of tripping, but they did slap my leg with every step.

The second mile was mostly shaded, which was welcome in the 85˚F heat. I made the most of it to speed up a bit and try to catch up with a guy way in front of me. I came within 20 meters or so, but I couldn't close the gap before the finish. I averaged 5:57 pace for the run, which was about a minute faster than last week, though on a slightly easier course.

So the race was over, but due to the staggered start it would be quite some time before I actually learned how I placed. When I finally did see the results I was quite pleased. I finished 4th overall, 1st in my age group, and each of my swim, bike, and run were faster than last week for comparable distances. So it was a great race for me, in spite of the shoe, shoe, and goggle problems.

January - April 2012

Running

Running has been going well. Extremely well. I almost hate to admit that because it probably means I will injure myself at any moment. But hopefully not. I've been focusing a lot on my form as I try to transition to a forefoot strike pattern (rather than a heel-strike pattern). It's hard to try to correct 18 years of bad form. Really hard. But I'm making progress. I ran farther in April 2012 than I did in any other month in the last 10 years, and I haven't had a hint of knee pain. Of course, some of that has come at the expense of really sore calves on account of using different muscles that are much less well developed. I'll take sore calves for a few hours over semi-permanent knee pain 10 times out of 10.

I found a great place to run barefoot: the glorious artificial turf on the WUSTL track infield (some people might call it a football field). Of the 146 miles I ran in April, 19 of them were completely barefoot, and some of those were pretty fast (5:32). The majority of the remaining miles were in my wonderful new Luna Sandals (yes, sandals), with the rest in my Vibram FiveFinger Bikilas, Merrell Trail Gloves, and New Balance MT 110s. I guess I have something of a shoe fetish (yet I still run barefoot). I just pick the thinnest shoes I can get away with based on the route I have in mind, and take them off whenever I can.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	78.06 Mile	9	8.67333 Mile
February	75.2586 Mile	9	8.36206 Mile
March	126.15 Mile	14	9.01071 Mile
April	146.28 Mile	16	9.1425 Mile
Total	425.749 Mile	48	8.86976 Mile

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Cycling

Photo by Jeff Schleicher

I've been a regular at the Tuesday night crits, though I did miss a couple. I've been lucky to get two training rides a week. Considering where I started at the beginning of this year I've already come a long way, but I still have a long way to go. Looking at my race results over the past year or so it's pretty clear where my talent lies.

• Cycling: 15, 4, 45, 47, 40, 17.
• Triathlon/duathlon: 4, 2, 2.
• Running: 2, 9, 16, 4, 2, 4, 10, 1.

Single digit placings are better than double digit placings. If I want to achieve more success in cycling races I'm going to have to spend more time (which I don't have) practicing. Or maybe blood doping.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	34. Mile	9	3.77778 Mile
El Fuego	20.04 Mile	1	20.04 Mile
Lynskey	13.64 Mile	2	6.82 Mile
Pocket Rocket	27. Mile	6	4.5 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	158.59 Mile	5	31.718 Mile
Total	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	25.33 Mile	2	12.665 Mile
February	40.08 Mile	3	13.36 Mile
March	213.43 Mile	20	10.6715 Mile
April	253.27 Mile	23	11.0117 Mile
Total	532.11 Mile	48	11.0856 Mile

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Swimming

Yes, the numbers are small. I just started late in the month. What's promising, though, is just how quickly I was able to pick this back up after months off (and if you don't count that week in September, years off).

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard
Total	1750. Yard	2	875. Yard

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Walking/Hiking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	51.53 Mile	16	3.22063 Mile
February	42.92 Mile	18	2.38444 Mile
March	41.15 Mile	14	2.93929 Mile
April	31.89 Mile	12	2.6575 Mile
Total	167.49 Mile	60	2.7915 Mile

September 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

I raced a total of seven times in September, which is more than usual, and trained a bit less. As far as running goes, I finished 4^th at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, 2^nd at the Litchfield Triathlou, 2^nd at the Gateway Cross Cup 4.1 mile cross country run. Not bad.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
April	31.12 Mile	6	5.18667 Mile
May	71.9569 Mile	10	7.19569 Mile
June	85.87 Mile	11	7.80636 Mile
July	49.47 Mile	7	7.06714 Mile
August	116.34 Mile	13	8.94923 Mile
September	82.89 Mile	12	6.9075 Mile
Total	556.297 Mile	79	7.04173 Mile

Cycling

I rode quite well in two of the three Gateway Cup races I did, though didn't finish well. At the Gateway Cross Cup I finished 4^th in the Cat 4 race.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	89.4 Mile	11	8.12727 Mile
El Fuego	14.81 Mile	1	14.81 Mile
Lynskey	33.96 Mile	3	11.32 Mile
Pocket Rocket	18.2 Mile	5	3.64 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	113.83 Mile	4	28.4575 Mile
Total	270.2 Mile	24	11.2583 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
April	36.25 Mile	7	5.17857 Mile
May	272.94 Mile	25	10.9176 Mile
June	344.02 Mile	26	13.2315 Mile
July	306.77 Mile	12	25.5642 Mile
August	418.39 Mile	25	16.7356 Mile
September	270.2 Mile	24	11.2583 Mile
Total	1686.89 Mile	124	13.604 Mile

Walking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
April	84.3 Mile	26	3.24231 Mile
May	64. Mile	19	3.36842 Mile
June	57.3 Mile	17	3.37059 Mile
July	14.5 Mile	7	2.07143 Mile
August	31.7 Mile	9	3.52222 Mile
September	42.2022 Mile	16	2.63764 Mile
Total	481.902 Mile	148	3.2561 Mile

Swimming

It's been over two years, but I finally have a non-zero tally here.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	4096.81 Yard	5	819.361 Yard
Total	4096.81 Yard	5	819.361 Yard

Scooter

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	3. Mile	1	3. Mile
July	0	0	0
August	1.8 Mile	1	1.8 Mile
September	3.9 Mile	3	1.3 Mile
Total	8.7 Mile	5	1.74 Mile

Litchfield TriathLou

Two weeks ago I was just coming off some good bike races, some good running races, and feeling a bit unstoppable. I decided I was going to race a triathlon a week later, despite not having been swimming in over two years (since before Will was born), and not even having assembled my time trial bike since we moved to St. Louis over a year ago. Oh, and I had an awful cold. What was the worst that could happen?

