OK guys,
I'm sure you've heard of all these rants on blogs and on Twitter and everywhere all the time, but I have to do one. In fact, I think I've already done a blog on this topic, but it deserves to be visited again and again. It's about the obvious disrespect and hatred that motorists feel against cyclists, anywhere.
Today, I went for a chill little ride around downtown Raleigh, NC. I live about 10 miles from there, and so I rode easy out there, visited a bike shop, and then rode home. Well, on my way there, I was heckled by several motorists, either by them flicking me off out the window or honking at me and yelling expletives out their windows as they passed. Now, usually this doesn't bother me, due to the fact that I'm a serious cyclist and accept that most people in the world are like this and it's a part of cycling. But it's been strange over the past few weeks, heckling seems to be happening more frequently. I'm not sure if it's just me riding, or just people being bigger douches. But regardless, I've noticed it happening to me a lot more. So, today, I was a little irritated by the hecklers on the road, but I was fine with it. So, as I made it into the city, I went to the bike shop and picked up a classic hat, something I've wanted for the longest time!! I'm so excited, and actually am wearing it while writing this. Anyway, I left the bike shop and explored the city a little, then headed back to the road home. Something that I noticed though, was that when I was riding my bike down the streets of Raleigh, and all over, I was happy. This is something that is amazing to me, because I just love the fact that cycling can let go of all of the stress that's weighing on your mind and you can just feel better. I felt absolutely amazing rolling down the streets, just smiling in the sun and enjoying the air going by me. Then, as I got to the last left turn, I moved over to the left of the lane due to some bad roads, and just as I looked up, the truck in front of me had almost completely stopped. I grabbed my brake levers as hard as I could. My back wheel skidded out and I went into the back of the truck with my shoulder, and almost rolled into an oncoming car in the opposite lane. However, I was able to save it and pull up the bike.
This is ridiculous. I've had my fair share of close calls with cars passing me super close, but I've never come into contact with one at that high a speed before. It was honestly terrifying, and I was shocked for the remainder of the ride home, just scared out of my mind. This is something that we have all thought before, just how unreal it is that motorists will seem to attack us like this. Runners and cyclists alike, who have the right to use the roads as much as motorists, all are discriminated against. I don't think it is fair to all of us who do our best to stay in shape by exercising on the roads, and it doesn't make sense at all. I absolutely HATE when people say that cyclists don't respect the roads because we occasionally run red lights and pass cars on the left when stopped. It doesn't make sense! We deserve a free pass on those occasions because every single day we deal with some excess stress from asshole drivers. I can't stand it. Now, I can rant on forever, but I won't waste your time. Thanks for reading, and if you're a motorist that wants respect, you first have to give us cyclists respect first. Once you respect us, we'll respect you.
Happy training.
Through all our races, you've gotta have some fun out of it. This is my first time just casually swimming in White Lake.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Benefits of High Volume Training
Hey guys,
Today was a great training day, by any standard. I was able to bike 6 and a half miles to the gym, and once I got there, I slipped on my new Kinvara 4's and ran out on the 5k course again. I ran the 5k in 18:34 and felt pretty great! Once I got done with that, I was able to get in the pool and get a solid mile done made up of speed sets, mainly 50's. Main set was 20x50's. Even so, afterwards I went into the actual gym and got in a solid hour and a half of strength training; which consisted mainly of deep squats, one-legged squats, calf raises, core work, hamstring exercises, and a good amount of gluteus maximus workouts. Then, finally, I got to bike the 6 and a half miles home. This is a great day by any standard, but I'll probably go out for a bike ride again later on.
This is what the basis of the blog is about: doing high training of a beneficial exercise that inadvertently compliments an additional sport. In this case, I'm talking about doing a lot of biking. I ride every day, either riding to work, riding around my neighborhood, riding to the grocery store, or just riding for fun. As I've found out, riding every day has helped me lose some weight, as well as lean up my legs. In turn, all of the riding has directly correlated into my running skills. Over the past few days, I've been running more, and I've seen quick results. Last time I ran a 5k off of a bike, I ran 19:09, close to a PR off the bike for me. Then, today, after the bike, I was able to run another 5k off the bike, and ran 18:34! This is almost a PR for my 5k fresh! My actual PR for the 5k is 18:16, and so a 18:34 off the bike is an amazing time for me. The crazy thing is, I haven't ran any miles other than those two 5k's in the last few days. With this information, I've come to the conclusion that training excess cycling helps my running fitness. This is beneficial to cycling as well, even more so than running, due to getting in many more miles on the bike. I've been able to average faster speeds on the bike and feel less fatigue while doing so.
This all is very encouraging to me and it's been amazing to experience good training through all of my injuries. I encourage all of you to go out and get training! Be careful, and make sure you don't overuse any main muscle groups, and also make sure you don't overlook key strength training.
Happy training!
Today was a great training day, by any standard. I was able to bike 6 and a half miles to the gym, and once I got there, I slipped on my new Kinvara 4's and ran out on the 5k course again. I ran the 5k in 18:34 and felt pretty great! Once I got done with that, I was able to get in the pool and get a solid mile done made up of speed sets, mainly 50's. Main set was 20x50's. Even so, afterwards I went into the actual gym and got in a solid hour and a half of strength training; which consisted mainly of deep squats, one-legged squats, calf raises, core work, hamstring exercises, and a good amount of gluteus maximus workouts. Then, finally, I got to bike the 6 and a half miles home. This is a great day by any standard, but I'll probably go out for a bike ride again later on.
This is what the basis of the blog is about: doing high training of a beneficial exercise that inadvertently compliments an additional sport. In this case, I'm talking about doing a lot of biking. I ride every day, either riding to work, riding around my neighborhood, riding to the grocery store, or just riding for fun. As I've found out, riding every day has helped me lose some weight, as well as lean up my legs. In turn, all of the riding has directly correlated into my running skills. Over the past few days, I've been running more, and I've seen quick results. Last time I ran a 5k off of a bike, I ran 19:09, close to a PR off the bike for me. Then, today, after the bike, I was able to run another 5k off the bike, and ran 18:34! This is almost a PR for my 5k fresh! My actual PR for the 5k is 18:16, and so a 18:34 off the bike is an amazing time for me. The crazy thing is, I haven't ran any miles other than those two 5k's in the last few days. With this information, I've come to the conclusion that training excess cycling helps my running fitness. This is beneficial to cycling as well, even more so than running, due to getting in many more miles on the bike. I've been able to average faster speeds on the bike and feel less fatigue while doing so.
This all is very encouraging to me and it's been amazing to experience good training through all of my injuries. I encourage all of you to go out and get training! Be careful, and make sure you don't overuse any main muscle groups, and also make sure you don't overlook key strength training.
Happy training!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Hitting the Wall-Then Moving Past It
Hey guys,
So the biggest thing that triathletes face during training is the overuse of their own bodies. Any one of the training techniques we use, from the swim, bike, run, or cross training techniques such as strength training or gym equipment can be easily overused without our knowledge of it. Then, the next day, we see that we have basically nothing left in the tank, and we're left asking why we feel so tired? But, as stubborn triathletes we are, we go out and continue to train that day, harder than usual, and end up even more tired. Well, I call this the Triathlete Lifestyle Wall.
The Triathlete Lifestyle Wall: This wall is just like any other wall you would face during a race or hard training event, but is geared more towards a whole triathlete's life in which they hit the wall. With training, work, friends, family, and events, the triathlete lifestyle quickly heats up and overfills as soon as the week starts. We all know how important training is though, and we work around the real world: work situations, family events, friend gatherings, and so on. However, this creates a small amount of stress once you've gotten through that hectic week; you may not feel it at the end of that week, but it builds there; slowly but surely. The next week starts, and you do it over again, and that stress starts to accumulate, little by little, until one day, you completely crash-whether it's at work, at home, or during a training session-you just have a massive bonk. You have hit the Triathlete Lifestyle Wall.
