Comparison Graphs

COMPARISONS

So, there is a lot going on in the above graph.  Here are a few things of note.

Reading the Graph

For the swim and run paces, lower points are faster times.  

For the bike speed, higher points are faster times.  

Minnetonka doesn't have a swim, because it was changed to a duathlon due to lightning. 

Clearwater doesn't have a run because Bull and I did it as a relay.  

The times represented for Clearwater are from the individual sprint contestants (larger head count).

The Field and Male averages are basically the same for the swims, so you do not see much of the dashed line after Chaska. 

Sprints

Outside of my first ever triathlon in Chaska, my swim times are a little faster than the field average, my bike times are at or below the field average and my run times are right at the field average.  I'm always slower than the male average on the bike and on the run, but it's not by too much (sprint). Since there is only a difference of a second or two in the field/male averages for the swim, I'm still a little ahead of the pack.  

The average on a sprint triathlon swim seems to stick right around 2:00/100yds, That doesn't help me too much since those are the short swims. If we assume a constant 2:00/100yds average, it would indicate that Chaska had a swim longer than indicated and Hopkins had a swim shorter than indicated.  That's kind of fun, because that's exactly what I thought of those races.

Olympic Distances

I'm clearly slow on the bike and on the run in the Olympic races.  

On the bike, I'm about 1 mph behind the field and 1.75 mph behind the make average.  I read on the Gear West website the other day that a properly fitted Tri Bike will often translate to a 2 mph increase in speed.  If this isn't just blowing hot air, maybe I can catch up to the average when i upgrade this summer.

On the run, I just need to put in more time on the road.  I tried to get by with two runs a week this summer, but that probably just wasn't enough if I want to be proud of my times (I'm never going to see a podium). Also, my broken foot in the spring probably didn't help when I was trying to build a base.  Hopefully I can get through this winter without and injury.  In the future, I'd like to be right around a 9:00/mile average in the Olympic races, and that would but me right around the field average.

On the swim, I think a 2:00/100 yds average is still a good estimate for the field.  That means Bemidji was wicked short, which is what I suspect.  Also, that makes Marion look a little long, but it's more likely that times were a little slow due to swimming directly into the chop for a third of the course.

Field/Male Comparison

As a math geek, I think the nearly fixed difference between the field and the male averages is pretty cool.  Irrespective of the race distance, it looks like the run has a male average about 20 seconds faster that the field average,  And on sprint bike courses, the male average  is about 0.75 mph faster that the field average (on the Olympic its about 0.5 mph).  There doesn't seem to be an advantage in the swim. 

OVERALL AND MALE PERCENTILE RANKINGS

There isn't a great deal of new information in these graphs.  I have an advantage on the swim, and I'm slow in the other two events. My biking is better than my running. For the most part, I stay in the 40th to 60th percentile for total time when compared to the field, and in the 20th to 40th percentile when compared to male finishers.  I guess that's good enough to say I'm "From the Middle of the Pack".  Also of note,  it appears that my finishing position in the bike appears to predict my finishing placement overall.  I suppose that's probably true for most people.

Compared to the Average

These last two graphs show a comparison to the average as opposed to the percentiles which (more or less) compare to the median.  The scale on these graphs is standard deviations; positive is faster than the average and negative is slower.  Not much new; just a different look.  I guess my biggest surprise on these is how fast my swims are, and how my good swims can partially counteract my terrible runs.

Hopkins Royal Traithlon Recap

Hopkins Royal Triathlon 

Shady Oak Beach, Hopkins MN

Saturday, September 5, 2015

0.5 mile/ 15 mile/ 5K

This was the last race of my triathlon season.  I'm on the fence as to if I should consider this summer a fail or a success. As usual, I suppose it's somewhere in the middle.

My wife, Tina, decided to try the mini-sprint at Hopkins (100 yards/ 4.5 miles/ 1.5 miles). Going into this race, we were both mailing it in.  Tina had to skip out on the gym for the last week due to back pain, and I only got in one bike and two swims between Lake Marion and Hopkins (3 weeks). My excuse?  School started and I was just a little burnt out.  If Marion had went better, I may have tried to gear up for this entire race, but as it was I just wanted to get in a good run time. My running has been borderline embarrassing this summer. I've had a 10+ minute per mile pace in each of the last two races.  I suppose there is something to be said about my foot still hurting from when I broke it in March, but I don't think that has help me back too much.  My main goal this time out was to hit a 9 minute per mile pace or better.

