Asheville Running Collective

Some great news for the followers!  I have joined an elite running team in the local Asheville, NC area.  The team is called the Asheville Running Collective.  They are a USATF racing team comprised of competitive runners living in Western North Carolina.  The team has an incredible amount of talent ranging from masters national champions to Olympic qualifying athletes.  I am super excited to be part of this team and look forward to racing and running with them on a frequent basis.

Speaking of racing with ARC, we did compete in the USATF 8k NC state championship race this past weekend.  The team easily came in first place with one of the runners taking the USATF state 8k championship.  It was a tough course on a hot morning but the team battled through with great success.

Learn more about the Asheville Running Collective at ashevillerunningcollective.com

Cary Long Course DU

Cary Long Course Du was 2014’s national championship race.  I was excited to make the 3.5 hour journey east to have some competition.  I looked at the start list to see if anybody big was registered and saw last year’s amateur champion was registered.  This made me excited because it was sure to be a solid race.  So I decided to take a half day at work on Friday in order to get to Raleigh in the early afternoon.  This way I wasn’t going to feel rushed to get things done.  There was some awful traffic just west of Raleigh where it seemed that there were 14 accidents!  Just absolutely crazy.  I am a big person on hitting time cuts that I set for myself.  If I set a schedule I like to stick to it.  When I deviate from the path I can feel the frustration building.  The important thing here is to realize this change in your emotion and take steps to mitigate the frustration.  I just do the classic take a couple deep breaths and usually will relax me. 

I ended up getting to Inside Out Sports, location of packet pickup, around 4pm.  The hotel was 20ish minutes from Inside Out sports.  I got to the hotel, unpacked the car, and was battling with myself if I wanted to actually do a shakeout run.  Shakeout runs are not crucial but I like to do it as a tradition and to facilitate some recovery from sitting in the car for 3+ hours.  I watched some of the Amgen TOC TT which got me motivated to go for a little run.  I only went for a 2 mile easy jog and threw in a couple strides at the end.  This made the legs feel good and the mind feel clear.  After that I finished watching the ATOC and Peter Sagan killing it on the TT bike.  Then I drove over to NC State campus area to grab a bite to eat.

Race Day:

I woke up at 0440 and immediately prepped my race day bfast: oatmeal, peanut butter, cacao powder, chia seeds, Beta-Alanine, annnddd most importantly coffee (nasty hotel coffee at that).  I made it over to US National Baseball Training Center (start area) at 0545.  This gave me just over an hour to prep and warm up.  I was only looking to get a 20 minute warm up in because the race was a longer one. Well… turns out that an hour was not enough time for me.  I pulled out my race wheels to find them both flat.  Both of the innertubes were shot.  I hadn’t even ridden on the tubes and they couldn’t hold air.  So I frantically switched out the tube on the disc.  A nice man came up and offered to help with the front wheel but he didn’t really know what he was doing.  I definitely appreciated the attempt though.  I decided to scrap the HED front wheel and just went with my Bontrager 50mm deep wheel in order to still have time to warmup.

Run 1:

I guess last year’s champ didn’t show up because the pace went out really conservative.  I was expecting 5:30-5:40 pace for the front group.  Turns out I was the front group… and only had to go 5:45 pace to have a big gap going into T1.  The run was an out and back course along a bike bath.  The first quarter was flat but with some sharp turns and a ditch crossing.  The second quarter was all downhill which meant the third quarter was all uphill. The course was tough but I knew I had the fitness to carry me through it.  I entered T1 with a 30ish second lead which was nice because it meant I could take my time with the transition.

Bike:

The bike was very uneventful.  I followed as close as I could to my power plan and just kept increasing my lead steadily.  I caught up to up to the sprint distance lead just at the end of the first loop.  This was a great boost to me.  After that quick boost I was let down by one of my gels popping out of my between the arm aero hydration system. L I still had another gel left for closer to the run but it would have been nice to have that extra gel starting into the run.  I entered T2 with a massive lead over second place.  I think I was somewhere in the range of 5-6 minutes ahead of the second place guy.