Now, I personally hit this wall at work. I kind of had an idea it was coming when I could barely get up and out of bed to ride the 17.5 miles to work, but I did. I felt good when I got there, and worked well for about 3 hours of my shift. Then, at about 4:00, it hit me, completely out of nowhere. I sat down immediately and just felt like I was going to fall asleep, right there behind the counter. Luckily, there wasn't anyone in the store at the time, so I went up to the nutrition wall and grabbed some energy chews. That's a perk of working at a triathlon store, there's always a BUNCH of caffeine filled snacks for a low price. :) But, they almost didn't help, and so I was stuck on that wall. My shift ended two hours later, and I was able to go out and ride home. Now, this was the crucial part for me: I rode home. If I had the choice or if someone had offered to give me a ride home, I would've definitely accepted it and drove home then I would've jumped into bed and sleep as much as I could. But, I had to ride those 17.5 miles home, and was absolutely dead when I got home. You know, I'll tell you that I slept pretty well that night, but when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't feeling too bad. My legs felt good, and I was ready to go out and get another day of training.
So, all in all, The Triathlete Lifestyle Wall can be climbed over. The thing is, it's a very dangerous wall to jump over. If you try to get over this wall too quickly, you can end up getting hurt because you'd go out and overuse yourself too much. It can also be jumped over too slowly, like if you were to go and take a rest week to recover, but then you would only hit this wall again a few weeks later in training. It is a very delicate matter to get over the wall, but you definitely can do it. Just be careful when you reach it, and make sure not to overdo it.
Happy training!
So the biggest thing that triathletes face during training is the overuse of their own bodies. Any one of the training techniques we use, from the swim, bike, run, or cross training techniques such as strength training or gym equipment can be easily overused without our knowledge of it. Then, the next day, we see that we have basically nothing left in the tank, and we're left asking why we feel so tired? But, as stubborn triathletes we are, we go out and continue to train that day, harder than usual, and end up even more tired. Well, I call this the Triathlete Lifestyle Wall.
The Triathlete Lifestyle Wall: This wall is just like any other wall you would face during a race or hard training event, but is geared more towards a whole triathlete's life in which they hit the wall. With training, work, friends, family, and events, the triathlete lifestyle quickly heats up and overfills as soon as the week starts. We all know how important training is though, and we work around the real world: work situations, family events, friend gatherings, and so on. However, this creates a small amount of stress once you've gotten through that hectic week; you may not feel it at the end of that week, but it builds there; slowly but surely. The next week starts, and you do it over again, and that stress starts to accumulate, little by little, until one day, you completely crash-whether it's at work, at home, or during a training session-you just have a massive bonk. You have hit the Triathlete Lifestyle Wall.
Now, I personally hit this wall at work. I kind of had an idea it was coming when I could barely get up and out of bed to ride the 17.5 miles to work, but I did. I felt good when I got there, and worked well for about 3 hours of my shift. Then, at about 4:00, it hit me, completely out of nowhere. I sat down immediately and just felt like I was going to fall asleep, right there behind the counter. Luckily, there wasn't anyone in the store at the time, so I went up to the nutrition wall and grabbed some energy chews. That's a perk of working at a triathlon store, there's always a BUNCH of caffeine filled snacks for a low price. :) But, they almost didn't help, and so I was stuck on that wall. My shift ended two hours later, and I was able to go out and ride home. Now, this was the crucial part for me: I rode home. If I had the choice or if someone had offered to give me a ride home, I would've definitely accepted it and drove home then I would've jumped into bed and sleep as much as I could. But, I had to ride those 17.5 miles home, and was absolutely dead when I got home. You know, I'll tell you that I slept pretty well that night, but when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't feeling too bad. My legs felt good, and I was ready to go out and get another day of training.
So, all in all, The Triathlete Lifestyle Wall can be climbed over. The thing is, it's a very dangerous wall to jump over. If you try to get over this wall too quickly, you can end up getting hurt because you'd go out and overuse yourself too much. It can also be jumped over too slowly, like if you were to go and take a rest week to recover, but then you would only hit this wall again a few weeks later in training. It is a very delicate matter to get over the wall, but you definitely can do it. Just be careful when you reach it, and make sure not to overdo it.
Happy training!
Friday, June 21, 2013
Saucony Kinvara 4 Review
Now, working at a triathlon specialty store, I had the luxury to try it on and wear it around before I bought it. I walked around in the Kinvara 4 for around 6 hours straight, with the intention of buying it creeping into my head from the start of putting it on my foot. The shoe immediately felt like it contoured to my foot, almost like a custom fit. The arch support in the shoe was much better than my previous shoe, and it felt absolutely amazing. So, I convinced myself to buy the shoe.
I put the shoe on the next morning and went out for a solid 5k run, just to determine how it feels over a fast distance. I ran decently quick, on the Two Town Triathlon course, which has good variety for a shoe review, with different surfaces being run on, as well as a good amount of rolling/steep hills. Right from the start, I noticed that the 4mm drop from the heel to toe was a great benefit to me, being a midfoot runner, which was a great improvement from my last shoe, which had a more traditional heel-toe drop of around 10mm/12mm. I particularly liked the type of rounded midfoot striking area, where the arrows of the shoe are pointing forward, in a running motion. It strikes the ground well and impact seemed very minimal going down large hills. I finished the 5k in 19:09, which was a good training time for me, and it felt good even after the run, when my feet were hot and I was cooling down, they remained a cool, collected shoe. As I get into longer runs, I will review how they hold up over a larger distance, but for now, the shoe really performed well on all aspects of a running shoe, more than likely because I haven't had the money to invest in new shoes, but these were well worth the price. The Saucony Kinvara 4 is a great running shoe, and I enjoyed the ride it gave me.
I hope this helps some of you guys out!
Happy training!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Dump Trucks and Danger
Happy training!
Monday, June 17, 2013
The Road to a Better Year
Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't written a blog recently. I've been really busy lately, going around working and biking and training, you know, the typical triathlete lifestyle. Over the past few days, I've been experiencing some pain and have been really thinking about my current race season. I had an OK race a few weekends ago, but my run really made me suffer and I've been looking into new ways to train the run and stay injury free. For me, right now, staying injury free is the number one priority. With my long list of injuries finally starting to show progress, I need to keep those areas and all other areas strong and well-equipped to stay in contention for next year. So to avoid overuse injuries from running, I'm going to go from longer distance running weeks to smaller long runs and more speedwork. I've had a good amount of people tell me that a way to success in the run is to do less mileage but more speed training. I'm going to do my best to adapt to this new type of training for my running, due to my run being the weakest sport in the triathlon. So, what I'm thinking is to do 2 days per week on hard speedwork sets, usually on a track and doing repeated hard intervals. Another 2 days of that same week will involve tempo runs that are typically run coming off of a bike ride for a brick workout that just give me some speed off the ride. The one day remaining that won't be a rest day will be my "long" run day, probably just around 45 or 50 minutes. So that's my new plan for the run, but I need to get back in the water somewhat soon. My scapula is still under repair so to say, and so I haven't been able to swim in quite a long time, around 3 months, and I can tell that my swim strength is really nothing right now. Regardless, the bike is definitely becoming my strength. I'm getting a lot of good, quality miles in and I'm getting pretty consistent. All this I'm taking into account to build into next year.
Deep down, I'm a pretty fat kid. I love to eat hot dogs, burgers, cake, cookies, really anything fattening with a lot of sugar in it. So as a new initiative, I'm implementing a nutrition plan for the next year and a half. To build through to be better next year, I'm hoping to lean up and lose about twenty pounds from my current body frame right now. To get that lean I'm going to focus on a almost completely organic/vegetarian type diet, consuming mostly fruits, vegetables, and lean meal options. This is definitely going to be presented on this blog a lot more in the future, as I gain experience with the whole diet thing. Today I've started the nutrition quest, and I'll do my best to describe how this whole thing goes. So I'll keep you updated, and I'll do my best to stay dedicated to this whole thing. Let me know if you have any suggestions for my nutrition or run plan to help improve them, and I'll reply to you all. Thanks guys!
Happy training!
