numbahs
looks like i get to start with the pros - that makes it easy to know where to seed myself hehe - sure as hell not in the front of the pack!
i guess for the race they have the fastest people starting with all the women (not too many of us) and the oldest men at the a** crack of dawn - 6:20 am - then the general starting time is at 6:55 and every 5 minutes after that - jorge goes on the third wave at 7:05 and daniel goes on the 4th wave at 7:10 - i guess it will be pretty cool since i'll see them on the bike course...passing me, that is!
our numbers:
1490 daniel
964 jorge
191 pam
for the race website
click herehopefully i'll be able to get online once more before the race - otherwise, see you on the other side!
hallo aus deutschland
we are finally getting acclimated to both the german language and the time difference. not that my german is any good on the best of days, i finally feel like i can get around, order things, ask questions, etc... regardless, we always have the phrase book and german dictionary very handy.
as for the training, we went out on sunday for a 2 hour ride outside of augsburg through very beautiful country side. the only thing is, it's been very warm. around 90 degrees daily and we were looking for a starbucks (j/k!) or really any store where we could get something nice and cold, but none were to be found. unfortunately with our american ways, we are so used to most stores being open at all times. so, we made it back. a little dehydrated, but good. caught germany opening a can of whoop ass on sweden in the round of 16. it was pretty funny, whenever germany scored you would hear yells coming from the neighboring houses. they love their soccer.
yesterday we had a rest day and we took the train to munich for a little sightseeing, but mostly shopping. saw all the italians visiting germany going nuts as australian got robbed on an invisible penalty in the last minute of the game. the italians were driving around honking horns, waiving their flags and very excited.
anyway, it's tuesday morning and we are about to head off for a little bike ride followed by a short run.
until next time,
dL
greetings from augsburg
so we made it in one piece (and so did our bikes!) - the flight from amsterdam was short and sweet with a bunch of heavily-tattooed english soccer fans (my friend - you know who you are - would have loved the flight hehe) - anywho, we got to the munich airport and daniel's bro, gerhard, was waiting for us - thankfully he had a minivan where our bike boxes and luggage fit nicely
we drove (about 40 minutes) to augsburg, where we's be staying until thursday. daniel was very psyched to have taken our turbo 6-speed vw golf plus rental car on the autobahn since we were hitting speeds of 140-160kph - the further out you are from a big city, they have "no speed limit" signs where you can go as fast as you want. the only thing is when there is an accident here, it's usually pretty bad.
anyways, augsburg. this is where daniel's mom is from and where a lot of his family lives. our lodging is at a fire station (daniel's bro works there) where it costs 5 euros/day - we have a clean private room and a swimming pool to use whenever we want - it's also located across the street from a river with a nice path for runners, walkers and bikes alongside it - the weather is great - a bit hot, but not too humid - so yes, very conducive to training!
anywho, yesterday we put the bikes together and went for a short spin. the roads are very nice here - no potholes - and there are bike-friendly lanes everywhere. many people ride bikes here for both transportation and leisure - cars seem to be used to them 'cause we haven't been yelled at once by any motorists :)
this morning we went out to a very nice clear lake - freiberg see - it seemed a bit shorter across than walden pond, but we swam 2 laps and it was great. we were the only nutcases wearing wetsuits...i guess people here are used to swimming in 65 degree water in speedos. other sightings included many more speedos including one on a very hairy 350-lb man - and various instances of full frontal nudity while changing into and out of swimming gear - all genders and ages - we were the only prudes utilizing the towel method
now we're off for another spin - this one a bit longer maybe 2 hours - one of daniel's friends who used to ride b4 having his 2 kids mapped it out for us.
photos coming soon (we forgot our card reader so we'll have to go get one tomorrow when stores open back up) - until next time!
pam (and dan)
we'll only fly if our bikes are with us!!!
just landed in amsterdam :) our flight from boston was delayed standing around in logan for an hour, so when we got here, our connecting flight to munich was very close...we made it to the gate, but apparently our luggage (and thousands of dollars in bike paraphenalia) would not share our luck. the next flight to munich is at noon which is only 2 hours away, so we figured better safe than sorry...so we called up daniel's bro and we'll be in munich just a few hours later
so here we are...on the internet (surprised?) enjoying some very strong coffee - which we need after that redeye flight -purchased with our delayed-flight courtesy of KLM vouchers
outie!