Run 2

I hopped off the bike and knew the first half mile was going to be a slower trudge.  My left knee was bothering because of a poor cleat fit.  I had experimented with the position a couple days earlier and it gave me some knee trouble.  The knee pain went away before getting out of the parking lot.  I was far enough ahead of second place that I didn’t push the second run.  I kept it around 6 minute pace until the very end.  Once I entered the parking lot to finish I slowed down to almost 7 minute pace.  I was really glad for the win but wished that last year’s champion had been there to test my fitness.  The organizers of Cary put on a great race and I will definitely be coming back next year.

Lesson Learned:

I want to occasionally throw in a summary of lessons learned or basically the moral of the story.

1.      Prep all equipment the night/day prior.  This will allow for a smoother morning and a more relaxed morning.

2.      Get to transition earlier than an hour prior so you can ensure good position.  I was stuck in the back of the transition rack.  This will cost precious seconds in a close race.

3.      Listen to slowtwitch when they say three gels can’t fit in your hydration system.  You will lose one gel 9 out of 10 times.

The big news (and some life lessons for the young folk)….

Actual picture of house!
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2swj95PA0yz-v1zudA7-wVmanLigGue4lqyxP1s6AYWteKSN2w2dIBDVe46y7VHW2YlMHGLR0ogmfEmFnBMgHMluktYYJpqEfHRr-bLRKE3TVFyh7lKr1q3UodzaHNa6_kXpF0rh2smp6/s1600/house1.gif

The wifey and I decided to buy a house!!!  Part of the reasoning comes from the second big news of the past couple months… we got a second dog!  With another big critter running around the house we decided to look back into the housing market.  We were initially going to hold off until I qualified for the VA loan but figured it would be smart to at least keep an eye on the market.  Keeping an eye on the market allowed us to find the perfect house!  It even has a finished basement (aka space for my bikes and pain cave).  Our family is excited by the next step in being adults (only one more really remaining, kids…).  That is on the books for another couple of years though, which means some solid training time for me.  Buying a house is extremely stressful.  There are always documents to collect, sign, and things to review.  ATTENTION YOUNG FOLK!!! Life lesson I am learning the hard way!  KEEP ALL MAJOR DOCUMENTS FOR YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! This includes but is not limited to:

1.      W2s

2.      Tax Returns

3.      Loan applications/loan documents

4.      Keep track of credit report access dates

Now to the good stuff… the new pup.  Her name is Luna and we got her from a rescue.  I took her for her first trail run yesterday.  She did pretty well for a 6 month old dog.  We did about 4 miles at 9 minute pace with some intermittent walking.  She stayed right behind me the entire run.  Can’t wait until she gets a little older and I can take her on some longer runs.  My other dog, Adellaide, doesn’t last much longer than 30-40 minutes on a good day.  And now a picture!

 

She has some big ears, dumbo style.

So… quick update on training and upcoming races.

Next week I have the Cary Du Long Course.  This was last years long course national championship course.  It wasn’t won by a local but there were plenty of North Carolina folks in the top 10.  This excites me because it will kind of show me where I am at compared to the top level athletes and give me a list of things that need more work.  I have heard great things about this course and organizer.  It should be a great race!  If you are in the Cary region you should come out and cheer some athletes on.

Training has turned from race focus back into base mode.  My coach, Scott Proscia of IREP Athletics, and I decided to put a lot of focus in to the national championship this November.  Building a solid base takes a lot of dedication, patience, and mental fortitude.  My last couple weeks have been very hectic with buying a house, Army obligations, a small case of food poisoning, and the new dog.  Building all of this in to a 40 hour work week takes flexibility.  This is important thing for athletes to learn.  Flexibility in the sense that a workout doesn’t always have to go as planned.  Allow yourself to shuffle stuff around or manipulate the workout to fit it into your schedule.  All of my readers probably have a job other than competing and training.  Don’t get bummed or flustered if a workout needs to be rescheduled or cut.

And now I get to spend some time with my awesome parents.  I am excited to show them around my new super awesome city of Asheville, NC.  This place is awesome and just keeps getting better! You guys should really come visit!

