Time To Put In Work

Today I begin training for 2012 and I’m looking forward to the new season. Since my last race September 25^th I’ve kept busy and really haven’t slowed down too much. I participated in the Flying Horse Half-Marathon in November and have maintained a consistent schedule of running, biking, and swimming workouts. While the workouts did the trick to keep me in “ok” shape, they didn’t have any real goals or targets, just something to do before I finalized the 2012 schedule. Now that I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do for 2012, I can start working out in earnest. My proposed 2012 schedule is:

2012 Race Schedule

Race Name	Date	Finishing Time	Field Size	Placement Division/Overall
Desert Classic Duathlon	02-25-2012
Mesilla Valley Tri	04-07-2012*	·          2012 Date has not been finalized.
US National Duathlon Championships	04-30-2012*	·         2012 Date has not been finalized.	“A” Race
Milkman Sprint	06-02-2012
70.3 Buffalo Springs	06-24-2012
70.3 Boulder	08-05-2012
Eagle in The Sun Sprint	09-04-2012*	·         2012 Date has not been finalized.
World Duathlon Championships	TBA	·         2012 Date has not been finalized.	“A” Race
SOMA 70.3	10-23-2012*	·         2012 Date has not been finalized.	“A” Race

Of course a great deal can change between now and when the season gets started. If I happen to make Team USA for the World Duathlon Championships it will certainly change my approach to how I end the season. I will be trying to focus on longer races this season and see how my mind and body react. Good luck to everyone over the winter break and let me know of any races you enjoy and maybe I can add them to the list J

Flying Horse Half Marathon

This past weekend I participated in the Flying Horse Half Marathon at Sunland Race Track. I had only done one other Half-Marathon before and it was the El Paso Half Marathon in 2010 and finished with a very blah 1:57.00. At the time I was pretty happy with that time, but hoped one day I could improve five or ten minutes. I didn’t know what to expect this weekend, but I actually did some run training for this one and didn’t just depend on my tri training so I was feeling pretty good about my chances of setting a new PR.

The race day weather conditions were perfect. The race was set to begin at 8:00 a.m. and it was nice and cool with light cloud cover, but no wind. For the past several weeks I had been training with Gretchen McElroy and we both went about our routine of stretching and warming up before the race got started. I was very thankful to have Gretchen there and hoped that I could stay with her for at least six miles and then just take it a mile at a time after that. The first mile of the race was on the actual horse race track and even though the race directors had the dirt compacted; it was still very soft and a little muddy. As the gun went off for the race to start, Gretchen set our pace and made sure I didn’t take off like a bat out of hell. After the first mile the rest of the race course was on flat pavement and made for a fast race. Gretchen had us running anywhere between 7:15 and 7:25 miles and for the first four or five miles I felt great, but I was ready for Gretchen to begin to slow down and settle us into a more comfortable pace. To my surprise 7:15-7:25 was our comfortable race pace and there would be no slowing down. Upon this discovery I knew I wouldn’t last for 13.1 miles but I was determined to stay with Gretchen for as long as I could.

We both had a chance for small talk throughout the race and it made the miles fly by. At mile 9 I told Gretchen that I was getting pretty fatigued, but she gave me some encouragement and we kept going. At last we could see the race track and knew we only had a couple more miles to go. Gretchen increased our pace and we made a strong push for the finish line. The last mile of the race was back on the soft dirt of the horse track and it really began to suck the energy from our legs. We managed to catch a couple more racers and finished the race as strong as we started. I couldn’t believe the pace we kept and I know if it was not for Gretchen I would have finished in a much slower time. Gretchen won her age group and I finished second in mine. I ended the race in 1:37 and set a new PR by 20 minutes over my last half marathon.

Besides racing with Gretchen it was great to see several area triathletes there. Scott Darling had a great race and won his age group. Misha from Las Cruces was also there and she won her age group as well. Michael Castaneda was participating in his first half marathon and did a great job.  Over all the El Paso Tri Club was well represented and made several strong showings.

So Now What?! :/

So now what? If you are new to the sport of triathlons, such as myself, you might be asking yourself what to do during the so called off season. I say the so called off season, because as many of you have found out, just not training or training very little is not really an option. Sure sitting next to a nice warm fire and sleeping in on the weekends feels nice, but sooner or later your body just can’t handle doing nothing. Plus, once you take considerable time off your body will hate you for it once you start training again. A fellow triathlete and coach, Francois Modave, has some great tips and advice on his blog that you should take a look at http://elpasotricoaching.wordpress.com/ .

So what am I doing this off-season? First and foremost I am determined to develop better swim technique and improve my times in the pool. Since I decided to commemorate my first 70.3 with a tattoo, I had to take some time off from the pool, but I’m back at it and working on several aspects of the swim. In sprint races my swim was never a big concern because the distance was so short that I didn’t give up too much time, but in the longer races (70.3) I was giving the strong swimmers a ten minute head start and that is just not acceptable.  I don’t expect to be first out of the water next season, but I hope to at least be able to see the leaders leaving the transition area as I get out of the water.

The second thing I’m focusing on is cadence. In all three disciplines cadence plays a role and I need to get better at maintaining a steady cadence and building up so that it will become faster and faster as my training increases. Just playing back the past season in my mind I can point to specific times when my bike cadence or my run cadence broke down and my pace started to slow. I want to improve on that and make sure I am steady all race long.

Finally, I’m using the off-season to layout my upcoming race schedule and plan my training schedule accordingly. I need to be peaking at the time of my “A” races and not getting to those races so fatigued. By doing long term planning, I can build in the right amount of taper for each race and not just taper because I’m exhausted.

In addition to training I will be doing a few half-marathons and 5k’s to keep the competitive juices flowing. I don’t have a triathlon on my schedule until March, but will do a few duathlons in February to get the season underway. I also promise to post more often and will have a few product reviews for next time.