2012

2012 is starting to shape up for races and training.  I had a major setback at the end of December while swimming. I was getting lazy with form (and something else), but ended up putting my SI joint out and causing severe pain for a week or so.  Because of this, I adjusted my 2012 schedule.

I'm also excited to be apart of the 2012 Eleonore Rocks Ambassador team.  The focus is to raise money and awareness for terminally ill children and their family.  While my wife was delivering our son Isaac, a family lost their child in the NICU.  I had to listen to the nurse make the call to report it...it was horrible.   Eleonore Rocks has done a great job and recruited a few big athletes like Andy Potts.

The big races for 2012 will be Rev 3 Quassy, Savageman, and a Rev3 adventure race.  I'll do a few sprints and a bunch of road races in between.

I'm still working on some updates to ErgDB, but am happy with where it's at.  I'm getting great feedback from users and it's fairly stable.  I'm just waiting for the masses to use it.

I've got another project I'm hoping to dig up from the grave.  I just need a UI, but it will take a twist on race results and social networking.

Winter training starts

Saturday was the last race of the 2011 season.  I finished 4th in a 5k with a time of 17:29.  I went out way too hard, but was happy with how it went.  I'm confident I can go sub 17 next year.

I will be doing a 13.1 in March, so I'm starting the Jack Daniels plan.  It's mostly 5 days of easy running and two days of quality workouts per week.  The quality workouts can be a long run, intervals, or tempo runs mixed with easy runs.

I started biking again...ouch...I don't even want to know what my FTP is :).  The plan is to do easy riding this month and start training hard again next month.

Psyched with the progress on ErgDB.  I'm close to launching the standalone mode for people who do not have a Erg trainer.  They will be able to download workouts and get a heads up display.  Next is "Google Earth Videos"  -which will show a route on google earth and synced up to a workout (can't control the device and google earth though).

Early 2011 Wrap Up

2011 is winding down, but it's been a great year.  I started my training for Chesapeakeman on 1/1/11.  The goal the whole year was to peak for that race, but I had some great races in between.  My running has finally taken off, and continuing to progress.  I wasn't happy with my bike progress, but recognized my weaknesses. Swimming was swimming...just did minimal work.

On Thanksgiving, I did the Turkey Trot at Millersville University, my alma mater.  There was a great group there with fast races.  I've been focusing on a 5k this weekend, so I started doing more run focus and some speedwork since November rolled around.  I finished in 17:39, on a course that was on par with the race against racism.  I ran mile 1 and mile 2 exactly the same (5:35), but backed off the last mile since I didn't have my inhaler.  I feel sub 17 is in reach next year.

I'm gonna start biking again next month.  I'm gonna take it easy for December, then start ramping it up in January.  I'm excited to try out some new training tools.  I may invest in a sufferfest video for my Saturday workouts, and the ErgDB tool I've been writing will open up workouts and GoldenCheetah is offering some killer features in the 3.0 builds (development).

I'm happy with how my season went.  Morgantown 70.3 turned out to be an absurdly hard race, but I'd love to go back and do it again (on a road bike).  The local sprints proved I've got some run speed, just need to work on the bike.  The 5k's showed me I've got a long way still to go.  Chesapeakeman proved my body can do the races, I just need to race and train within my abilities.

2012 is looking to be great.  Here are a few goals.

Sub 17 5k
Sub 30 5 miles
Sub 37 10k
~1:25 13.1
Qualify for Boston at Harrisburg Marathon

top 5 OA in local sprints
Get bike w/g to 3.5
Sub 4:40 70.3

I may do a run focus this year and see how the bike works out.  I'll be honest, I really wasn't happy with how things went last year on the bike, but a lot were due to fit, neck issues, and "over training".  I think if I step back and do a re-evaluation, I'll be fine.

ErgDB

Yesterday I launched ErgDB , a site to generate .erg and PowerAgent .xml workouts.  Workouts are entered by a FTP%, then users just put their FTP in and it's custom to them.

I've got another project I'm working on, but I plan on pitching it to a few companies rather then releasing it.

Getting over a sinus infection, so workouts are kidna on hold.  Hoping to do a few 5ks this winter and get my FTP up big time.