Sorry I haven't written a blog recently. I've been really busy lately, going around working and biking and training, you know, the typical triathlete lifestyle. Over the past few days, I've been experiencing some pain and have been really thinking about my current race season. I had an OK race a few weekends ago, but my run really made me suffer and I've been looking into new ways to train the run and stay injury free. For me, right now, staying injury free is the number one priority. With my long list of injuries finally starting to show progress, I need to keep those areas and all other areas strong and well-equipped to stay in contention for next year. So to avoid overuse injuries from running, I'm going to go from longer distance running weeks to smaller long runs and more speedwork. I've had a good amount of people tell me that a way to success in the run is to do less mileage but more speed training. I'm going to do my best to adapt to this new type of training for my running, due to my run being the weakest sport in the triathlon. So, what I'm thinking is to do 2 days per week on hard speedwork sets, usually on a track and doing repeated hard intervals. Another 2 days of that same week will involve tempo runs that are typically run coming off of a bike ride for a brick workout that just give me some speed off the ride. The one day remaining that won't be a rest day will be my "long" run day, probably just around 45 or 50 minutes. So that's my new plan for the run, but I need to get back in the water somewhat soon. My scapula is still under repair so to say, and so I haven't been able to swim in quite a long time, around 3 months, and I can tell that my swim strength is really nothing right now. Regardless, the bike is definitely becoming my strength. I'm getting a lot of good, quality miles in and I'm getting pretty consistent. All this I'm taking into account to build into next year.
Deep down, I'm a pretty fat kid. I love to eat hot dogs, burgers, cake, cookies, really anything fattening with a lot of sugar in it. So as a new initiative, I'm implementing a nutrition plan for the next year and a half. To build through to be better next year, I'm hoping to lean up and lose about twenty pounds from my current body frame right now. To get that lean I'm going to focus on a almost completely organic/vegetarian type diet, consuming mostly fruits, vegetables, and lean meal options. This is definitely going to be presented on this blog a lot more in the future, as I gain experience with the whole diet thing. Today I've started the nutrition quest, and I'll do my best to describe how this whole thing goes. So I'll keep you updated, and I'll do my best to stay dedicated to this whole thing. Let me know if you have any suggestions for my nutrition or run plan to help improve them, and I'll reply to you all. Thanks guys!
Happy training!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
A Taste of the Dirt
Hey guys,
Who here mountain bikes? First off, my hat comes off to you. Today I went mountain biking with my buddy at Umstead State Park, and we found out that riding in the trails is super difficult. Granted, we almost got lost for a very long time, but we got through the ride in one piece, more or less.
I found that taking the shock of all those roots into your handlebar grips can make your hand muscles more sore than your legs, which was crazy. But as we got through the trails, we found how hard it is to handle your bike correctly and safely through difficult jumps and bumps in the trails. Also, due to the soggy ground conditions, we had to be extra careful about what line of the trail we chose to take, so as to not skid out and crash. So for anyone considering taking up mountain biking, these are all considerable topics you'll need to address while riding to be safe.
Here's todays story: So, like I said, me and my buddy were headed out to mountain bike this morning. I was taking it as a recovery and I'm just introducing him into the sport of cycling. We originally were headed to Crabtree Park for work on balance and to bike the twisty trails, the trails I've so named for the twists and turns they feature in the terrain. But, as we get to Crabtree, we enter the park only to see the signs saying TRAILS CLOSED. That was disappointing, but we weren't going to be stopped. I thought, "Hey, let's go to Umstead and just explore some trail" and he agreed after some convincing. So we get to Umstead at the Reedy Creek entrance, and I pump up our tires and we get on our way. I told him we would just jump on the first trail we saw off of the larger main trail, which happened very quickly. We started off on the trail, but after about 10 minutes of riding, it petered out into forest. So, I taught my friend how to bushwhack and we continued in a straight line. Eventually, we got to an absolutely awesome trail! It followed a creek and featured quite a few creek crossings and jumps. We were having a good time, until we realized we were over our time limit for turning around. So, we decided to follow the trail, believing it would loop us back around. That's the first thing about Umstead: it doesn't loop back. We were riding pretty far, and we eventually stopped when we reached the boundary of Umstead State Park, marked by yellow markers on the trees. At this point, we were both absolutely drenched in sweat, water, mud, and dirt alike from the creek crossings and muddy trails. Our bikes were likewise, but up until that point we were having a great time. But, we did need to get back, and so we put our serious faces on. But, we tried to go faster to make it back in time, and that made us have a few more errors than riding on the way up. I hit a root that I didn't see and busted my knee on my fork and started to bleed down my leg and stained my socks pretty good. My buddy messed up his shoulder hitting a tree he couldn't duck around, and so we were feeling beat up by these trails. But, we needed to get back, and so rather than follow the trail, we decided to go the good old fashioned way: bushwhack again. We bushwhacked our way close to the sound of a road, which turned out to be I-40, and we reached a swampy area. We got off our bikes and waded through dangerous looking grass up to our waists and a swamp with water up to our knees. We walked as best we could holding our bikes above our heads through the swamp, so not to get them too wet. At this point, we were very desperate, and very tired, and very hungry, so we needed to get out quickly. We were so close to passing out from fatigue when we finally found the exit, which spit us out onto the main road right next to our car. So, moral of the story is, make sure you've got the time and the skills to take on the trails of mother nature. It doesn't always play nice, and it can be dangerous but fun at the same time.
All in all, mountain biking is a great way to switch up the sometimes boring sights of road riding and forces you to pay uber-close attention to the trails unless you'll wreck. It can work much different muscle groups and switch up your training aerobically, and it gives you a nice refresher to training. But also, you've got to weigh the risks: while road riding presents the risk of cars, mountain riding represents a higher chance of bad crashes and getting lost or fighting with a large wildlife creature. So, be careful when choosing which method of training to go with. I'd recommend doing both, just to keep yourself having fun and entertained. But guys, be careful out there. You all know that I don't want any of you to get as many injuries that I have, its not fun. So please, be careful for me.
Happy training!
Who here mountain bikes? First off, my hat comes off to you. Today I went mountain biking with my buddy at Umstead State Park, and we found out that riding in the trails is super difficult. Granted, we almost got lost for a very long time, but we got through the ride in one piece, more or less.
I found that taking the shock of all those roots into your handlebar grips can make your hand muscles more sore than your legs, which was crazy. But as we got through the trails, we found how hard it is to handle your bike correctly and safely through difficult jumps and bumps in the trails. Also, due to the soggy ground conditions, we had to be extra careful about what line of the trail we chose to take, so as to not skid out and crash. So for anyone considering taking up mountain biking, these are all considerable topics you'll need to address while riding to be safe.
Here's todays story: So, like I said, me and my buddy were headed out to mountain bike this morning. I was taking it as a recovery and I'm just introducing him into the sport of cycling. We originally were headed to Crabtree Park for work on balance and to bike the twisty trails, the trails I've so named for the twists and turns they feature in the terrain. But, as we get to Crabtree, we enter the park only to see the signs saying TRAILS CLOSED. That was disappointing, but we weren't going to be stopped. I thought, "Hey, let's go to Umstead and just explore some trail" and he agreed after some convincing. So we get to Umstead at the Reedy Creek entrance, and I pump up our tires and we get on our way. I told him we would just jump on the first trail we saw off of the larger main trail, which happened very quickly. We started off on the trail, but after about 10 minutes of riding, it petered out into forest. So, I taught my friend how to bushwhack and we continued in a straight line. Eventually, we got to an absolutely awesome trail! It followed a creek and featured quite a few creek crossings and jumps. We were having a good time, until we realized we were over our time limit for turning around. So, we decided to follow the trail, believing it would loop us back around. That's the first thing about Umstead: it doesn't loop back. We were riding pretty far, and we eventually stopped when we reached the boundary of Umstead State Park, marked by yellow markers on the trees. At this point, we were both absolutely drenched in sweat, water, mud, and dirt alike from the creek crossings and muddy trails. Our bikes were likewise, but up until that point we were having a great time. But, we did need to get back, and so we put our serious faces on. But, we tried to go faster to make it back in time, and that made us have a few more errors than riding on the way up. I hit a root that I didn't see and busted my knee on my fork and started to bleed down my leg and stained my socks pretty good. My buddy messed up his shoulder hitting a tree he couldn't duck around, and so we were feeling beat up by these trails. But, we needed to get back, and so rather than follow the trail, we decided to go the good old fashioned way: bushwhack again. We bushwhacked our way close to the sound of a road, which turned out to be I-40, and we reached a swampy area. We got off our bikes and waded through dangerous looking grass up to our waists and a swamp with water up to our knees. We walked as best we could holding our bikes above our heads through the swamp, so not to get them too wet. At this point, we were very desperate, and very tired, and very hungry, so we needed to get out quickly. We were so close to passing out from fatigue when we finally found the exit, which spit us out onto the main road right next to our car. So, moral of the story is, make sure you've got the time and the skills to take on the trails of mother nature. It doesn't always play nice, and it can be dangerous but fun at the same time.
