Triathlon – Running with Neal

Half Marathons and Spartans

October 31, 2018 runningwithnealLeave a comment

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SO, Its been awhile. A LOT has happened since the beginning of August. I’ll do a quick recap.

The last of the AZ Sunrise series. Foothills Park, Glendale.

This was basically my home turf. The race start line was 3 mile from home. Since I was scheduled for a 6 mile run that day I decided, along with coach V, to run to the race location and she would meet me there to drive me to breakfast. Along the way I ran into a group of fellow embrace your pace runners and stayed with them for a little bit. about a mile longer than I should have and barely made it to my race in time. The time wasn’t great 32:14 but given that I ran 4 miles before the 5K I don’t think it was too bad.

Next up was the Anthem Sprint Triathlon.

As most of you may recall my last attempt at a tri did not go well up in flagstaff. I was also dealing with a calf problem that was becoming worse. Needless to say I was pretty nervous. I jokingly told people that I would be happy if I was under 2 hours. I was doing pretty well on the 5K run until about mile 2 then my calf started to act up and forced me to walk for awhile.

The bike was miserable. I do not know how to maintain speed going up hills. and as many others noted I look extremely uncomfortable on a bike. And that is because I am. I need more practice at it. I find it difficult to motivate myself to bike when I dislike it so much and would rather be running.

The swim. This is what nearly took me out last time. This was a little easier since it was in a pool. I was told that I have pretty good form but I need to quit stopping everytime I get to the end of the pool.

Remember I said I would be happy if I got under 2 hours. I finished in 1:59:59! I couldn’t have gotten closer to 2 hours if I tried. And in the interest of full disclosure Coach V finished in 1:51. So, yeah, I have some work to do on triathlons.

South Mountain 20K

The next race was suppose to be the south mountain 20K. However, there was a little rain that morning and it was a little chilly, by Arizona standards. So, they canceled it. Still a little annoyed but they where really nice and apologetic about it.

Craft Classic Half

Since I was all ready to do a race I found a half marathon the next weekend over in the Fountain Hills area. Turned out to be a really nice run. Since I was just using it as a training run for the full I didn’t feel a lot of pressure and was able to enjoy the scenery a little. the morning was overcast and cool, which was perfect. The downside was that the course was WAY hillier than I expected. I went in with what I thought was a fairly obtainable goal of 2:30. That was before I saw the hills. The nice thing about hills is that after you go up you generally get to come down. I LOVE downhill running. Having been a sprinter I am pretty good at turning my legs over quickly and can charge a downhill. During training runs I try to charge the uphills and go easy to walking the downhills. Its my own form of hill training. Although, I should do more to seek out some hills to train on. But that will become evident later.

Still the run felt really good. I did a good job of keeping myself fueled during the run and had a good little kick at the end. I’ve discovered a gel that doesn’t upset my stomach. Hammer Gel. so far I’ve done well with all the flavors I’ve tried and am a big fan of the espresso, but I do have a bit of a coffee problem. My time was 2:29:55. So, I bet my 2:30 goal.

Spartan Beast

I’m starting to really enjoy these kinds of runs. Yes, I view them as runs not races. I do them to help break up the monotony of running on the road. The comradery of the people who run them. The challenge of the obstacles. The inevitable hill work. But not as much for time. But I still like to do my best. So nearly 7 hours to go 13.1 miles even with the obsticals. That was some of the most brutal terrain that I’ve ever faced. I don’t wear my Garmin on these kinds of races so I’m not sure what the elevation change was but I’m guessing it was a lot.

It was also a TON of fun. I only failed 2 challenges. The twister and the rope climb. Someday I’ll figure out that darn rope. I could do it in high school but I’ve completely forgotten since then. This was the most prepared that I’ve been for one of these types of races and that was due in no small part to the coaches at El Jefe where I’ve been weight lifting for the past several months.