Swim (0.5 0.4 miles)
Goal:     Around 1:40 minutes per 100 yards pace
Actual:  Might have over cooked it
Friday night, the weather said no rain but hot, humid and windy.  Saturday morning, it was thunder and lightning right up to the start time at 8:10am.  Also, after the rain the hot, humid, windy weather was still on its way.  It was a stinker of a day for a bike and a run, but at least the swim didn't get canceled.  We were about thirty five minutes delayed off the start, and the swim was shortened from 0.5 to 0.4 miles.  Shortening the swim seemed pretty silly to me, but at least we got in the lake.

What a lake!  That was the clearest lake water in which I have ever swam.  There were quite a few weeds in spots, but the water was as clear as the pool at the Y.  I had though the water was going to be too warm for a wet suit due to the hot weather we have had over the last month, but the rain and a cloudy breeze made it a perfect morning for a wet suit swim.  The wind kicked up a lot after the rain, but the lake was below it's surroundings.  There was no chop to fight this time around.

It was a time trial start, and I went off in about position 60 out of 270 finishers.  It was a short swim, so I tried to push it.  It seemed like I passed quite a few folks, and I even had to slow down to work out a pass a couple times.  Tina went off much later in the mini-sprint start, and she was watching from the shore. She said I went of around 60th and came in around 20th.  That feels about right.  I didn't leave much in the water.
Swim Time:    10:19 with a 1:28 per 100 yards pace.
Swim Rank:    41st out of 270 overall
                         31st out of 159 males
                         7th out of 26 age groupers

T1
Goal:     About 2.5 minutes
Actual:  Not too far off
I was pretty pumped out after the swim. I ran to the transition mat, but then walked the couple hundred feet to transition.  My shoes were wet from the rain, but not too bad.  The worst part was having wet sunglasses with nothing to clear off the lenses.  Anyhoo, it was an uneventful T1.
T1 Time: 2:55
Position:  41st out of the water,
                 67th out of T1 (270 finishers)


Bike (15 miles)
Goal: 18+ mph average, hopefully closer to 19 mph
Actual: Fail
After the race, my wife and I were sitting on a bench next to another lady who also did the sprint course.  The lady said, "These websites always say rolling hills; that WAS NOT rolling hills."  Agreed; that was a tough bike course.

The bike was three five mile loops.  About a mile into each loop, there was a bitch of a hill.  I believe it's the second worst climb I've done; I only had two gears left at the top of the climb.  On the first hill of the Chaska triathlon (River City Days 2014), I only had one gear left (on the small ring).  Also adding to the slowness was the wet, new asphalt on the bike course.  It dried up by the third lap, but I didn't hit the some of the down hill as much as I could have due to what I thought was slippery conditions.  The final complaint (maybe) was that the wind was blowing about 15mph.  All this (and mailing it in since Marion) lead to a season worst bike.

I don't know what to make of the bike at this race.  My last two races were 17.8 and 17.5 mph averages, but they were also olympic courses.  The first two races of the season were 18.8 and 18.3 mph averages on sprint courses.  I guess I have plenty of things I can blame for the slow time (13mph wind), but maybe I'm just slow on the bike.  I suppose I have to put in more hours on in the saddle.
I put 300 miles on the bike this year and an additional 15 hours on the trainer/stationary bike, but I suppose I can always due more. Maybe I'll be more inclined to due so when I get a new bike this winter (hopefully).   Anyhoo, I doubt I could have given it much more than I did. Not much more to say.  Crappy way to end the season.
Bike Time:   52:54 with a 17 mph average
Bike Rank:  106th out of 270 overall
                      81 out of 159 males
                      15th out of 26 age groupers

T2
Goal:  Under 1:00
Actual:  Just barely
Nothing interesting in T2.  I racked the bike and took off.  I grabbed a water from a volunteer, tried to drink from the cup, coughed most of it up, splashed the rest on my back and I was on my way.  Is there a way I can practice grabbing a cup of water and drinking on the run?
T2 Time:  59 seconds
Position:   90th off the bike
                  89th out of T2 (270 finishers)


Run (5K)
Goal: Close to or break a 9:00 per mile average
Actual: Slow loser
I like to think of myself as a runner, but my results this year seem to indicate that I'm a swimmer who tries to bike and run.  Again, this was a crappy way to end the season.  I really wanted a time that I could be proud of, but it just wasn't going to happen this year.  I suppose my broken foot and a lost six weeks in the spring cost me a little bit in my training, but that's not enough to take all the blame.  I think I also fundamentally monkeyed my summer training.  I did the majority of my workouts in the early morning, and avoided a lot of hot, humid afternoon runs.  Next year, I think I need to get out in the heat and try to beat it.  I shouldn't hide from it.  Also, I just gotta get in some longer runs.  Time is the problem there.  Getting in a tenner is rough enough. I then also have to get through the rest of the day without crashing and burning on my family.  If I can make it through winter without injuries, then maybe I can build a hefty base.  Hopefully, that will help when I try to hit it up again next year.