Back to the grind

It's been just over three weeks since Chesapeakeman, but I'm starting to feel better.  I've done a few sessions with a running coach, who's also a "Crossfit" guy and minimalist believer.

Surprisingly, he's had the most believable information.  He wasn't preaching 5 fingers, instead saying minimalist/barefoot is great for learning "perception" and better form.  This is what some of the top guys on slowtwitch are saying.  I got some great drills and feedback on form, so I'll be focusing on those and a few 5k's this winter.

Biking is slowly going.  I've got a better fit and have focused on working out the issues with my glutes to help stabalize and get rid of some nerve issues I've had.

Swimming is feeling better, I just need to focus on keeping the form for long sets.

2012 is right around the corner, and here are my lofty goals.  I'm going to introduce speedwork into my running and more power focus to increase my FTP on the bike.

5k - sub 17
5 miles  - sub 30 (haven't done a 5 miler in awhile
13.1 - sub 1:25
26.1 - BQ :)

local sprint races -AG wins or podium spot (will be tough)
sub 4:40 70.3

Race Report (pulled from slowtwitch)

I'd like to thank Kiwami and Xterra for supporting me this season. The Konami tri suit is hands down the best suit I've ever had. I raced all my races this year in it, from sprints to 140.6. My Xterra Vortex 3 was the first long sleeve suit I had, and I had 0 jelly fish stings :). Brian from PBN was a huge help dialing in my nutrition, it was a game changer for me. desertdude, rroof, barryp (running plan) and others from the forums answered questions about training/health/etc that kept me going.

Race day - I woke up feeling great. It had poured the day before and overnight, so I was worried about my bike. Got into transition and my powertap was DOA...so much for riding my target watts. Had issues getting my tires pumped, so I knew the bike was gonna be a long day.

Nutrition - Breakfast was a bagel with peanut butter, then a bottle of gatorade/carbo pro sipped before the swim. On the bike, I had EFS gel and EFS/carbo pro in the water bottle. Sipped/drank those every 15 minutes and chased with water. Was peeing clear the whole bike/run. On the run, I did a shot of EFS gel at every turn (4.4+ miles) and then gatorade/water at every aid station - switched to soda at the half way point.

Swim (1:11) - I lined up at the outside buoy and took it easy. I did the ST method for training and slacked off in July/August. Finished and felt pretty good.

T1 - hot sweaty mess in the changing tent. Didn't wait for my own bag, just grabbed it and got changed (slowely). Need to remember to remove the plastic from the gel flasks

Bike (6:20) - I planned on taking it fairly easy (150 watts), but had to go off RPE since my PT was dead. 10 miles in I'm slowing down and hear a "thud thud thud" at my front tire...yep, first flat. Got it changed and kept going. 5 minutes later, what do you know? Another flat...this time the vavle stem failed. Got going again and a minute later I hear the air bursting out of my front tire...got a pebble in it and it was slashed. I was ready to throw my bike and call it a day, but the SAG wagon wasn't too far away. Waited for them and got a new front tire installed. Who knows how long I lost (30+ minutes), but I just wanted to finish the race. Got to mile 56 and a friend of mine had flatted twice and was DNF'ing. Stopped to see if she needed help and then went off. Hit the special needs and my neck was killing me. I had to sit up and just take it easy the rest of the ride. I'd love to go to Elite and get a good fit from DG to work out my neck and hamstring issues, but can't budget it right now.

T2 - In and out. Someone gave me tums and it was a huge help.

Run (3:48) - Since I didn't push the bike hard, my legs felt amazing. It was a three lap course, and I did the first lap around 1:12. Second lap I was running with a guy in my AG and took it a little easier than I wanted to, but was fine with it. Hit the half way point at 1:48 Third lap, I was still feeling good, but decided to run/walk the aid stations. At mile 20, my hamstrings were getting ready to cramp up and I just didn't have the run base I wanted to. Hit the last turn around and ran into the one and only, Wongstar. She was all smiles during the run. Got to run and chat with her for a few miles (22-24) which was a huge help for the mental side.

Finished in 11:29 and was ecstatic. They even gave my son a call out :) at the finish.