I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know the weightlifting group and feel much stronger than I have since I was helping on my families farms. So a big thank to coach Jett and coach Vinny for their patience in teaching me how to lift properly.

This also was the last race that I needed for the coveted Spartan Trifecta. Which means that I’ve completed a Sprint, Super, and Beast in one calendar year. I’m actually pretty proud of it.

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That catches everyone up on the racing that I’ve been doing to past couple of months. Of course I’ve been going on training runs although I’m not sticking to the schedule as well as I should. Hopefully here in the last 6 weeks of training I can get back to more regular running. My work schedule changed a little and I can’t make the morning group runs anymore. This has really bummed me out and demotivated me a little. The Spartan did a lot to get my resolve back.

Last weekend I went on a “short” 8 mile run. Honestly, it did feel kinda short. Although I could feel my knees for most of the run and toward the end my right knee. I’ve actually been having some pain just walking this week. But Monday evening I went on a short run with coach V in anticipation of her Olympic Tri next weekend and my knee felt fine. There is a close to .5 mile loop in my neighborhood that we ran. I did 5 laps and coach V did 4. I did 2 “speed laps” in the middle. Ran an 8:20 mile and that included 2 stops to look for coach V. I topped out 5:10 min mile and actually held that for a little bit according to the Garmin. So I still have some speed in there somewhere.

And now for some random pictures from the past few months of training!

Couple of shorter training runs this week and next weekend is the first of 2 serious distance training runs. The 18 mile run! should be interesting.

I have a lot of other things to talk about but this is already getting kinda long so I’ll save them for another time.

Until then…C-ya!

Failure and Training

July 23, 2018 runningwithnealLeave a comment

I haven’t written in awhile because I was dreading having to admit this to everyone. I mentioned in the last post that I was the swimmer on a triathlon relay team.

Mountain Man

It didn’t go well. Let me start at the beginning.

The morning started well. I maybe a little more nervous than I normally am before a race, but as I usually am quick to tell people. Nervous is good. Nervous means that you care. Nervous can help us focus and perform better. I am more concerned when I’m not nervous going into things.

We left Coach V’s grandmother’s place in Flagstaff and went to Upper Lake Mary. we got to the staging area. Got Coach V’s bike squared away, found Andrea, the runner, and got our timing chip.

The traditional method for a tri is swim, bike, and finally run. So, I was up first. I got into the wetsuit. I was told I needed due to the water temperature and it would give me some extra bouncy. Surprisingly it wasn’t to bad to get on. I noticed right away that it was pretty tight to my neck but dismissed it as just the way these things are.

I walked to the start area with the whole Embrace Your Pace gang that came up for the event and waited for the relay start.

When it was our turn I got in the water. submerged myself and thought this isn’t so bad. water temp was mid to upper 60s and I was able to get off to one side so it wasn’t as crowded. A horn was blown and we where off.

I started off in with a freestyle stroke breathing on the third stroke until I ran into someone. That wasn’t a big deal. I put my head up, looked around and switched to my back more floating than swimming at that point. But I was fine and actually thought it was kind of relaxing.

I flipped back over to swim for a little bit again and that’s when the trouble started. On one of my breaths I took in some water and choked a little. My lungs upon receiving the unexpected water decided. “Nope, we are going to freak out and start an asthma attack immediately.”

Between the asthma attack, the wetsuit at my neck, and the thin air at 7000 ft I panicked. Suddenly I couldn’t keep my head above the water, or at least that’s how it felt. I seriously wasn’t sure I was going to make it out of that lake at point. But one of the race volunteers in a kayak noticed my struggling and came over to let me grab ahold of the kayak and rest.

The asthma attack wasn’t letting up and without my inhaler with me I was afraid that continuing would be a bad idea, so I asked to get pulled out by the boat. My race day was over. I made it maybe 50 meters of the 750 meter swim. Once on the boat I was able to get my breathing under control even before we got back to shore. The folks on the boat where very understanding and supportive and I am grateful that they where there.. They had to take my chip so officially my team was no longer competing but they did tell me that the rest of the team should still do there events.