Anyhoo, the run was almost totally flat.  Mostly, it was on a hard pack trail, and the only climb was near the end where you run from the under to the over pass of a bridge.  No walking this time, but that's hardly a moral victory.  It was still so very slowy slow slow.
Run Time:    31:08 with a 10:03 per mile pace
Run Rank:    143rd out of 270 overall
                       98th out of 159 males
                       19th out of 26 age groupers

Total Time:  1:38:14
Position:        105 out of 270 overall
                       82 out of 159 males
                       14 our of 26 age groupers

Time Comparison
Below is a comparison of my accumulated time against the field and male averages.  It seems like this was probably a race without a lot of triathlon regulars.  Either that, or the wind (13 mph) really threw everyone for a loop.  The average times were slow.  I was actually a minute fast on the bike and only a minute slow on the run when compared to the male average. I guess I'll take it; it makes me look good.

Post-Race and Next Up
I met up with Tina after the race and found out that she broke and hour.  Great Work Tina!  Of course, she wasn't happy with her time, but who ever is?  Anyhoo, they had a pretty nice spread comprised of the post-race regulars with hot dogs and root beer floats.  They also had a pretty good band playing. It would have been fun to stick around for a bit, but we had to get back and relieve the babysitter.

Not much is on the schedule for the rest of the year.  I have a charity 5K at work in a month and Surf the Murph in a couple months.  Timing on both of those really doesn't matter to me and training is similarly no longer race specific from here on out.  I've been reading up on heart rate training, and I may look into that this winter.  Outside of that, my only goal is not to get injured through the winter. When March/April outside running comes back around, I would like to be hitting 15-20 mile weeks pretty easy on the treadmill.

Tina and I after the Race

Lake Marion Triathlon Recap

Lake Marion Triathlon

Antlers Park, Lakeville MN

Sunday, August 16, 2015

1.5k/ 40k (+1 mile)/ 10k

Well, ffffff.......

I took a lot of negative energy into this weekend. I don't know how much it hurt my race, but packing up the night before the race has never been so little fun.  From Saturday to Tuesday of race week, the family and I were at a family reunion of sorts.  It came packaged with beer, late nights, bad food, drama and hard feelings (on my side at least).  Up through packing up on Saturday night, I still was contemplating skipping this race. If I could have got a refund, I would have passed.  What a bummer, I could not have felt more ready for the race than I did the Friday nine days before.  On that Friday, I did an 18/6 brick and felt great.  It all went downhill from there.  It's a shame; I had been looking forward to this for months. It was my longest race of the year. 

Anyhoo, on race week I only made time for one short workout in each event. In total, I only got in about two hours of work.  It was the least amount of work I had put in since I broke my foot.  The week before race-week, I had gotten in just about six hours training.  I had been trying to get in some longer workouts, but with the boys it was hard to get away for two hours or more.  Maybe my workout schedule also hurt me on race day, who knows.

My goal for this race was to break three hours.  I had hoped for less, but heading into race day, I felt that the predicted wind was going to hold me back a bit.  Also, due to construction, the bike course added a mile and now included a 40 meter dismount and run over gravel.  If I broke three hours, I would sign up for the 2016 HITS Waconia 70.3 race.  The sale price was $100 for Sunday only.

Swim (1.5K)
Goal:     Under 30 minutes, hopefully around 1:40/100 yards
Actual:  Got it half right.
The race site (Antlers Park) is only about 20 minutes from my house.  So, I got to sleep a little later than some other race day,s and I made it to transition by about 6:30.  The water temp was pretty nice, mid to high seventies.  It was nice enough to drop the wetsuit, but I kept mine on in hopes of swimming a little faster.  The lake had some patches of weeds, but it wasn't too bad.  After the disgusting lake with green water at our family reunion, I was just happy to be in a lake that didn't look diseased.  The swim is a triangle, the first and last legs were a cross wind and the middle leg seemed to be square into a little chop.

At the go, I really didn't want to be there.  It took me about five strokes to resign myself to an over three hour total and an over 35 minute swim.  It was just a bad mental day for a race.  At the first turn buoy, I peeked behind me and saw nearly no splashing.  I figured I was near last place for my wave (elites and all males). 