Another big step in growing up

In the near future I will have some exciting news to share!  This is if everything goes to plan.  You can't always count on things going to plan.  I am excited to share the news with my growing following!!!

Stay tuned.

Another Wonderful Trip to Athens, OH!

This time the trip was being made for a half marathon.  Athens, OH holds the longest running marathon in the state of Ohio at 25 years.  It is also probably the most boring marathon in the state of Ohio.  Why did I decide to run this race then?  Two reasons:

1.      I went to Ohio University and try to find any reason to go back and visit my hOUme away from home.  Athens has such a weird mixture of beautiful scenery and crazy college kids getting really drunk.

2.      Athens Marathon is net downhill and a very simple out and back course.  The course starts uptown, goes down a medium grade for a quarter mile, turns onto a bike path and that is the level of complexity.  12 of the 13.1 miles are on the bike path or on a track.  Nice and simple but very boring.

The wonderful wife decided to tag along this time because her family decided to get a cabin in the area.  Most of Saturday was spent driving to the cabin (6.5 hr drive from Asheville).  Once we got there, the M.I.L (mother-in-law) had brats and mac&cheese ready for my consumption.  Yummm!!! Dinner got even better with lamb roast/ gyro combination.  I definitely ate waaayyy too much the day before the race.  Luckily it didn’t cause me any indigestion problems during the race.

Race Day

The gun was scheduled to go off at 0800 and I had a 35 minute drive from the cabin.  I got up at 0530 to eat my typical pre-race meal (beON Cacao powder, Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter, Bob’s Red Mill Rolled Oats, and a cup of coffee).  I was worried about the parking situation in Athens because the previous day had a couple fests in the town.  There were a lot of out of town visitors.  I was lucky though and got prime parking pretty close to the finish line.  I jogged up to the starting line where I met with my friend to go through some minor mobility drills.  I wanted to get warmed up but not waste any energy. 

I was pretty happy with my routine and decided to line up 5 minutes until the start.  The front line was looking pretty thin which was good for overall placing but bad for any pacing help or protection from the wind.

Gun went off and the games began.  The first 400m were on slightly uneven bricks so it was crucial to watch your step.  After the first 400m the eventual overall winner passed me and immediately started to get a gap.  Turns out he was a pretty elite marathoner who already qualified for Olympic trials.  His gap continually got larger and larger.  Most of the race I could not see him.  The guy behind me was also 3-4 minutes behind so I ended up doing the whole race by myself.  This was crappy because at times there were some serious winds that I had to battle.  It would have been nice to have someone to work with and block the wind. 

I hit the turnaround just past 38 minutes. This was a little bit slower than I anticipated which meant I needed to turn it up for the next 6 miles.  There was some confusion on mile marker locations and they didn’t end up jiving with the GPS watch.  After the race I heard this same complaint from multiple people.  I think the mile markers were placed short by a half mile.  This was only a problem on the second half of the race.  At about mile 8 my body started to feel the effort.  I started to see the pace drop off and negative thoughts entering my head.  The only way I could fend them off was by lying to myself about how much distance was left.  Breaking up the race into smaller chunks makes it easier for the mind to stay motivated.

I ended up crossing the line 90 seconds slower than goal time of 1:15 but was still very happy with the performance.  My coach and I did not get the ideal training situation because of a couple early season races and some occasional minor injury problems.  Next year I will try to find a half a little bit earlier in spring.  I think March will be a good time to attempt another half marathon.

I want to say thanks for all the support from my family.  It truly amazing how much a support system can do to one’s performance.  I also want to say thank you to my amazing and beautiful wife for putting up with all the hours of training and traveling.  Training on top of a 40 hour work week does not leave a whole lot of time for spending time with the wife.  I finally want to say thank you to my awesome coach Scott Proscia of IREP athletics.  Without his dedication and knowledge I would never be able to race at the level I currently do.  I am pretty sure he has an opening for one or two more athletes if anybody wants an amazing deal on one of the up and coming coaches in the multisport world.