pam and dan
noah's ark day 41
less than three weeks till QCR - and one week 'till i go to germany! my bro left for spain yesterday and will be meeting us in roth thursday before the race - i am quite excited to finally have my first longer-than-a-week-leaving-the-us-of-a vacation in 5 years :)
with the weather lately, it seems like pretty much any conditions in roth will be bearable. i hope that it's 70 and sunny, but at this point i feel like i'm ready for anything
this past weekend, i went to a training camp in lake placid - both days were cold, rainy and windy - for the first time in my life, i got blown off my bike by a crosswind gust (twice) - had to call search&rescue (daniel) to come fetch me because by the time i would have gotten back to the hotel at my speed of 3 miles an hour (yes i was practically standing still with the headwinds that came with the crosswinds) i would have to pay for an extra night of staying there - anywho, the rest of the camp (aside from the weather) was lots of fun - got to hang out with cool peeps and got some good workouts in.
monday showed some mercy - it was perfect weather out and i felt great - went for a ride with daniel and he cranked it on 225 and i was able to stay on his wheel yay! ...and then this morning, for the first time on any open water swim this year i actually got to sight the sun! yes, the sun! so i figured, hey, this is looking cool for training this week!!!
jinx.
i just went out to bike hills around 4 - it had rained a bit before, but it looked like it had stopped - i looked at the radar and it looked safe to go out. so i set out on a loop (new, longer, gnarlier loop that makes my regular arlington hills one look like a cakewalk), got lost even though i had a map with me (big surprise there), eventually found my way (added on a bit but then cut out a bit so it ended up being the same mileage) and when i was furthest from home, the thunder, lightning and downpour started up!!! so i hightailed it back home - got half the workout in (1:15) - ok now gonna go wash off myself and my bike...and then it's looking like an iPod/trainer evening again for part deux of the workout :)
outie
p-Rod
pics from mooseman
hey - here are a few pics of us racing mooseman yesterday (thanks maura!) - you can click on each picture to make them larger
Daniel, Pam, Nick and Patrick pre-race
Pam on the bike after the 1st loop
Daniel coming out of the T1 Mud Puddle
Daniel running to a PR in a half-marathon - Robin cheering him along
moose-ie part deux
the mooseman half-iron is basically my 4-weeks-out race simulation for QCR - although i didn't have any concrete performance goals, i did have some expectations based on my training to gauge how i should pace myself for the big race
pre-race:
i felt more relaxed than ever before the race - thankfully no jitters - i had gone to a bikram yoga class on thursday night to de-compress from a stressful workweek and to do a "system-check" on my body
friday before the race patrick (my coach) helped me analyze my power tap data to determine how to push on the bike based on power - not speed - so that i could be more efficient and have fresher legs for the run
the days before, i spoke with family and friends who offered me their support, "fast vibes" and good-luck wishes
drove up the day before to the mud-fest that daniel outlined in his report, signed in, ate a delicious dinner at a great restaurant, the italian farmhouse, with kerry, dave and daniel (highly recommend it!)