I was, and to an extent still am, extremely mad at myself. I’ve NEVER not finished a race before. Even when my back gave out at the beginning of a 200M dash in high school I got back up and finished the race, before passing out briefly from the pain. And not only did I fail and not finish but I let the rest of my team down. They where counting on me to do my part and I didn’t. And its completely my fault. I hadn’t swam seriously since high school, I’d never swan in open water, I wasn’t ready for the altitude, I hadn’t worn a wetsuit before, and I blew off training thinking that athleticism could carry me through. My arrogance cost my team an official finish in the race and nearly cost me even more.

I’m still upset and a little pissed at myself. But for me it seems to have come with some new determination. Coach V and I are signing up at a pool so that I can start swimming laps and get used to being in the water. I’m signed up for a reverse tri at the end of August. Which means that the swim is last and its only 400M in a pool. I’m looking into a couple of Tri sprints this fall. A sprint basically means all the distances are shorter. The only issue there is that I need to make sure it fits in with the marathon training.

The rest of the weekend in Flagstaff was really fun. Went on a couple of hikes, both of which where cut short by rain. And it was really fun seeing everyone up there and cheering the others on during the bike and run.

OK, enough about that. Rio Run 7-17

I’ve been taking training easy the past several weeks knowing that marathon training is coming. But I’ve still been trying to make the Tuesday and Thursday morning group runs. I got my donut key chain, which means that I made 4 weeks in a row. 20180712_072538

I ran my 5th in the AZ Sunrise series this past Saturday. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I hoped. I started having a lot of calf pain and then knee pain during the second mile and had to walk. Every time I would test out running and get back to full stride the pain started again. I ended running the 3.1 miles in 30:03 which is a 9:41 minute per mile pace. Not horrible but no where near the 25 minute 5K I did in Seattle a few weeks ago.

AZ Gilbert

Once I got home and took my shoe off my fourth toe on my right foot was extremely sore and very painful if it got touched. On further inspection I found a good sized blister had formed UNDER the toe nail. I felt relief almost the instant I popped it and now its fine. So, I’m blaming that for the issues on the run Saturday. That being said Coach V, and I agree, that I should get my calf looked at. Its been causing problems off and on all summer.

Last Friday we started going to a cross fit gym, EL JEFE. Coach V prefers that sort of thing to running and I really need to work on my upper body strength. Other than the class being at 5 am it was fun in that hard work kind of way. They also on staff have a running coach and a in house physical therapist. So, I’ll probably be talking to them soon.

This morning I went on a bike ride with Coach V. Its been well documented that I am not a biker. However, my friend Stephen loaned me a bike and after looking at the seat on it vs the seat on mine I came up with a theory. My seat SUCKED! so I switched them.

I wouldn’t say that I loved biking this morning but it wasn’t too bad. a good seat can make a huge difference, apparently. Who knew?!

Finished

So, that basically catches everyone up. The bike was day one of marathon training. I’ll post the whole plan later since this is getting a little long already.

Next up is an “easy” 40 minute run tomorrow. Until then…C-YA!

Virtual races and Spartans

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018 runningwithneal1 Comment

Wow, so its been a little busy here. Lots to recap so I’ll just get to it.

I have now done 2 virtual runs in the AZ Sunrise series. The first one I did during the 4 mile Arrowhead Loop Run on Thursday morning. It was a pretty good run. finished in 27:22 which is a 8:47 pace. It really helps to have people that you run with on a regular basis to help pace. I pushed pretty hard to stay with the lead group for as long as I could.

A couple weeks later we took a short trip to Seattle. So, with I was up in the cooler weather I did another 5K for the July 7th AZ Sunrise run since I was going to be running a Spartan that day.