Tri Columbia did a great job as always. I think I'll hold off doing another 140.6 until I can ride longer than 4 hours without having issues.

Year Report

Well, now I've had a few days to reflect about the race, here is my year report.  Just a warning, it will be long.

TRAINING
I started my training on 1/1/11.  I rode the Columbia course on my computrainer to see where my bike fitness was.  My plan was to do the Computrainer P.I.G training plan for 20 weeks to work into biking, then the BarryP 3-2-1 run trianing plan.

Jan/Feb went and I was making some progress.  I was increasing my running mileage gradually and feeling great.  Biking was going OK, but I was quickly realizing the Computrainer wasn't worth the money.  Some people love the ERG mode, but I'd rather push my own watts then rely on something forcing me to it.  The 3d software crashed, wigged out, etc.  The real course videos wouldn't register for a month, then Kona had issues and Lake Placid had some "phantom" crazy hard hills.  I was dissapointed because the majority of my training was going to be on the CT with Lauren pregnant.

RACE SEASON
Race season came in April, with my first sprint.  I had a bad bike fit (self inflicted) and an asthma attack on the bike.  I had to run/walk the run...I was not happy with that performance.  I realized that my bike wasn't even close to what I was hoping to be at.  I think I was in better shape the years before b/c I turned in the same time with better gear...oh well!

I did a local 5k race and finished a tough course in 17:40.  I started feeling more confident about my running.  I was still taking it "easy" on my runs compared to years before focusing on building base mileage.  I did a 66 mile ride outdoor with some friends that felt pretty good, but started to bonk b/c of nutrition.

May had more training and a fast 5k.  I ran 17:10 to get 2nd overall.  I felt great and was really happy with my run training.  My swim training had been going great too.  I was only swimming 1-2 times a week, but got up to 3k sets.

June I had a sprint and a 70.3 race.  Both I suffered from gearing issues on the bike.  I was riding 165mm compact cranks with a 12/27 cassette.  I was spinning out on hills and loosing time.  The sprint went well, with another solid run.  The 70.3 had a tough bike course.  I went out too hard and suffered, but had a good run to land me 1st in my AG.

July I started getting PTTD in my right ankle.  I had to back off my run training and decided to ride every day the tour did.  I enjoyed this a lot.  My long rides were on the trainer next to my mother-in-law's pool.  I did a few 3 and 4 hr rides where I jumped in the pool to cool off.  I did a sprint race and had a solid bike, but was still tired on the run.  I missed 3rd OA by 30 seconds.

August came along with Isaac.  We were new parents having no idea what was going on.  Work gave me 1.5 weeks off, which I took advantage off.  I got a 12 mile run, some biking, etc.  My training dropped off, but I focused on my running until the race.

Last month I did a few 2+ hr rides, but a 16 and 18 mile run.  My swimming dropped off, but I was fine with it.  This leads me to the race.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, as my bike training was well below my target.   I wanted to have 5 rides of 4 hrs of more and only got two.  I wanted to have 4 16+ miles runs and only had 2.  Oh well.

Check out my race report to see how I did.  I'm doing a 15k in December and maybe another 5k, but will start formulating my training/racing plan for next year.  Just waiting to hear back from a few companies about some opportunities.  The big focus may be a 4:30 70.3 and a BQ at Philly.

And this chapter ends...

I'll have a full report up soon.  I'd like to thank Xterra, Kiwami, and my family for the support this year.  The race was amazing.  I had a bunch of issues on the bike at the start, but still finished.  My marathon time of 3:48 was good for 13th overall, with a finish time of 11:29.

I've got a lot to work out on the bike until I try this distance again, but I think with the time and training, i can join the sub 10 club.

Taper Time

Well, it's time to start the taper.  This may be the last post before the big race.  Saturday, I tried to ride but the quad would have none of it.  On a whim, I decided to throw some KT tape on to see if the quad was a strain/tear.

Well, that seemed to do it.  I took Sunday off and Monday did a great 18 mile run.  Half was on the treadmill, then I got fed up with the humidity and decided to run in the rain...except it didn't rain.  I was able to keep a 7:45 pace for outside, taking it pretty easy.  The last three miles are tough because it was uphill, but I was feeling better.