came back to the hotel, slept for a bit, woke up to the f-bomb fight (see daniel's report below) and went back to sleep. woke up surprisingly HUNGRY at 5 and immediately had a bagel with pb - whew - passed the first test of the day (last year i could not eat before the race) - felt pretty relaxed - went to the race, parked far away, and rode our bikes to the transition area
at transition, was happy to see familiar faces including the PTS and TE gangs - i suited up and went to the beach where i saw even more familiar faces
the race:
the swim was decent - was hard to get into a rhythm - i think my body had a shock b/c of the cold water so for the first 1/4 of the way, it was hard to breathe - then on the way back i got decked by someone in the hand - and it was very choppy - it was 9 mins better than last year, so i'm happy with that
t1 took FOREVER - i got out of the water very dizzy and then i was very cold and my hands had limited mobility since they were so cold and had gotten kicked hard - was difficult getting my wetsuit off and the other things on - definitely the longest transition i've ever had - brain wanted body to move but body wouldn't and had to hold on to railing to not fall
the bike was rough - as soon as i got on my heartrate was very high b/c i was freezing and i think my body was working hard to keep warm - i was still really dizzy. i had a jersey on, but even so, having wet clothing did not help. on the first loop i was able to eat ok and was able to keep my wattage to what it was supposed to be, but on the second loop, the wheels came off - i didn't feel good AT ALL - i think i got a bit hypothermic - i felt like half conscious and kept wanting to fall asleep - i had a splitting headache and was kind of barely rolling along - cycling is usually my strongest and i usually love hills, but yesterday it was definitely my weakest and i swear my powertap read "negative watts" on the second loop - could not seem to get my heartrate out of zone1 for most of the time on loop2 - on loop 2 i was by myself most of the time and i couldn't wait to get done - it was a bit disappointing because my bike training has actually been going really well lately - oh well
the run ended up being the best - after not feeling good on the bike, i thought the run would be very slow and in "damage control" mode - BUT i think that since i didn't really use any energy (my average watts and my heartrate dropped a lot on the second loop of the bike so i didn't do much work), i guess that saved my legs and gave me energy for the run. i also think my body warmed up back to normal, so i was able to move ok - i was able to run around 8-minute miles without slowing down did 1:46 - i came within a minute of my stand-alone half-marathon PR - it was fun to shout-out jokes to my friends - "crush and destroy", "beefcake", "post-race bahgain shopping", "no pansy-asses" etc etc :) - i followed mariana's "stay focused no matter what" advice, kept up a high turnover, took "baby steps" on the hills and somehow managed to not crap-out
overall i did end up PRing in a half-iron (5:45) - i did this course 26 minutes faster than last year - so i was happy about that - my swim was right where i thought it would be, my bike was about 20 minutes slower, and my run was about 10 minutes faster - so i guess they sort of cancelled each other out
post race comments:
congrats to all who raced - am proud of all of you!
thanks to daniel for inspiring me to put in a good effort and being so supportive in my training - thanks to jorge, nisha, mariana and andrea for sending me "fast vibes" - they seemed to work! - thanks to patrick for all the great coaching advice - thanks to maura, joni and robin for cheering and taking pics - thanks to lisa c. for the "SUCK IT UP" mantra - helped me push through a tough bike leg to make it to the run - thanks to beth, tania, mary for well-wishing - congrats to nick for his win - and to friends/teammates who waved/cheered along the course - and thanks to kerry and dave for a great dinner and for providing your house post-race to clean ourselves and our bikes :)
:)
pam
moose-e
prerace thoughts: this was going to be my third tri ever and first half iron distance race. i always put pretty high expectations on myself so i was hoping to be under 5 hours, but under 5:15 would be okay. i’ve been feeling good on the bike so i thought i should be really able to have a great time on that segment.
prerace: we drove up saturday afternoon and it had been raining since friday afternoon so i was a little worried on how the transition area was going to be since it’s in the woods next to the lake. we picked up our race packet and meandered over to the transition area and there was mud and gigantic puddles everywhere. can you say MUD BOG RACING? i was thinking, this is going to suck, but i had a little optimism because the forecast said it should be dry with a few sprinkles on sunday. after that, we headed to the motel we stayed at for timberman last year which is about 20 minutes away and then met up with one of pam’s bike racing teammates who lives near by for a nice dinner.
arrived back at the motel around 9 and we went to bed 45 minutes later awaiting our 5am awakening. unfortunately though, because our motel has very thin walls you can nearly hear everything in our hallway to right outside our window and around 1:30 in the morning there were what i think 2 guys have an extremely agitated conversation. it was like f*&^ this f &^ that. i’m going to f*&^ing kill you. every other word had it. they were using it as nouns, verb, adjectives, you name it. and they were screaming as loud as they could. since we were in new hampshire whose state motto is live free or die, i was expecting to hear a gunshot or a loud smack as one of their faces connected with the other guys fist and that would be the end of it. after a few minutes pam called the front desk, no answer. she tried a second time, and still no answer. by this time it seemed that they had calmed down and it was over. so, we headed back to sleep.
woke up at 5am and looked outside and the roads were dry. sweet! as we arrived and looked over the transition area, still a little muddy, but way better than yesterday and they also put down some mulch to absorb some of the wetter spots which seemed to help. during prerace announcements they said that they were going to have a hose to rinse your feet after you got out of transition if you wanted to wait and put your cycling shoes on there. so, i decided i would do that as opposed to have mud caked cleats the entire ride. headed over to the start and since i haven’t had a chance to swim with this new wetsuit before, i thought i should splash around a bit with it and see how it feels. as i got into the water, it was COLD. my body with the suit felt okay, but my hand and feet were immediately freezing. i’m not sure what the exact temperature was, but for me growing up in florida, this was something only crazy people would get in to.