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Running in Seattle was great. Thanks to Coach V’s years up there she knew some good places to run. She took me to a trail That was a out and back run with only 1 turn that I had to pay attention for. I’m calling it a trail because it was heavy wooded with REALLY tall trees but it was paved so no risk of tripping on roots and rocks. Even though I did it in the afternoon it was beautiful weather for running. Sunny, warm but not what a guy from Arizona or Indiana would call hot. I pushed really hard on this one and was rewarded with a 25:46 finish. Average pace was 8:17 and the first mile was 7:14. I haven’t had a mile split that fast since high school. I looked up where that would have put me if I had ran that in the actual race. I would have been 4th in my age group. I’m pretty excited by that and am very curious to see what will happened in a week and a half at the next one.

On to the Spartan. I ran a Spartan Super back in February. A super is around 8 miles with around 25 obstacles\challenges. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. While on the road and trails I’m pretty competitive and have very specific goals that I’m pushing myself to meet I view these kind of runs as just screwing around. I’m just out there to have some fun. The Tough Mudders have more that feel to me. While I do take it seriously, I’m not worried about finishing times and have the most fun when I’m helping others on the course.

Spartan is a little different. Almost everyone I talked with there was taking it very seriously. I was criticized for drinking coffee before the race because “the caffeine will make you muscles need more oxygen while your running”. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. I’ll need to look into sometime. But, frankly who cares. I know a lot of runners that have a serious coffee problem.

Des Linden in an interview I think with Runner’s World talks about getting a bag of coffee beans to take home from everywhere she goes on vacations. And she won the Boston Marathons during the worst weather conditions in recent memory. She, along with her Husband and another couple run a coffee company, Linden & True Coffee. (https://www.coffeebylt.com/)

Ok, I’ve gone on rants about coffee before so I’ll stop now.

I need a refill anyway.

Anywho…..

This was a Spartan Stadium Sprint which means that it was basically a 5K with 23 obstacles. I had a blast! one 2 obstacles that gave me issues. I can’t climb a rope. I used to be able to but I’ve forgotten how to do it somewhere along the way. and the “multi-rig” which is just swinging from rings suspended by straps. The only issue I had is that the rings where so close to the ground that I could reach them while standing on the ground. So, every time that I swung between rings my feet dragged across the floor.

It took me 1:13:45 to complete. I could have gone a lot faster but since we where winding around the University of Phoenix Stadium I couldn’t tell how far it was between each obstacle or how much more I had left in the run. So, I keep to a moderate jog to conserve my strength. Next time I’ll push harder.

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And riding that kind of euphoric, that was pretty easy, feeling I signed up for a Spartan Beast in October. That will give me an extra “Trifecta” medal.

Yes, I know, I have a running for the bling problem.

Tomorrow I will run my 4th Arrowhead Loop in 4 weeks. which means that I get a doughnut keychain. I’m really excited about this.

This weekend should be interesting. I’m on a triathlon team as the swimmer. I haven’t swam seriously since I was in high school and would swim practices with the girls swim team. And I’ve never swam like this in open water. Or worn a wetsuit.

I had a chance at the beginning of the week to go on an open water swim but I got the time wrong. I was told they where meeting at 4:30. I assumed PM, they meant AM. Opps! I’m hoping tomorrow night to go get some laps in at a nearby pool just to see if I remember how to swim.

I haven’t been very good at all with training runs. As I mentioned I’ve been going to the Thursday morning Arrowhead Loop Runs. I also did a workout with Coach V’s trainer in Seattle, Chris Reilly. Great workout but it kicked my butt.

I think that after the fairly intense training that I did for the half I needed the break. Marathon training starts on July 23 and I’ve got a pretty aggressive schedule set up for that.

And now to finish watching England and Croatia! Until next time C-YA!

Camping and Triathlons

June 20, 2018 runningwithnealLeave a comment

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Time has a tendency to get away from us when we don’t pay attention. Its been a very busy couple of weeks and I have not been the best at sticking to my training plan.