My running is back to normal (somewhat).  I think I'm just burned out on the bike.  I still can't sustain high wattages, but that's fine.  I'm not going to be pushing hard for the race.

I wanna be like Rapp

In the 90's everyone wanted to be like Michael Jordan, aka Mike. For me, I wanna be like Jordan Rapp.

Everyone in triathlon knows his story.   He's lucky to be a live, lucky to be walking, lucky to be racing, lucky to have his family. While I wish my recovery was as fast as his, our paths are very similar. He's been a great inspiration, and this is why I wanna be like Rapp.

Rapp		Me
3/24/10 Crazy freak accident, he hit a car head that pulled out. Amazing to be alive.		10/24/06 Crazy freak accident, total double malfunction skydiving. Amazing to be alive.
Long road to recovery. Fractured scapula and clavicle, lost a few liters of blood and spent days in the ICU		Long road to recovery. Fractured neck, back and femur (that went undiagnosed for years).
Quentin Rapp - 6/21/11		Isaac Maffett 8/3/11 (pound it)
1st at IM Canada (1 year 5 months after his accident)		My 1st IM will be Chesapekeman - 9/24/11 (4 years 10 months after my accident)

DOA

My left quad is DOA...haven't had a solid workout since last weekend. Getting concerned about my training and race. I've got a massage scheduled for Monday, hoping that he can work out anything going on.

Looks like my final weekends will be the following.

Sept 3 - 80-100 mile ride
Sept 4 - swim/recovery
Sept 5 - 18 mile run

Sept 10 - 60-80 mile hard ride
Sept 11- 16 mile run

Sept 17 - 40 mile ride at IM effort
Sept 18 - 10 mile run

Test race - 70.3

Saturday, a few of us doing Chesapeakeman decided to do a 70.3 locally to get a good workout in, and see how our fitness was. The course was a 1.2 mile pool swim, 56 mile bike (tough) and a two lap 13.1 mile run. We were basing T2/run out of my house, so we had everything setup for transitions, water, food, etc.

We got to the pool and it was packed, but the masters group let us take a lane. We took off and I felt well. My tri shorts were a little loose, so pushing off the wall was tough. From 1300 yards to 1700 yards I took it a little easy, but came in just over 32 minutes. Joe came in a 50 behind me and Angela was a 100 back.

I waited for them and then we all changed and took off for the bike. The route was hilly for 13 miles, then a rolling 30 mile out/back section and a repeat of the 13 mile hills. I wanted to hold 200 watts, but realized my gearing wasn't gonna let me hit my watts downhill. I focused on keeping my watts down on the uphills and quickly found out I was going to be in a better situation for the ride. My pace out on the first 13 mile section was about .5-.7 miles slower, but I felt great.

The 30 mile loop felt perfect. I was able to keep my target watts most of the time, focused on nutrition and feeling good. I averaged 20.5 mph with no aero gear/slow setup. I did this ride last year and hit the turn back home (13 miles to go) and felt horrible. This year was different, I knew I could keep it going. I was at a 19.9 average and felt I was at my 3/4 IM pace...not as hard as my half, but not as easy as a full.

The last 13 miles are tough coming back, but I made it. My tri shorts were chaffing bad, so I just wanted to get out. The sun was coming out and it was getting hotter, and I hit about every light possible.

Hit the house and changed into running gear. I was feeling good when I started the run, but hit about every light in the city losing a good minute. I felt like I was at 80%, but the heat was getting to me. I hit the 3.25 turn around just over 23 minutes and was a little concerned I was going too hard. By now, I was starting to overheat and was pouring all the water I had over me. The way back, I did a run/walk and came in at 50 minutes for the first lap. At that point, I decided to go hit the shower and cool off instead.

Joe and Angela finished the run and called it a day. I felt great and put my compression gear on.

Sunday, my dad and I did the covered bridge metric century ride. I wanted to take it easy, but since I was feeling good threw in some hard efforts. I took some pulls, attacked some hills, and had to do a chase for 1 minute to catch people who turned off (500+ watts :) ).