All in all, mountain biking is a great way to switch up the sometimes boring sights of road riding and forces you to pay uber-close attention to the trails unless you'll wreck. It can work much different muscle groups and switch up your training aerobically, and it gives you a nice refresher to training. But also, you've got to weigh the risks: while road riding presents the risk of cars, mountain riding represents a higher chance of bad crashes and getting lost or fighting with a large wildlife creature. So, be careful when choosing which method of training to go with. I'd recommend doing both, just to keep yourself having fun and entertained. But guys, be careful out there. You all know that I don't want any of you to get as many injuries that I have, its not fun. So please, be careful for me.
Happy training!
Monday, June 10, 2013
Two Town Triathlon
How was the weekend? Anyone race or have some key training workouts? I did. I raced the Two Town Triathlon, a 300 yard swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 5K run. The race was a lot of fun, but it also gave me a great gauge on where my fitness in each sport is. So I wasn't technically satisfied, but it's definitely given me a lot of new motivation to go out and train that much harder. I'll break down the race by each of the individual parts: Swim, T1, Bike, T2, and Run;
Swim: The swim was the only thing in this race that I was very pleased with. I knew I was racing against two very fast competitors, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold one of them off on the run, so I was thinking a lot about the bike even as I got into the pool. It was a pool swim, so we were staggered to leave every 15 seconds. I was seeded second, so I was bib number 2(I always love it when you have low bib numbers, it makes you feel cool). The race started at 8:00, and as that exact second rolled around, the first swimmer left. I prepared myself for what laid ahead, quickly picturing the whole race and how I would run it in my head. I had just finished doing so when the race official counted me down "5...4...3...2...1...Go" and I was off. I shot off the wall like a rocket, and tried to sprint most of the first 50. I was swimming well, and my shoulder, which has had a problem with swimming in the last month or so, was feeling good. As we approached 150 yards, I could see that I was gaining ground on the guy in front of me, which was a good sign, because that meant I must be beating the second guy who was behind us, because in past results, guy #1 was always faster than guy #2. I caught up to him about 15 yards in the time it took us to swim the 300, and subtract the time it took for me to get to the mat, I swam the 300 averaging about 59 second 100's. I was happy, and won the swim overall.
T1: This was a bad transition. I really wasn't prepared for the transition, and I paid for it. As I got to T1, I slipped on the timing mat and almost fell, but caught myself. I got to my bike and saw that the guy I was chasing in the swim had already crossed the bike start timing mat and was going to mount. I thought "Man, he's fast" and got down to my transition. I got my Giro Air Attack Shield helmet on quickly with no problems, and then put on my race belt. However, I fumbled with the clip, and lost about 3 seconds there. I grabbed my bike(outfitted with a Zipp 900 Tubular Disc wheel and Zipp 808 Tubular front wheel) and race to the mount line. I hopped on and broke the rubber bands holding my shoes in place and got clipped in.
Bike: The bike was such a cool experience, to say the least. Not only was I riding on my home court roads so to say, but I had new race wheels. I was doing my best to catch the guy in front of me, but he was riding away with each stretch of road. We were averaging around 29 mph for the first 3 and a half miles, which was a flat portion of the bike where you could just fly. It was amazing, but I wasn't able to get my heart rate under control for that majority of the ride and was killing my legs trying to get caught up with guy #1. But I knew I couldn't catch him once he was out of sight, and so I just biked my own race. I have to say, seeing my shadow on the road with the disc wheel on the back and the 808 wheel on the front looked like the coolest thing in the world. I think I'm going to have to buy some for myself at some point. Anyway, as we got into the back stretch of the race, which was about 5 miles, the hills started to hurt me. We had to climb a 13% grade at one point, and I didn't have time to switch down onto my small ring. So I lugged my bike up that hill, literally pedalstroke to pedalstroke. It hurt, for sure. But then I got past the last slow uphill and came down a large hill into T2. It was a great bike experience, I was riding my Cervelo S5, which is a road bike, but I didn't outfit it with aerobars. I stayed on the drop bars, and ran a basebar aerodrink bracket, and so I had a pretty good aero position. Add that to my Giro Air Attack and wheels, along with the S5's frame, and I was a pretty aero guy yesterday.
T2: The second transition went really well for me. I was trying out a pair of Brook's PureConnects as a new racing flat, which I got on quickly and easily, paired with a set of Yankz, and was able to get out of T2 quickly. Its another part of the race that went well.
Run: The run killed me. I absolutely bonked on the run. I got out of T2 and across the street, probably about a quarter of a mile in to the run, when guy #2 passed me. I was really hoping to hold him off until about a mile and a half, but he caught me early. Good friends, I gave him some words of encouragement, and he told me to come run with him and catch guy #1. I did my best, but could only hold his pace for about 2 minutes, and then I fell off that fast pace. It spiked my heart rate and I had to take some fast active recovery to get back into proper running form and speed. We got through the course, which was extremely rolling, which was destroying my legs, and as I approached the turnaround point, I saw guy #1 running back. I gave him a high five as he went by, another friend of mine, and then guy #2, not far behind, came running down the hill. I thought I wasn't doing too bad, because he wasn't that far ahead, but he was. He ended up having the fastest run split by 3 minutes. I hit the turnaround and headed back. I kind of hit a second wind on the way back, and was running more smoothly and easily. I passed my buddy who I was running the race with, just as I got close to the finish line, about 3 miles. I crossed the street once again, and ran into the finish line. The bike had destroyed my legs, and I definitely paid for it on the run. But regardless, it was a fun race. In fact, I missed breaking 20 minutes in the 5K by only 2 seconds, running a 20:01, which was pretty terrible of a time for me.
Splits
300 yard swim: 3:23
T1: 28 seconds
10 Mile Bike: 26:03
T2: 24 seconds
Run: 20:01
Final Time: 50:16
So all in all, it was an amazing experience. I ended up 4th overall, due to a late entry who got seeded last and was able to run faster splits and ended up beating me. But I had fun, and my friends came out to support me, which was awesome, because usually I do races alone, other than my mom. So it was great to have their support out there, it meant a lot to me. So guys, when you have a somewhat disappointing race, don't let it get you down, but use it to your advantage. See where you were weak in the race and train those areas to get better. Races are always a learning experience, no matter how many you've done. So good luck at all the races guys, and remember to have fun, because that's what really matters in the end.
Happy training!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
A Great Day in the Mechanics Room
Hey guys,
Tomorrow is my first non-draft legal triathlon, the Two Town Triathlon. It's really small, just a 300 yard swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 5K run. It's a super sprint, so it really shouldn't take that long. However, on the participant list, some fiercely fast competition has showed up, like, these guys are so fast that they'll probably pass me on the swim, and it's staggered, because it's a pool swim. But regardless, I probably won't be able to beat them, so I'm just gonna go for a Top 3 overall spot. But, I'm not going down without a fight. Today, I went to the shop and rented some race wheels. I have a Zipp 900 Tubular Disc wheel on the rear and a Zipp 808 Tubular on the front. Guys, this is my first time on aero wheels, and so I'm not gonna lie, you feel AWESOME. I was cruising around testing them and you feel pretty pro. So, if you haven't had the experience, I'd recommend going to your local shop and renting some, just to feel the way that they ride. But, it was crazy hard to get the wheels on! I'll tell you the story: Originally, I was going to run a set of Mavic CXR's, with 80mm rim depth. So, I get the wheels down and start to put them on my bike, but because I've never ran any kind of aero carbon wheel, I didn't know you have to switch the brake pads. So, I take the wheel off and switch the pads out. Then, when I put the back wheel on again, the brake pads are angled so that the wheel doesn't turn, the brakes are rubbing too much. Great. So, I take the wheel off once more and adjust the brakes enough so that they will accommodate the wheel. This happens successfully-awesome. Then, I move to the front wheel: this is simple, right? I switch the pads out and then throw the wheel on the front. Guess what? These brakes are even worse than the rear brakes! So, I try to replicate what I did on the rear brake, but that wasn't enough, it was to no avail. I asked our experienced mechanic what he thought, and he sat there stumped for a long time, adjusting, readjusting, tweaking, and doing anything possible to try and make the wheel fit. Eventually, he said that my bike simply wasn't going to be able to ride the Mavic CXR. I was bummed, but then again, I was excited to run a Zipp Disc wheel. So I go, switch the brake pads, and switch the cassettes over once more. Then, I was finally ready to install the new wheels. The back wheel went on without a problem, but then the front wheel started to rub slightly again, but we were able to fix that. Then, as I was going through the gears, the rear derailleur started to screw up! I had been in the shop at least 2 and a half hours at this point, so it was taking awhile. I got my mechanic buddy to come help me out, and then I was finally ready to go.