However, as I neared the second buoy (swimming into the chop), I realized that I must not be doing that bad. I had set my watch for a notification at 20 minutes, and I was hoping to make it around the second turn before that time.  I have no perception of time in the water. Without my watch alarm, those first two legs could have taken an hour for all I knew.  But, as I approaching the second turn, I still hadn't felt my watch buzz.  Either I had lost my watch (which Mopey McSourpuss contemplated for a while), or I wasn't doing that bad.  I received the 20 minute buzz shortly after the second turn.  I figured I still had a shot so I tried to punch it, but I did not have another gear in the water that day.  A few strokes later I had convinced myself that the last leg was going to take me 20 more minutes.  My internal voice was a real bitch this day.  Finally I reached the shore and could check how I was doing. At the transition mat, I didn't see the exact split, but I did see it started with a two.  I had broke a half hour; hopefully that would shut-up that asshole talking in my head. 
Swim Time:     29:43 with a 1:49/100 yards pace
Swim Ranks:   18th out of 60 overall,
                          16th out of 47 males,
                          3rd out of 5 age groupers

Tall guy in back



T1
Goal:      Under 3:00
Actual:   Nope.
It's a longish run up to the bikes after crossing the T1 mat at this race.  I ran on the grass most of the way and then walked at the paved parking lot.  My new 910xt Garmin came with the triathlon quick change watchband and bike mount. I had put a sign in my bike helmet to remind me to switch my watch over to the bike mount. Without the sign, I definitely would have forgotten to make the switch. A handy trick to remember next time.  Anyhoo, I got out of there as fast as I could, an took off on the bike leg.  As it happens, my T1 time was exactly the same as the Lake Marion race last year.
T1 Time:  3:35
Position:  18th out of the water,
                 19th out of T1 (out of 60 finishers)

Bike (40K +1 mile = 25.8 miles)
Goal:  18mph average or better
Actual:  Never got close
Now I was having fun!  Now I wanted to race; now I wanted to have a great bike. I thought my watch said it took about 32:30 to get out of the water and out of T1.  That was right around my goal ( My reading was off by about a minute).  I needed an 18mph bike and a reasonable run and I was off to a 70.3 (in 2016). 

The first three miles were easy going.  I passed some sprinters and tried to tick it up before the head wind.  The turn to go south put us mostly against the wind for the next seven miles.  There was another right turn after that, and that felt like it put us into the teeth of the wind for another four miles.  At the halfway point my average was 16.5 mph.  The course is mostly flat for about the first seven miles, then you hit some rollers until the ten mile turn, and after the ten mile turn you have a few more hills with a couple substantial climbs. 

When I finally turned out of the headwind (around a 10mph wind give or take), I tried to kick it up and catch some time.  It was fast and fun with a couple rain drops.  The average mph ticked up, but then I hit the gravel corner.  You had to dismount and walk/run the gravel, and then it was back into the wind for a mile.  After that we were with the wind to the end with a couple rollers.  I couldn't make up the time though.  I did 16.5 mph on the first 13 miles and 18.6 mph on the last 12.8 miles.  Fun note, the race listed the bike at 25.8 miles which is the exact distance I hit on my watch.  However, the printed race stats had the race at 24.8 miles (40K), so all their speeds are off.
Bike Time:    1:28:43 with a 17.5 mph average
Bike Ranks:  31st out of 60 overall,
                       27th out of 47 males
                       4th out of 5 age groupers



The Bike starts off riding through downtown Lakeville.

T2
Goal:     About 45 seconds
Actual:  Almost exactly
I almost forgot my watch on my bike in T2, and I started to run away after racking my bike.  Again, I was lucky that I had put a sign in my run hat to remind me to put my watch back onto my wrist band.
T2 Time: 46 seconds 
Position:  31st off the bike,
                 26th out of T2 (out of 60 finishers)


Run (10K)
Goal:     Under 10:00 pace, Hopefully under 9:45
Actual:  Nope, not even close.
My wife, boys, mother-in-law and her sister were just outside of the transition area.  They saw me come in from the bike and start out on the run.  It was a nice pick-me-up to see'em out there and get a little bit of cheer to take on my way.  My watch said I had been on the course for about 2:02 and change.  Some quick estimating told me that I needed under a 9:30 min/mile average to break three hours.  I thought it unlikely, but I was going to give it a shot. 