Basically, I haven’t gotten to the plan I wrote about last time at all. But I still managed some runs.

I’ve got in 6 runs over the past two weeks including the second in the AZ Sunrise Series. Several hikes and a short trail run.

We all (Coach V, James, Amelia and I) did a short run for national running day. and then shared some Italian Ice afterward. It was a fun little run sponsored by Tortoise and Hare. They had 2 options, a one mile and a three mile out and back. Since we had the kids with us we just did the 1 mile. It was interesting seeing the different techniques the kids came up with for tackling the distance. James runs intervals. He would go about as fast as he could for a short distance then walk for a little bit. Then repeat the process again. In contrast, Amelia ran slower but didn’t stop, save for a couple of little breaks for water. Amelia also started the quiet determined chant of “we can do it” with about a quarter mile left. They ended up finishing together and neither have had any coaching which made it interesting to watch.

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The second AZ Sunrise Series race was at the Scottsdale Sports Complex. I was actually a little disappointed with my performance. It was a little slower than the race 2 weeks before by about a minute. 29:30 for the 5K. The main issue that I had was when I stopped at the first water station I choked on the water. Which flared up my asthma and my lungs never did recover. I was also not in the greatest place in my head for racing. Nothing bad just a lot going on and my head was in other places. We were getting ready for a camping trip the coming Monday and my daughter was in town so I was thinking about other things.

I also have been drinking a pre-workout drink, C-4, before the races and I think I’m going to stop doing that. Since I don’t train with it I’m not sure its a great idea. Mostly, I was drinking it because of the caffeine content and easier to drink quickly before the race instead of coffee.

Also, its getting hotter here and I think that its time to switch my race shirt to the sleeveless or tank top.

During the camping trip I went on several hikes with the whole crew. Including a 2.5 mile hike. That I went on a one mile trail run in the middle of. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of distance, BUT, coach V and I had two 3 year-olds and a 5 year-old with us. That’s a pretty good distance for those little legs. But they were troopers and did it. Unfortunately, it was discovered that a camera was left on the trail when we took a small break. So, I ran back about .3 miles to get it and then turned around and ran to catch up. Overall it took me 14:28 to run a mile over some incredibly rough terrain.

Overall very good trip. I wish I could have gotten in a couple of early morning runs but that my fault for not getting up.

For Father’s Day my daughter got me some cool clip on reflector lights for when I run in the dark, some Gatorade chews (daddy candy), and a book on using my stick roller and trigger point ball. She also got me some gear to help when I use my smoker. I used the clips like night and they are very cool.

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And Coach V came with me! I always enjoy when she comes with. It was a slow run but we mostly were analyzing form and establishing a baseline for where she is running.

Tonight we are going to a Good Form running clinic at Tortoise and Hare. I’ll be really interested in what they have to save both for myself and Coach V.

We discussed a very rough training plan to get her going with running again. She is mostly a biker. And as she puts it “Really Hates Running”.

The main reason for her needing to get up to speed as it where is that we are both doing a sprint triathlon in August. It also means that I need to start biking more. Which means I need a better bike. I may have a lead on one I can borrow for a little bit before I buy one.

We are also two-thirds of a relay team for a tri in July. Coach V will be handling the biking duties and I’m going to take on the swimming. I really need to get in a pool and see if I still remember how to swim. I was a really strong swimmer back in high school and I know most of the mechanics of good swim form from my time as the manager of the girls swim team in high school. I’m not overly worried about it but a little practice would be a good thing.

This weekend is the third in the AZ Sunrise series and, unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there. So, I’m taking their virtual option. I plan on doing that tomorrow morning during the Thursday morning Arrowhead Loop Group run. Still trying to decide if I’m going to run in the kilt for that or not.

Hopefully after this weekend my life calms down a little and I can get back to a more normal running schedule. I’ve been lacking motivation a little recently and hope that its just because its been so busy.

Until next time…C-YA!