Yesterday I was coming down with something, but it feels like it was gone. Starting to catch up on my sleep and hoping to get back into 2 a day workouts for the last push. Feeling good about the race, just hoping that the weather cooperates.

Training half

Most training plans call for a 70.3 4-6 weeks out from an Ironman. In a perfect world, that works out great, but finding one scheduled, getting time off, the costs aren't always there. A few of us doing Chesapeakeman have decided to do a mock half tomorrow. We'll do a 1.2 mile pool swim, then hit the roads for the bike and run.

I did a hard effort on the bike course last year before Timberman, so it will be interesting to see any differences. I've got "slower" gear setup for training, but am hoping to come in with the same time on a lot less effort. Depending on how the bike goes, I may try to push it a little on the run. The run course has some nice rollers/hills, but should have some shade.

Sunday, I'm doing the Covered Bridge metric century as a recovery spin day. Will be nice to get two solid days in the saddle, then it's the final push!

Test Run

I like to do a few key workouts before races to see where my fitness is. Last year, I did a 13.5 mile run before Timberman, finishing just around 8:00 miles. I felt good and knew I'd have a decent time for the run. I ended up running 1:39 because of some great weather.

Today I wanted to do a 16 mile run to see how my legs felt. My longest runs have only been up to 13.1 miles, but a ton in the 11-12 range. After each of those runs, I felt like I had a bunch in the tank.

I decided to do a 4 mile loop near my house x 4. It's a modified 5k course, that has a killer hill finish. I started off feeling sluggish, but turned in a 7:17 first mile. Just kept my head down and finished the first loop in 28:55.

Second loop I needed to hit the porta potty around mile 2. Between that and traffic stops, I lost about a minute+. I finished the lap at 31:20 on the clock, but took it easy worried I'd blow up after the first lap.

Third lap was pretty good. Kept my head down and finished in 29:30.

Fourth lap I wanted to turn in the fastest split...I started off hard, but got past my house (.1 miles) and had to take another pit stop. I didn't get out of the house until 2:27 on the clock (dog, water bottle swap, etc). Add in some more traffic stops and I lost 2 minutes. I pushed the pace from the start and kept it up. I made sure I didn't back off too much, but wanted it to feel comfortable. The last mile is all up hill, so I kept the pressure up. Finished that lap at 30:37 (28:37 without the stops) for a total clock time of 2:00:22 (or 1:57 modified).

I know "rests" do help, but I don't' think I gained any time/speed from them. The only thing I got was less chafing from my fuel belt by getting rid of bottles for the last lap.

Happy to see where my run is going. Tomorrow I'm gonna do some hard intervals and get an idea of speed/power on a flat course.

and we're home!

Isaac Dillon. Born 8/3/11 - 20.25" and 7 lbs 11 ounces. He's doing great and so is mom. It was a busy few days, but now to try to get in some training again!

Work is amazing, allowing me to take the week off. I'll get some work done in the evening but I'm hoping to get some good SBR workouts in (1-2 hrs max) each day.

Panic time

Well, panic is setting in all around. I'm trying to wrap up a major project at work, haven't' been able to run in weeks, and Lauren is due soon. I finally found a great PT who is a runner, and he seems to have identified my issues. I also got a new pair of training shoes, and racing shoes (k-swiss kwickie blade lite).

I got lazy with my form, stretching and antagonist muscle strengthening. This is usually the root of most injuries, but I caught mine early enough. I did two miles today on the treadmill with no issues. I'm gonna try to do a longish run on Sunday to see how it holds up and go from there.

I've been biking almost every day, and am seeing huge gains. I'll continue this when my running kicks back up, building a better base for the race. I'm gonna do a fake half in August, and re-evaluate from there.

Harrisburg race report

The Harrisburg sprint tri was the second course (3rd race) I ever did. The first time I did it, I had just gotten my cervelo and was ready to see how I could race. I was having knee problems, but had a few months of training. I went 1:23 and was happy, but had a slow bike.

Because of vacation and injuries, this was the first time I'd be able to race it since 2008. My only speedwork sessions this year have been races, but my speed has been great. I had an idea of what I wanted to do on the swim, bike and run. There was almost no current, but we were able to wear wetsuits. I finished 7th overall and 3rd in my ag. 3rd - 7th were separated by 30 seconds.