All in all, this was a fantastic experience, because although it did take up a lot of my time, I was able to learn a TON about my bike and get closer to it. I feel ready for this race and I'm stoked to be debuting all this new equipment. Other new items I'll be using are the Giro Air Attack Shield as my first aero helmet, a basebar bracket for a Profile-Design aerodrink bottle, a Louis Garneau Pro Trisuit, Rudy Project Swifty sunglasses, and a pair of Brooks Pure Connect racing flats. It's gonna be an interesting day! Wish me luck out there guys, I'll definitely do my best. Tomorrow there will be product reviews from my racing standpoint, as well as results and opinions and funny stories. Thanks guys!
Happy training!
Tomorrow is my first non-draft legal triathlon, the Two Town Triathlon. It's really small, just a 300 yard swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 5K run. It's a super sprint, so it really shouldn't take that long. However, on the participant list, some fiercely fast competition has showed up, like, these guys are so fast that they'll probably pass me on the swim, and it's staggered, because it's a pool swim. But regardless, I probably won't be able to beat them, so I'm just gonna go for a Top 3 overall spot. But, I'm not going down without a fight. Today, I went to the shop and rented some race wheels. I have a Zipp 900 Tubular Disc wheel on the rear and a Zipp 808 Tubular on the front. Guys, this is my first time on aero wheels, and so I'm not gonna lie, you feel AWESOME. I was cruising around testing them and you feel pretty pro. So, if you haven't had the experience, I'd recommend going to your local shop and renting some, just to feel the way that they ride. But, it was crazy hard to get the wheels on! I'll tell you the story: Originally, I was going to run a set of Mavic CXR's, with 80mm rim depth. So, I get the wheels down and start to put them on my bike, but because I've never ran any kind of aero carbon wheel, I didn't know you have to switch the brake pads. So, I take the wheel off and switch the pads out. Then, when I put the back wheel on again, the brake pads are angled so that the wheel doesn't turn, the brakes are rubbing too much. Great. So, I take the wheel off once more and adjust the brakes enough so that they will accommodate the wheel. This happens successfully-awesome. Then, I move to the front wheel: this is simple, right? I switch the pads out and then throw the wheel on the front. Guess what? These brakes are even worse than the rear brakes! So, I try to replicate what I did on the rear brake, but that wasn't enough, it was to no avail. I asked our experienced mechanic what he thought, and he sat there stumped for a long time, adjusting, readjusting, tweaking, and doing anything possible to try and make the wheel fit. Eventually, he said that my bike simply wasn't going to be able to ride the Mavic CXR. I was bummed, but then again, I was excited to run a Zipp Disc wheel. So I go, switch the brake pads, and switch the cassettes over once more. Then, I was finally ready to install the new wheels. The back wheel went on without a problem, but then the front wheel started to rub slightly again, but we were able to fix that. Then, as I was going through the gears, the rear derailleur started to screw up! I had been in the shop at least 2 and a half hours at this point, so it was taking awhile. I got my mechanic buddy to come help me out, and then I was finally ready to go.
All in all, this was a fantastic experience, because although it did take up a lot of my time, I was able to learn a TON about my bike and get closer to it. I feel ready for this race and I'm stoked to be debuting all this new equipment. Other new items I'll be using are the Giro Air Attack Shield as my first aero helmet, a basebar bracket for a Profile-Design aerodrink bottle, a Louis Garneau Pro Trisuit, Rudy Project Swifty sunglasses, and a pair of Brooks Pure Connect racing flats. It's gonna be an interesting day! Wish me luck out there guys, I'll definitely do my best. Tomorrow there will be product reviews from my racing standpoint, as well as results and opinions and funny stories. Thanks guys!
Happy training!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Part of My Story
As I sat in my last period final exam today, the last minute of the class took the longest. Not because I was excited for the summer break, because I am, but because I was reflecting on the whole year. I had seen a lot of people seriously hurt, myself included, from injuries. I sat and examined everything that's happened, but I just remember thinking those words "I've done it." I've done it! As for me, I am now a junior in high school. I made it through sophomore year! Man, this feels just about as good as the picture above. So as I take today to look back on sophomore year, I remember things I did that were smart and things not so smart. A lot of things could've gone differently, but if they hadn't, then I wouldn't be who and where I am today.
Thinking back to the days of last summer, when high school XC conditioning started, my buddy and I were very motivated. We showed up every day at practice, and unlike last year, we were focused and serious. We ran our hearts out every day, and we started to see some results. Some workouts were easier than we remembered them last year, and we were running them faster with less fatigue. But we also started to feel the effects of overtraining. We were running at least an hour every day, and not at an easy pace. Throw in some speed workouts every third day or so, and it made us very tired. But, we got pushed to continue training, and even to step it up a notch. So these longs days turned into long double days, and we started to go downhill fast. Within a week of both of us starting to run double days, we were both injured, me with shin splints and him with a pulled calf muscle. We couldn't go on, and it set our XC success back considerably. So, that wasn't the best start to any season, but regardless, we were forced to learn from it. Our experience with that has made us more cautious in the present, and we're both smarter because of it. That was our XC season, and we pretty much didn't improve due to that setback, so we ran about mid to low 18 minute 5K's for the remainder of the season.