The 10K course is two loops of the 5K course.  I ran the sprint last year, so I knew the course.  I figured 9:30 pace was possible with 9:00 on the first flat mile, 10:00 on the second mile with most of the uphill and 9:30 on the third mile (repeat for miles 4, 5 and 6).  And, that is almost what I did for the first 5K.  I ran 9:07, 9:53 and 9:41.  There is water on the turn around at about 1.5 miles. I tried to drink some water, but the magic of cup drinking while running still eludes me.  I ended up splashing most of it on my face and chest, which wasn't that bad a result. 

I saw the guy who writes the NowIAmDoingSomething blog coming up the hill on his second lap as I descended on my first.  I thought about saying something to him, but figured he didn't need the distraction.  He finished about a half hour ahead of me, 14th place, pretty cool. 
At about the 3 mile mark, there was some more water and what I presume was HEED.  I got the HEED (by mistake), and wore it all over me (sticky) the rest of the race, sigh... 

There was also a kid with a hose and spray gun nozzle standing there.  As I neared, his mom asked who he was spraying.  He said, "Whoever wants me to spray'em."  That sounded like a good idea, so I told him to give me a shot to the head.  It felt quite nice.

I'm told that my wife was at the half way point cheering me on again, but I did not notice her.  I was fading fast.  I had tried to keep up the pace for the first 5K, and my efforts had the wall coming on fast.  With a 9:30+ pace for the first three miles I knew breaking three hours was out the window.  I looked at my watch as I approached 3.5 miles and it said my pace was around 11:30 min/mile. Thinking back now, that probably was a mistake by my watch. The pace on the Garmin 910xt jumps around and gives erratic readings sometimes.  Anyhoo, the readings had me thinking that I was actually that slow, it made me mopey, and I used it as an easy out to start run/walking.  My run went to hell from there.  My last three miles clocked in at 11:51, 11:58 and 11:29.

shit

It would have been nice to cut about two minutes of each of those miles, but my legs just wouldn't fire up again after I gave them a break.  On the last bit of a mile to finish line, I came in at a 9:39 pace.  I like to pretend that there wasn't any give-up in those slow run/walk miles, but that's probably not totally true.  At the end of the race, it really didn't feel like I had anything left in the tank; maybe I'm too hard on myself. I guess I'm proud of the race as a first full Olympic effort, but the last few miles were a downer. 
Run Time:    1:06:11 with a 10:41 min/mile average
Run Ranks:  48th out of 60 overall,
                       40th out of 47 males,
                       4th out of 5 age groupers

Someone get me a beer!

Total Time:  3:08:55

Position:       36th out of 60 finishers

                      32nd out of 47 males

                      4th out of 5 age groupers

Time Comparison

Below is an accumulated time comparison graph.  Similar to Bemidji, my faster swim just about balanced out with my slower bike to make my time about average at the start of the run.  Coming out of  T2, I was 1:30 ahead of the field average and 58 seconds behind the male average.  The run blew up my time.  Also of note, it appears that my T1 time is usually slow and my T2 time is usually fast when compared to the average. Transition results in this race are similar to previous races.  Overall, my total transition time looks to be a bit faster than the average.  

Post-Race and Up Next

I have to stop hoping for a nice spread at the end of races.  Those few races that have had more than bananas and cookies (i.e. sandwiches, pizza, protein drink, etc.) are the exception and not the norm.  The funny thing at the end of this race was the finisher's medals.  After last year's race, the director emailed out that the price was going up a bit this year (only $5) to improve swag, finisher medals and give-aways.  I didn't stay for the give-aways (hungry and tired), but the finisher medals were exactly the same as last year.  Not a big deal, I don't care about the medals, but it's kinda funny. 

Up next is the Hopkins Royal Sprint Triathlon on September 5.  My wife is also doing the super sprint; hopefully she has a good time (maybe this leads to other races).  That will be the last triathlon of the season, and then it's probably just running and some sporadic cross training.  I signed up for the Surf the Murph race again this year (85$, Saturday, October 24).  I signed up for the 50 mile (idiot), but we'll see how things go.  I'll have to pack on some miles in the next couple months, but I'm certainly due.  I want to kick up my run training for next year (Lake Wobegon Marathon is only 38 weeks away).  I just didn't have it for the Bemidji and Marion runs.  If I can make it to, and through winter without injuries maybe I can get back to being a runner (at least as much as I was last fall).  Last year my knee cost me seven weeks over winter and then my broken foot cost me another 6 weeks in the spring.  Without an improvement in running, I'll probably put off the jump to a 70.3 until 2017.