Race Week - Athen's Half Marathon

To be nervous means to be human.  There is not much we, as humans, can do about getting nervous.  This is just part of our biology.  What we can control is how we channel the nerves.  It is easy to let the nerves make you doubt.  I one thing I try to do is visualize the race and trust my training.  I know I have put in the work to hit the goal times.

Two weeks ago I did a pretty good simulated race workout and it went really well.  It was a 15 mile workout that had 9ish miles at faster than race pace.  The 9ish miles were at the back end of the workout so there was some fatigue buildup in the legs.  Everything went to plan and I even went faster than expected on some splits.  Some valuable lessons were also learned.  One lesson was that I need one more gel earlier into the race.  This will insure that my glycogen levels maintain a consistent level until the end.  The benefit to the Athen's Half Marathon is the first mile is almost completely downhill.  Taking advantage of this downhill will be crucial.  It will be a fine balance of not going out too fast but not wasting the free speed from gravity.  The rest of the race will just be about hitting nutrition and maintaining goal pace.

It looks like there will be good weather for the race too.  So far I have been lucky with my races.  Every race has been sunny with decent temperatures.  Even my race at the end of January was cold but not unbearable like it had been all winter.

I want to put a couple videos up that I think athletes need to watch about running and the mental side to racing.  Let me know what you guys think of these videos.

Three for Three. One way to Start the season

Who knew that almost exactly one year from a horrible auto accident that I would be winning races?  It is amazing how a lives can change when you realize how fragile it really is.  I would have never have been able to recover so quickly if it wasn't for my amazing wifey-poo and such a supportive family.

I am lucky to continually have the support of so many people.  It is good to know that there are friends and family to house and help in a moments notice.  This past week I had to travel back to Findlay in order to wrap up some National Guard duty.  Northwest Ohio didn't get the memo that spring had arrived.  The temperature only got above 40 degrees one day.  I was lucky enough to have a great friend still living in town that was willing to let me stay the entire week.  I also got to enjoy some home cooked meals by the mother in law.  She spoils me so much when I come to visit.  I can't get enough of that Mac & Cheese... Big weakness of mine.

Snow at the end of March! Not to mention the temp was below 20 F

I ended up having a weekend to split duty days so I headed down to the old college stomping grounds to get in some bike racing.  Traveling to Athens, OH always lifts the spirits because of seeing old friends and reminiscing about good college times.  I can't believe it has already been 2 years since I graduated from Ohio University.

Lake Hope Road Race

Another 10am race start for me.  I am really enjoying these late morning starts because it makes planning meals and travel very easy.  A nice 0730 wake up followed by my usual breakfast of oatmeal, peanut butter, and honey.  I was staying with my good friend Kennedy who decided to tag along and be an unpaid photographer.

We arrived an hour before the start but after registration and bundling up there was about 10 minutes to "warm-up."  This wasn't a huge problem because of the length of the race.  The race started out very slowly.  It was a 2 lap course (so 20 mile lap for the lazy math people).  The first lap took over an hour to complete.  I probably could have left the pack during the first lap but didn't want to risk blowing up at the end of the second lap.  I ended up waiting it out and feeling out the group.  It seemed that nobody really wanted to work (mostly deduced from the speed of first lap).  Cat 4/5 typically are unorganized anyways so with about 16 miles left there was a climb that I casually attacked at the top.  I took an aggressive descent to see if I could get away.  I didn't end up getting away at this point and realized that nobody was going to follow my attack.  So I slid back in the peloton for a minute or so to recover and then went off the front again.  This time I went off hard and didn't look back.  I just hit the pedals hard and kept my eye on my power.  I made sure to make a strong surge for 4 minutes to gain a gap.  I then rode slightly above my FTP for the remainder of the race.  There were some climbs and turns in which I could glance back to gauge my gap.  Every time I turned around I couldn't see the group.  I started to feel that I could win so I continued to hammer it out just to make sure.  

Well... it ended up that my effort was enough to get the win.  I ended up breaking away with 14 miles left in the race and taking the solo victory.

I just want to say thank you to all the people who helped me out this past week, especially Corey over at Qwik Fix for yet again saving my butt with regards to my bike.  I always seem to mess up my bike and he is always there to fix it.  Sucks he doesn't live in Asheville...