Moving from XC as a high school sport, I moved to swimming in the fall. We had a lot of fun on swim team, with relays every Friday to team dinners the night before a meet. But, swimming was a big time for me to keep my fitness up because I couldn't do anything else. I'll explain. Early January 2013, I was riding my bike along a greenway trail in downtown Raleigh, on a rainy early Saturday morning. I approached a bridge, which I started to cross with no problems; however, the bridge made a left turn, which I took normally, but due to the rain and the wood that the bridge was made out of, I turned and immediately my wheel went out from under me. I crashed to the ground, slamming my head on the wooden surface after landing directly on my left hip joint. In order of events, my hip hit first, then my knee, followed by my elbow, then shoulder, and finally, my head. After untwisting my ankle from the pedal, which had still been clipped in, I noticed my bike was trapped under the fence of the bridge. Like a true triathlete, I immediately forgot about my injuries and rushed to free the bike. After I assured that my bike was OK, I returned to nursing my injuries. I was bleeding profusely from the shoulder and knee, and my hip hurt. A lot. I called my mother to come and get me, and she picked me up. For some reason, we hadn't thought to go to a doctor. Then, the next week, I was riding some workouts and crashed again, hitting the same hip. All that week before the second crash, I was feeling hip pain. We went to a doctor about halfway through that week, which had assessed me and put on some kinesiology tape. But after this crash, I began to feel hip flexor pain. With every step I took, my left and right hip flexors felt as though they were pulling out of my pelvis where they attach. It was painful to get out of bed in the morning. Think it's hard getting out of bed when you just don't want to go to school? Haha imagine those hip flexor problems plus having no motivation to get out of bed and go to school. It was a really tough time. The pain was similar, sometimes worse, when I rode my bike, but because I loved this sport so much, I had to. I still rode my bike somewhat frequently, which was a terrible idea. So, seeing that I don't get a lot of time to do regular high school boy things, I went to go play a pick up football game at my friend's church. We were almost done with a game of flag football, on the last play, when I got unfairly tackled going for the winning drive. Well, I was tackled in such a way that all 3 ligaments in my ankle were torn right through. That was just fantastic news, because I just wanted to add on to the list of injuries. But luckily, I sprain my ankle and tear the ligaments somewhat frequently, and so I healed in about 4 weeks. I was hobbling onto the pool deck at high school practices in a boot, then removing the boot, sliding on my stomach like a seal into the water, swimming, while doing my best to not kick at all, and then sliding back out and putting on the boot again. It was actually quite funny to see. Well, I thought that if I can't bike that much, I'll run more. So, at physical therapy, I was working my hip flexors for about 2 weeks, and I got up on the treadmill. I ran no further than 10 minutes, but at about 7 minutes, I felt a very distinct pain in my achilles tendon. That wasn't good. I went to see another doctor, and was diagnosed with Achilles Tendinitis in my left leg. Great. Another injury. However, I had to run at school for a grade in my Personal Fitness class, so I ran the mile with Achilles Tendinitis. That was a terrible thing to have done, but I had to. So, at swim practice, I had to worry about my hip flexors, which hurt if I kicked too hard, my ankle, which had no mobility from the torn ligaments, and my achilles tendon, which couldn't support the overload of pushing off the wall. Regardless, I used a pull buoy, turned around at the flags in open water, and did my best not to kick at all. This made swimming very hard, but kept me in decent shape. In late February, I had no progress in my hips. So I went to a chiropractor, who wanted an X-ray as soon as possible. Immediately I agreed, I was desperate to heal. I got a pelvic X-ray, and the result was very surprising to me. My pelvis was tilted 15 degrees to the right! So my left hip flexor had been overstretched while my right hip flexor had been overloaded. My achilles tendon problem was also directly related to the tilt of my pelvis. So, for the next week, I went back to the chiropractor and got slowly readjusted back to normal pelvic position. After this, my hips magically started to heal. Make sense, doctors? I was not a big fan of any of the 6 doctors I had visited for help, because they all proceeded to tell me I was fine and to rest for 2 weeks. Common protocol I suppose, but I was so frustrated. I can't emphasize this enough, I was going through a rough time. But now I'm through the worst of it. My shin splints still linger from XC season, my hip flexors are continually sore from those crashes, and my achilles still acts up pretty regularly. Actually, just the other day I visited a special type of massage therapist, who assessed me, and then proceeded to tell me that due to my last couple of months, my hip flexors and glutes don't work. I'm not kidding, those were his exact words! They apparently don't fire the way they should. But I'm addressing the problem and getting it fixed! As I've learned almost better than a lot of athletes I know personally, the human body heals! You just have to find the right problem and get it fixed. So my advice here is to never give up. I know some of you think that if you have a bad injury, then you won't ever heal, but that isn't always true. You can do whatever you put your mind to, and an injury can never stop you from doing something you love.
Guys, don't let an injury knock you down as far as mine did. It was honestly the hardest months of my life, not being able to train without pain. But you can heal, and it does get better. It can reshape your entire ideas about training and about life, and you will learn something positive from it, I'm positive. Keep your head up through injuries guys. It's worth it to get through them.
Happy training everybody. Be safe.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Leading Up to Race Day
Hey guys,
This weekend I'm going to be doing the Two Town Triathlon, which is a TrySports event, with just a 300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and 5k run. As I get closer to this first non-draft legal race of the season, I'm starting to get all of those pre-race jitters we all get when there is pressure in the race to have a good showing, a debut, so to say. As of right now, there is only about 100 people signed up, but it is my first race where I'm racing in the Open category, and I am hoping to be able to win the race. I'm running it with a buddy of mine, but he's a trainee of mine and is racing age group. Regardless of our results, we're gonna have a lot of fun!
It's nice, being in a little bit of a taper. I'm not doing that much volume on the swim, bike, or run, but I'm doing some good last-minute strength sets. They're definitely helping my stability and flexibility on all three sports, which is key leading up to a important race. This isn't really an important race, it's just that it's my first one that I know I can do well in. But, I've done so many races that I'm not too nervous about that particular race, but this one feels different somewhat. I can't really explain it too well.
I usually don't get too many pre-race nervousness anymore, and the race is this Sunday, still 4 days away. But the triathlon is very local to me, and I know the bike course better than anyone else who is running the race, guaranteed. That's not me being cocky or arrogant, I just bike the course close to every day in my training. Over the past 2 years I've probably put over 1,500 miles on a part of the course alone. So I am super excited, just because I know how to ride the road, and the course goes on a beautiful part of a road that I've been saying would be a great venue for a bike course for about 4 years now. I was so glad to see they finally are going to use Johnson Pond road as part of a bike course! That just made me happy, because I felt like somehow the race directors magically heard my thoughts and just made the course according to that. Don't judge me.
But honestly, I'm really nervous for this race. Yesterday I took my bike out and did a 10 mile time trial, just to get a gauge for my bike fitness, and averaged 24.8mph for that 10 miles. That was decent, but I wanted to be slightly faster, more like around 25 and a half or low 26's. Either way, it is what it is. The swim isn't going to be a problem, it's a 300 yard pool swim, and the run will be fun. I've planned everything out in my head, but I still have that little excitement in my stomach, just butterflies for how much fun this race will be.
So, does anyone reading this get butterflies or nervousness from that pre-race feeling? How do you usually silence it? Do you use a mantra, or just go mind over matter and dominate it with willpower? Comment on how you crush your race day doubts!
Happy training!
This weekend I'm going to be doing the Two Town Triathlon, which is a TrySports event, with just a 300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and 5k run. As I get closer to this first non-draft legal race of the season, I'm starting to get all of those pre-race jitters we all get when there is pressure in the race to have a good showing, a debut, so to say. As of right now, there is only about 100 people signed up, but it is my first race where I'm racing in the Open category, and I am hoping to be able to win the race. I'm running it with a buddy of mine, but he's a trainee of mine and is racing age group. Regardless of our results, we're gonna have a lot of fun!
It's nice, being in a little bit of a taper. I'm not doing that much volume on the swim, bike, or run, but I'm doing some good last-minute strength sets. They're definitely helping my stability and flexibility on all three sports, which is key leading up to a important race. This isn't really an important race, it's just that it's my first one that I know I can do well in. But, I've done so many races that I'm not too nervous about that particular race, but this one feels different somewhat. I can't really explain it too well.
I usually don't get too many pre-race nervousness anymore, and the race is this Sunday, still 4 days away. But the triathlon is very local to me, and I know the bike course better than anyone else who is running the race, guaranteed. That's not me being cocky or arrogant, I just bike the course close to every day in my training. Over the past 2 years I've probably put over 1,500 miles on a part of the course alone. So I am super excited, just because I know how to ride the road, and the course goes on a beautiful part of a road that I've been saying would be a great venue for a bike course for about 4 years now. I was so glad to see they finally are going to use Johnson Pond road as part of a bike course! That just made me happy, because I felt like somehow the race directors magically heard my thoughts and just made the course according to that. Don't judge me.
But honestly, I'm really nervous for this race. Yesterday I took my bike out and did a 10 mile time trial, just to get a gauge for my bike fitness, and averaged 24.8mph for that 10 miles. That was decent, but I wanted to be slightly faster, more like around 25 and a half or low 26's. Either way, it is what it is. The swim isn't going to be a problem, it's a 300 yard pool swim, and the run will be fun. I've planned everything out in my head, but I still have that little excitement in my stomach, just butterflies for how much fun this race will be.
So, does anyone reading this get butterflies or nervousness from that pre-race feeling? How do you usually silence it? Do you use a mantra, or just go mind over matter and dominate it with willpower? Comment on how you crush your race day doubts!
Happy training!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Iron Man 70.3 Raleigh
Hey everyone,
Here's my overview of the inaugural Raleigh 70.3 Iron Man. First of all, it was a huge success. I have to thank anyone and everyone who helped out with the race, whether you were a volunteer, spectator, or athlete. I heard nothing but positive feedback coming from the athletes coming across the line, which is just the sweetest thing to hear coming from someone who just achieved a dream of finishing those grueling 70.3 miles. So a big thanks to everyone, and congratulations to all the athletes who completed the race!