race: started near the front, i know i’m still not that fast, but i feel like i have improved so i should be fine. and we’re off. i’m sort of holding my own, but still being passed by many folks, just trying to be long and steady and follow other people. shortly after starting and for some reason my left shoulder is starting to hurt a tad. i don’t know if it’s from the cold, new wetsuit, or what, but i haven’t really had any sort of pain from any of my shoulders from swimming. eventually i do finish. i wasn't keeping track of my time so i had no idea how slow or fast it was. swim time: 37:21 (it's what i would expect to swim, but it felt like i was going slow)
T1: feel a bit groggy as i get out of the water. take it pretty easy into transition. as i’m attempting to take my feet out of the wetsuit, nearly fall over because i’m feel dizzy, but grab bike rack to save my fall. grab my things and put them on, grab shoes and socks and bike and head out. T1 time: 4:00, but felt like hours...
bike: go over the timing mats and wash my feet off, sit down put socks and cycling shoes on. i think i lost another couple minutes just doing that. head out on the bike, now, and the plan is to spin it for the first couple of miles to get the legs warmed up a bit before getting it rolling. after about 2 miles there is the first climb of the day and as i start to put a little effort to get over the hill, the legs feel empty. i'm thinking COME ON, i’ve been feeling great on the bike lately, why are my legs not feeling it today. there is nothing i can do now, but just keep on pedaling. so, i just try to really spin up the climbs and just try to roll as fast as i can on the flats and downhills. during the first lap, i pass around 150-200 people. it always helps me a bit to have all the carrot food in front of me. the other thing i noticed is that my heart rate is totally jacked. it’s in the 150-160’s and i’m really not going that hard. it seemed to be 20 bpm above training levels so i’m concerned i will be totally done by the time the run comes around. as the second lap arrives i just keep in rolling as before. as you would expect, it gets harder to pass people as you get closer to the front. at around 40 miles as i’m taking it pretty easy on a climb, this guy passes me. i’m thinking, do you know who i’m am??? as it flattens out, i re-pass him and i smoke it for awhile until the next hill where he passes me again. well, i guess he’s pretty strong. so, after that, i just use his pace for the next 10 miles or so. staying 3-4 bike lengths back. then it feels like he is slowing down too much in the last 5-6 miles and i just go off on my own from there. bike time: a slow 2:35:21, if i was feeling like i have been on the bike, it would have been 15-20 minutes faster.
T2: after feeling like crap on the bike, i think, the run is not going to be good. just finish is my motto. T2 time: 2:03
run: ¼ mile into the run and i realize i forgot my hr monitor on the bike. oh well. to begin with i’m being passed like i’m standing still. i actually feel okay, but many of these guys are just flying. after around 2 miles or so i kind of get in a groove and i think i’m finding my stride. see my teammate nick who looks to be in 4-5 overall at the moment, flying (he actually ends up winning the overall with a time of 4:19. way to go nick!!). see another teammate, patrick a little back from nick but doing very well too which helps me to just keep in going. see other people i know, lisa, joni, robin, maura all cheering me. a big thank you. on the second loop, i see my girlfriend pam going the other way and she yells, you can break 5 hours. i have no idea overall what my time is because i just wanted to do the best i could and whatever it was, was what it was, but the goal was to be under 5 which after the bike, i didn’t think was possible. so, i’m still feeling fine as the miles click by. i see pam for the last time around 10 miles and she says i’m doing great and if i keep going i’ll be under 5. as i get around 11 miles i’m starting to really hurt, but i think maybe around 14-15 minutes if i go fast enough. last couple miles were tough the whole time, but i could feel the end was near and the pain would end soon enough. as i finished, the time on the clock was 5:15 but i knew that was from the first wave. i didn’t know what the time between waves were, but i knew i was in the 4th wave so i thought my time was going to be a little over 5. run time: 1:45:35
total time: 5:04:19
i was pleased with the time, but it could have been much better, though. the swim was not good, also, the bike was way slower than i should have gone, but the run went as well as i could have hoped for. so, 4 weeks and we have the big one. quelle challenge in roth. a full ironman distance...
until next time,
dL