I signed up for a membership at the nearby WUSTL pool and went swimming four times that week. I didn't put in much distance (the race would only be 400 meters). I did just enough to reacquaint myself with the water, but not enough to be make myself sore. Frankly, I was shocked at how (reasonably) well I did. I assembled my TT bike and did a few (very) short rides on it. I got my first flat on my tubular race wheels, which was a pain in the butt to fix only a couple days before the race. But everything (sort of) came together.

I woke up at 4:45 am and drove to Lake Lou Yaeger near Litchfield, IL last Saturday morning. I hadn't raced a triathlon in 28 months, and only raced once in the last three years. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to set up to ensure I didn't miss anything (like leaving a cleat cover on my bike shoes).

The air temperature was cool, in the high 50's. The water temperature was much warmer, but still a bit chilly. I debated for days about whether or not to wear my wetsuit during the swim. It would have kept me warmer, and I would have swam faster (thanks to the added buoyancy) but I opted against it at the last minute. My wetsuit is potentially tricky and time consuming to remove and I didn't want to take the chance of something going wrong with my very limited practice.

The swim was hard. Even though it was short it was still long compared to the 0 meters I've been swimming until the week before the race. There was another guy who was swimming the exact same speed who kept bumping into me, though I suppose it could have been me who was bumping into him. I exited the water with the 6^th fastest swim of the 96 competitors in the sprint-distance race. Not bad.

I had a quick first transition, passing two people in the transition area. Then I got off to a good start on the bike, passing two additional riders who were fumbling to mount their bikes. This was pretty good evidence to support the stereotype that triathletes generally don't have the best bike handling skills.

The first half of the bike I couldn't see anybody ahead of me or behind me. I was actually in 2^nd place at the time, but I didn't know this yet. I did know there was at least one person ahead of me, because I saw them riding away while I was in the transition area. I didn't know how many others there were. Just before the turnaround at the halfway point a rider passed me, but he wasn't going much faster. I stayed near him for a while. It was pretty clear, given his aero shoe covers, that he was on a relay team, so I didn't worry too much about it. In fact we leapfrogged each other for most of the second half of the bike leg.

My second transition didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. I tried to change shoes while balancing on one leg (like a flamingo), but my hypoxic body wasn't cooperating and I lost my balance a few times. I eventually got my shoes on and ran out. The timing chip on my left leg was a little too tight as I noticed pretty quickly my left foot was a little numb and tingly. This went away pretty quickly and I was able to pick up my pace quite a bit at that point. I missed the first mile split, but I was 5:58 and 5:59 for the next two miles. I easily passed the relay runner who started just before me. I made up over a minute on the first place guy during the run, but his lead was unassailable by that point. So I finished 2^nd overall.

Photo courtesy of Racemaker Productions

My swim was as good as I could have hoped, given my lack of training. My bike leg was the 2^nd fastest, but it should have been a bit faster (and with more training on my TT bike it will be). My run was by far the fastest, with only one other runner covering the 3.1-ish mile course within three minutes of my time. So the race went well. Presumably next year I'll have more swim and TT bike training and I'll be able to do even better.

Freedom Day

I ran the Freedom 5K this morning at 11am. It was 90˚ and sunny, very undesirable conditions for a short, fast, violent effort. On top of that my legs weren't moving quite right after 75 miles of cycling yesterday. Yeah, that was a bad idea.

For some reason this race has way more competition than all the other local 5K races. All the area high school runners show up, which is not typical. This means about 20 runners will finish under 18:00, whereas a typical local race will have 2-5 runners that fast. Of course, the race started super fast. I was well off the leaders' pace and I still passed the 1-mile mark in 5:32. Ugh, too fast.

It was blazingly hot and I started to fade. My second mile was slower, and my third mile was even slower. I finished around 20th place or so. The clock read 17:55, though my watch read 18:09, a substantially larger discrepancy than usual. Other runners mentioned the same thing. I wonder what the official time will be... The race went okay, considering the horrible weather.

After the race I quickly changed gears and got the family ready to ride Big Red in the parade. Each year the Champaign County Bikes advocacy group invites members to ride in the parade. We've done this a few times before. This would be Will's first parade.

Ready for the parade

Two sweaty guys

Again, it was blazingly hot. We stood around in the staging area for a little before finding a tree to rest under for a few minutes. Just minutes before we were to start the parade the rain began to pour. Everyone else ran for cover, but I relished the welcome relief from the heat. I was soaking wet and it was the best I had felt all day. The rain slowed to a drizzle as we began on wet streets. A few blocks into the parade it stopped. By the end the roads were dry.

Parade start

Champaign County Bikes in the parade

Melissa's view never changes

Gary rides the "Jazz-cycle"

Team Ragfield in parade mode

Finally, after the parade Will took his first swim in his new pool.

Good times were had by all. We're not watching fireworks right now. The boy's asleep and we're exhausted, so that's probably a good thing.