Now, my mom and I love to contribute back to our sport, and so we do our best to volunteer our time and efforts at races whenever we can. So, early Sunday morning, we got up and headed out to the swim start, at Vista Point in Jordan Lake. Our jobs there was to hold up the swim start wave signs and corral the athletes under the Swim Start arch. This went very well and we got everyone in their waves quickly and didn't miss too many of them. Once my wave, wave 7, got through the arch, I watched them head off on the swim and then made my way to the swim exit, where the first pros were finishing the swim. Two guys did the swim in just over 25 minutes! That was crazy fast for 1.2 miles, and they had a huge lead on the rest of the pro field. With that excitement over, we headed down to the bike mount area. Here a volunteer captain instructed me and a friend who was volunteering with me that we had to tell spectators to keep off the road, because while spectating you get into the atmosphere a little too much sometimes, and you can somehow find yourself in the middle of the road, cheering on the athletes. So, for both spectator and athlete safety, we kept them on the grass off to the side of the road, where they can still see perfectly and cheer, just safer. I wish I had pictures to put up, but I didn't bring my camera until we got to T2. Sorry guys. It was a cool experience though.
What's weird is the effect that the heat has on tubes. As we were watching the bike mount line and the spectators, a man comes walking back to the mount line. His back tire is flat, and so he starts to change it off to the side of the bike mount line. He sits there changing his tube for a long time, so long that my mom runs to find an official to ask if I can help. She comes running back with a thumbs up, and so I sprint over to the man. I ask him what's wrong, and he says that he's changed his tube and gotten his tire back on, but he cant pump it up because his hand pump is too small. I take the pump from him and rapidly start to pump his tube, but the overall pressure does not go up. I stop for a moment, and it starts to deflate rapidly. "You've pinched your tube man, I've got to find another one; I'll be right back, you stay here." I ran off over to bike support and get some of my friends to run over to the bike mount with me with a large bike pump, and a few extra tubes. Now, I've changed a ton of tubes in my training experience, but I've never actually had to change another person's tube in a race. I get back to his wheel with the pump and tube, and grab some tire levers and get his tire off very quickly. I grab the tube out, and happen to glimpse a hole about 2 1/2 millimeters wide in the tube. Yeah, that was the problem. I unwrap the new tube and toss it into the wheel, then inflate it slightly. This made it easier for me to be able to get the tire over the rim and over the tube, with a little less chance of the tube pinching again. I work the tire over the wheel, and pump it up to 105psi. I throw his wheel back on his bike, lock the skewer in, and sent him on his way with a push. It was so crazy to have that happen, I had so much adrenaline from changing another racer's tire that I was dripping sweat when I returned to the bike mount line area. We actually had a bike tech mechanic come up to the line, and I assisted him through changing 5 more flats! People were flatting right across the bike mount line! I felt bad, but I was glad I could help their race continue.
Once the last cyclist made it across the line, we jumped in the car and headed out to T2. I was especially excited for T2, because this is the position where I was assigned an Iron Man captain, which is really just a position for people who have previous Iron Man volunteer experience, are enthusiastic about volunteering, and know how the race works. So I fit that bill, and was psyched for the experience.
This is me, all dressed up in my captain's gear! I had a lot of fun helping out here, and was able to dip out and help a lot of other volunteers. I was asked a good amount of questions that I was able to answer, and I'm just glad I could help the race go on more smoothly.
So, my job at T2 gear bags was to unload the boxes of bags that were transported from Jordan Lake that morning all the way to where we were, downtown Raleigh. Athletes had a bag full of their morning clothes, which typically included warm-up clothes, like sweatpants, hoodies, and anything they took off prior to the start of their race. They also had a T1 bag which included their wetsuits, goggles, caps, and any nutrition the athletes took in T1. Now, this was no small task, due to the fact we had 4,400 bags to unload and sort out. Each box we unloaded had 25 bags, which we organized in numerical order and lined them up in long rows that went across an entire parking area. This took us a very long time, but thanks to the help of many awesome volunteers, we were able to open up the gear bag area for pick-up about an hour early. Athletes came to the barricade where we were "locked" in and showed us their number. We then went to retrieve that athlete's bags and brought them back to the athlete. We then had to ensure the athlete was taking the correct bag, and so we matched the number on the bags to that athlete's wristband they were given to wear for the race, which had their number on it. This ensured no one could steal the bags, some of which had valuable items, such as cell phones, wallets, and wetsuits. This is also why we were "locked" in the barricade, so that the athletes could not walk in and take their own bags.
Here's my overview of the inaugural Raleigh 70.3 Iron Man. First of all, it was a huge success. I have to thank anyone and everyone who helped out with the race, whether you were a volunteer, spectator, or athlete. I heard nothing but positive feedback coming from the athletes coming across the line, which is just the sweetest thing to hear coming from someone who just achieved a dream of finishing those grueling 70.3 miles. So a big thanks to everyone, and congratulations to all the athletes who completed the race!
Now, my mom and I love to contribute back to our sport, and so we do our best to volunteer our time and efforts at races whenever we can. So, early Sunday morning, we got up and headed out to the swim start, at Vista Point in Jordan Lake. Our jobs there was to hold up the swim start wave signs and corral the athletes under the Swim Start arch. This went very well and we got everyone in their waves quickly and didn't miss too many of them. Once my wave, wave 7, got through the arch, I watched them head off on the swim and then made my way to the swim exit, where the first pros were finishing the swim. Two guys did the swim in just over 25 minutes! That was crazy fast for 1.2 miles, and they had a huge lead on the rest of the pro field. With that excitement over, we headed down to the bike mount area. Here a volunteer captain instructed me and a friend who was volunteering with me that we had to tell spectators to keep off the road, because while spectating you get into the atmosphere a little too much sometimes, and you can somehow find yourself in the middle of the road, cheering on the athletes. So, for both spectator and athlete safety, we kept them on the grass off to the side of the road, where they can still see perfectly and cheer, just safer. I wish I had pictures to put up, but I didn't bring my camera until we got to T2. Sorry guys. It was a cool experience though.
What's weird is the effect that the heat has on tubes. As we were watching the bike mount line and the spectators, a man comes walking back to the mount line. His back tire is flat, and so he starts to change it off to the side of the bike mount line. He sits there changing his tube for a long time, so long that my mom runs to find an official to ask if I can help. She comes running back with a thumbs up, and so I sprint over to the man. I ask him what's wrong, and he says that he's changed his tube and gotten his tire back on, but he cant pump it up because his hand pump is too small. I take the pump from him and rapidly start to pump his tube, but the overall pressure does not go up. I stop for a moment, and it starts to deflate rapidly. "You've pinched your tube man, I've got to find another one; I'll be right back, you stay here." I ran off over to bike support and get some of my friends to run over to the bike mount with me with a large bike pump, and a few extra tubes. Now, I've changed a ton of tubes in my training experience, but I've never actually had to change another person's tube in a race. I get back to his wheel with the pump and tube, and grab some tire levers and get his tire off very quickly. I grab the tube out, and happen to glimpse a hole about 2 1/2 millimeters wide in the tube. Yeah, that was the problem. I unwrap the new tube and toss it into the wheel, then inflate it slightly. This made it easier for me to be able to get the tire over the rim and over the tube, with a little less chance of the tube pinching again. I work the tire over the wheel, and pump it up to 105psi. I throw his wheel back on his bike, lock the skewer in, and sent him on his way with a push. It was so crazy to have that happen, I had so much adrenaline from changing another racer's tire that I was dripping sweat when I returned to the bike mount line area. We actually had a bike tech mechanic come up to the line, and I assisted him through changing 5 more flats! People were flatting right across the bike mount line! I felt bad, but I was glad I could help their race continue.
Once the last cyclist made it across the line, we jumped in the car and headed out to T2. I was especially excited for T2, because this is the position where I was assigned an Iron Man captain, which is really just a position for people who have previous Iron Man volunteer experience, are enthusiastic about volunteering, and know how the race works. So I fit that bill, and was psyched for the experience.