Swim: 14:29 (.6 miles) - my Xterra Vortex 3 was great. People complained of the heat, but I was fine. I lined up too close to the bouy though, and lost about :30 trying to keep a good line. I was happy with my time and position though.

T1: 1:20 - ok...need to practice removing the wetsuit. Since I wear socks and calf sleeves, it's slower...but ok with me

Bike: 35:43 (14 miles) - I was really happy with my time. I felt in control for most of it, and only had one "traffic" issue where I lost some time due to a cop car..oh well. I didn't push it too hard and still had some in the tank.

T2: :33 - fast as usual. Easy in and out.

Run: 17:06 (2.8 miles) - I'm happy with my run, but felt I could have done better. I didn't feel great at the start, but was still doing 6 minute miles. The 3rd place guy was about 10 seconds behind me at the start of the run, I just couldn't hang on (he outran me by 40 seconds).

I'm really happy with how the whole race went. I'm excited to do it next year, since I feel I can take off 3 minutes between all events. I know I have a lot more improvement I can do on the bike and run with some more interval work.

That about wraps up my race season. I've got the big race left, and am psyched with how well this year has gone. I'm keeping a positive thought on staying healthy and carrying this into next year.

I will survive...

So the bike course turned out to be rougher than I expected. The top pro went just under 2:50, and few broke 3:00. My first lap was great, at 1:35 and I felt I could have turned in a 1:40...but my hip flexors and hamstrings started acting up quick on the first lap. I lost my gel at mile 12 and there was only one aid station, so I knew it'd be a long day.

The swim went pretty well. My googles were fogged from the start and I forgot to start my watch. It was a TT start with two people going at a time, so I didn't have feet to hop on. I took the first lap easy. Second lap, I stopped and cleared my googles but found I was a good 20 yards off course. I hit the second bouy and decided to bridge to a group. I felt great and made it about half way, making me feel much better for the 2.4 mile swim. My Xterra Vortex 3 was great. I was a little concerned that the size may be too big, but I have issues with tight wetsuits. I had no problems with water getting in and floated to a 33:00 swim to the dock.

Back to the bike...it was awful. I spent way too much time in my 34/27, or bombing hills trying to stretch. I kept expecting to see the elites/pro flying in the other direction, but they weren't gaining too much time. The second lap was miserable, and I really wanted to DNF, but just chugged along. I got into T2 and ran the first mile with the winner, but took it a little too fast (6:30). I hit a bathroom at mile 2, then just relaxed and settled in. I did negative split the second half, and passed a handful of people. I finished under 5:45, which was killer since the pro went 4:47 and an elite went 4:59.

I knew I did decent, since three in my AG were elites and I didn't see anyone pass me. My dad and I waited around for a few hours for results, but they were running into issues. They were posting "results" that were not official, and a few people were claiming first place awards who weren't even near the top...oh well!

Taking it in stride

I've got a 70.3 this weekend in Morgantown, WV. I was kinda psyched for the race a few months ago, but now am just viewing it as a good training day. I wanted to do a 70+ mile ride last Saturday, but seven miles in I slashed my rear tire and messed up my rim. Lauren picked me up, then I went home and did a solid 2 hr effort on the CT/eagleman course with a brick 1 mile run after (6:40 pace).

I had no motivation this week, so I just took it easy. My body is ready for the rest after the race, I seem to do well taking some time off during training. Last year, I had about 8 days off with my trip to the UK, and came back with a solid final month of training.

The course for Morgantown has changed again. There is now over 3,200 feet of climbing...it will be killer but good. If I can even get under 5:10, I'll be psyched. I'm excited to see how my run turns out. I did a 7.8 mile tempo run through killer hills last Sunday at a 7 minute mile pace and felt good.

Crunch Time

Even though the race is 3 months out, it's getting to crunch time for me. We've got about 7 weeks till the little guy will make his first appearance. Basing off that, I'll have about 7-10 weekends to get long workouts in. Should be interesting and I foresee a ton of computrainer workouts, but I'm psyched.

RD emailed about the Morgantown half - they had to change the bike course. Oh Well, better finding out now versus race day.