So, my job at T2 gear bags was to unload the boxes of bags that were transported from Jordan Lake that morning all the way to where we were, downtown Raleigh. Athletes had a bag full of their morning clothes, which typically included warm-up clothes, like sweatpants, hoodies, and anything they took off prior to the start of their race. They also had a T1 bag which included their wetsuits, goggles, caps, and any nutrition the athletes took in T1. Now, this was no small task, due to the fact we had 4,400 bags to unload and sort out. Each box we unloaded had 25 bags, which we organized in numerical order and lined them up in long rows that went across an entire parking area. This took us a very long time, but thanks to the help of many awesome volunteers, we were able to open up the gear bag area for pick-up about an hour early. Athletes came to the barricade where we were "locked" in and showed us their number. We then went to retrieve that athlete's bags and brought them back to the athlete. We then had to ensure the athlete was taking the correct bag, and so we matched the number on the bags to that athlete's wristband they were given to wear for the race, which had their number on it. This ensured no one could steal the bags, some of which had valuable items, such as cell phones, wallets, and wetsuits. This is also why we were "locked" in the barricade, so that the athletes could not walk in and take their own bags.
Here is a picture of a matching pair of bags, the green bag being morning clothes for the athlete and the blue bag being the T1 bag for the athlete. We had to retrieve over 2,000 of each type of bag.
Here is a bigger picture of our T2 gear bags. This is actually pretty far into our shift, and this is a lot of bags still. In this picture alone who can see about 1,200 bags. There were more in the spaces where you can see the parking lot, and a lot more to the left of the picture.
So, as you can see, it was a big job, but our volunteers were awesome! We got it all done by about 5:30, and we already had the venue mostly taken down as well. The race went without a hitch, and everyone enjoyed it! Again, a HUGE thanks to everyone who made this race such a massive success!
These are all just good pictures of the fantastic, unique venue of the Raleigh Iron Man, the huge amount of medals for each of the over 2,000 participants, and what triathlon is really all about. The last picture is of a mother and daughter who finished the race together, and cried in each other's arms once they made it across the finish line, weeping with joy. This is really what racing is all about, to overcome the obstacles in your life and achieve your dreams.
So go out there guys-chase your dreams, and don't let the obstacles of life make you trip-all of us-any athlete who has done a triathlon or is thinking about doing one-are all incredibly strong people. So keep your head up, keep training, and chase that dream.
Happy training everyone. Thank you for making dreams like theirs come true.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Updates
Hey everybody!
How was your weekend? The inaugural Iron Man 70.3 Raleigh took place yesterday morning, and it was a massive success! More will come about my experiences volunteering there later on tonight, but as of right now, thank you to anyone who was affiliated with the race, whether you were a volunteer, a spectator, or an athlete, we couldn't have made such an amazing race without your help!
Now, without the excitement of the Iron Man, how was regular triathlete training? I like to interact with athletes from all levels just to get a good feel for how you train and what popular methods are, so please, comment on these posts and give me your opinions and feedback. This weekend for me was pretty normal, other than Iron Man action, with a speed run on the track and then a recovery run/bike skills Saturday morning. These days are always really rough for me, just due to my longer recovery time after speed work, and I always do my best to recover pretty hard. These days are commonly filled with chocolate milk, recovery bars and compression socks. Then add in anti-inflammatories, ice, and sleeping and you've got a pretty typical Saturday. I feel like these are solid recovery options and I'm hoping to perfect them over the next few months.
On Sunday I helped out literally ALL day at the Raleigh Iron Man and LOVED every second of it. We worked in the swim start in the early morning and got to see some of the pro athletes, then moved our way down into the bike mount line area. It was an amazing experience, I got to use the mechanic skills I have to change 5 flat tires at the bike mount line. That was crazy! People were flatting out before they got over their top tube! But I was really glad we could help out everybody who didn't have an extra tube and get them on with their race. After that last athlete rolled out of T1, we got in the cars and moved our way down to the T2/Finish Line area. I was a volunteer captain in charge of T2 Gear Bags, and what we did was unload the 2,300 bags the athletes used in the morning, for pre-race clothes and such, and then whatever they used in their T1, i.e. their wetsuits, goggles, caps, etc. This took about 3 hours before we could organize them all, and after we had got them organized, we had to walk up and down the aisles, retrieving the athletes bags for them. We did this until the race completely ended, and only ended up with a few bags and bikes left over. Afterwards, we took down the race area and then we finally headed home after a long day. I'll put up another blog shortly with pictures and more descriptions. But regardless, it was an amazing day, for athletes and volunteers alike! A huge thanks to whoever helped out.
These next few months are really exciting for me, mainly due to the fact that school ends for the summer this week. Everyone knows what that means-that's right, it's crunch time. Training volume is projected to shoot up, and more than likely double, due to me taking my own advice and enabling a strength program on the side of triathlon training. Does anyone here have good plans for the summer? I know with hotter days we'll all be able to get out and run, ride, and swim more but I know a few people will have some specific ideas. For example, later this summer, I'm taking my old road bike, strapping on some panniers, and I'll make the 120-mile ride down to Wilmington Beach and train/chill out down there. I'm super excited for it, and I know I'll be able to do key workouts down there.
So if you guys have any plans for the summer, let me know! It's great to get to know other triathletes in the area, that's my plan here, so please, comment on the posts.
Alright guys, that's the weekend update, thanks for reading!
Happy training!
How was your weekend? The inaugural Iron Man 70.3 Raleigh took place yesterday morning, and it was a massive success! More will come about my experiences volunteering there later on tonight, but as of right now, thank you to anyone who was affiliated with the race, whether you were a volunteer, a spectator, or an athlete, we couldn't have made such an amazing race without your help!
Now, without the excitement of the Iron Man, how was regular triathlete training? I like to interact with athletes from all levels just to get a good feel for how you train and what popular methods are, so please, comment on these posts and give me your opinions and feedback. This weekend for me was pretty normal, other than Iron Man action, with a speed run on the track and then a recovery run/bike skills Saturday morning. These days are always really rough for me, just due to my longer recovery time after speed work, and I always do my best to recover pretty hard. These days are commonly filled with chocolate milk, recovery bars and compression socks. Then add in anti-inflammatories, ice, and sleeping and you've got a pretty typical Saturday. I feel like these are solid recovery options and I'm hoping to perfect them over the next few months.
On Sunday I helped out literally ALL day at the Raleigh Iron Man and LOVED every second of it. We worked in the swim start in the early morning and got to see some of the pro athletes, then moved our way down into the bike mount line area. It was an amazing experience, I got to use the mechanic skills I have to change 5 flat tires at the bike mount line. That was crazy! People were flatting out before they got over their top tube! But I was really glad we could help out everybody who didn't have an extra tube and get them on with their race. After that last athlete rolled out of T1, we got in the cars and moved our way down to the T2/Finish Line area. I was a volunteer captain in charge of T2 Gear Bags, and what we did was unload the 2,300 bags the athletes used in the morning, for pre-race clothes and such, and then whatever they used in their T1, i.e. their wetsuits, goggles, caps, etc. This took about 3 hours before we could organize them all, and after we had got them organized, we had to walk up and down the aisles, retrieving the athletes bags for them. We did this until the race completely ended, and only ended up with a few bags and bikes left over. Afterwards, we took down the race area and then we finally headed home after a long day. I'll put up another blog shortly with pictures and more descriptions. But regardless, it was an amazing day, for athletes and volunteers alike! A huge thanks to whoever helped out.
These next few months are really exciting for me, mainly due to the fact that school ends for the summer this week. Everyone knows what that means-that's right, it's crunch time. Training volume is projected to shoot up, and more than likely double, due to me taking my own advice and enabling a strength program on the side of triathlon training. Does anyone here have good plans for the summer? I know with hotter days we'll all be able to get out and run, ride, and swim more but I know a few people will have some specific ideas. For example, later this summer, I'm taking my old road bike, strapping on some panniers, and I'll make the 120-mile ride down to Wilmington Beach and train/chill out down there. I'm super excited for it, and I know I'll be able to do key workouts down there.
So if you guys have any plans for the summer, let me know! It's great to get to know other triathletes in the area, that's my plan here, so please, comment on the posts.
Alright guys, that's the weekend update, thanks for reading!
Happy training!
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