AMYMSA 1650 Postal Swim

Race: 1650-yard mile swim
Date: December 8, 2012
Location: Greensburg, Pa.
Time: 25:07.20
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 6 (estimated based on previous year's results)



Our Master's Swim team and a few friends from another team met at our home YMCA and did the mile swim event. Dan was in the lane next to me and he seemed to be holding back in the beginning. But as expected, he eventually started to move ahead and lapped me toward the very end. Good swim, Dan! My time of 25:07.20 was more than 2.5 minutes faster than last year. I am very pleased. This swim made my day.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: November 18, 2012
Location: Greensburg, Pa.
Celebrated the day with a swim meet at Greensburg YMCA. I started the meet by singing the national anthem. Lots of folks would be nervous about that, and I was. But I didn't figure I would embarrass myself any more than normal; I'm already walking around half nude in a skin-tight swimsuit! I swam in four events and had extraordinary success.

Event #1: 100-yard IM
Time: 1:16.00
Age Group Rank: 6 out of 6
In the 100-yard Individual Medley I swam it in 1:16.00, breaking my old personal best of 1:19.30. (Despite this, I was still the slowest swimmer in my gender-age group).

Event #2: 50-yard butterfly
Time: 34.00
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 5
In the 50-yard butterfly, I swam it in 34.00 seconds. This was about half a second slower than my personal best, but it felt really good.

Event #3: 25-yard freestyle
Time: 13.68
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 5
In the 25-yard freestyle, I swam it in 13.68 seconds, which beat my old best time of 13.72 seconds.

Event #4: 50-yard backstroke
Time: 36.77
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 3
Lastly, my backstroke has improved considerably--I swam the 50-yard backstroke in 36.77 seconds, which beat my old personal best by more than 4 seconds! Within the last month, my coach and I have been working on my backstroke and my IM turns, so I am so pleased to see big improvements.

Gomer Davis Pumpkin Chase 5K

Race: 5K run
Date: October 27, 2012
Location: Wilmerding, Pa.
Time: 25:24
Overall Rank: 14 out of XX
Age Group Rank: 4 out of X
Results:

My goal today was to beat my time from last year. I solidly did so. Last year I ran this in 27:37. Today I ran it in 25:24. How about that?! I also moved up one position in the rankings--4th place in the men's 30-39 age group (last year I was 5th). Congrats to my friend Dan who got a medal for placing 3rd in our age group. A good time was had by all.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters swim meet (scy)
Date: October 21, 2012
Location: Hollidaysburg, Pa
I competed in 4 events and I started strong but ended with some disappointment.

Event #1: 100-yard freestyle
Time: 1:07.80
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3
My first event was the 100-yard freestyle. I swam this in 1:07.80, which is a new personal best (old record was 1:09). I swam next to a work colleague of mine who I didn't know was going to be there until I saw him. What fun it was to discover something new about somebody who you have worked with for a year. Neiether of us knew that the other person was a swimmer!

Event #2: 100-yard breaststroke
Time: 1:25.29
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
My second event was the 100-yard breaststroke and I finished in 1:25.29, which beat my old personal best of 1:27. The consesus of my friends is that my turns and pull-outs still need a lot of work; otherwise, my stroke is fast. I was in lane 6 today, so I was swimming with folks who were faster than I. So I pushed myself hard on this swim. My quads were burning afterward.

Event #3: 50-yard freestyle
Time: 30.45
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
My third event was the 50-yard freestyle. I swam this in 30.45 seconds. This is my second-fastest time ever, and I'm happy with it. I had almost no time to rest between this and the previous event and I was still a little out of breath as I mounted the starting block. I am sure that in a more rested state I could have taken this swim down to the sub-30 range. My quads were burning more at the end of this swim.

Event #4: 500-yard freestyle
Time: 7:27.35
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3
My last event was more than 30 min later. It was the 500-yard freestyle. I finished in 7:27.35, which is just a fraction of a second faster than my previous best time, set in March 2012. So on the one hand I should be pleased that I had another top performance, but on the other hand, with a whole summer to improve, I am disappointed I did not chop 10 seconds off my previous time. Plus, I didn't beat Dan, who was in the adjacent lane (I didn't really expect to, but one can always hope). My strategy was to start with a fast pace, slow a bit in the middle, and then push again for the last 100 yards. Dan kept pace with me at the beginning but he moved slightly ahead with each pool length, and I lost my fight. I stopped pushing and slowed down for about 150 yards to catch my breath. Dan never slowed down. So when I got to the last 100 yards I knew he was uncatchable. I waited another 50 yards before pushing on the gas pedal and speeding into the wall. I wasn't too much out of breath at that point, which means I could have gone harder. I hate being out of breath. But I also hate knowing I didn't reach my potential.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters swim meet (scy)
Date: October 7, 2012
Location: Edinboro, Pa

Second meet of the season is in the books, and I set three more personal records! After a 700-yard warmup, I did four events:

Event #1: 100-yard freestyle.
Time: 1:09.44
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
My personal best set last year was 1:09.28. I did not beat that time, but I was close: 1:09.44. The actual records submitted to the Masters organization read 1:06.85, but I believe that is an error. The timing strips were set up wrong for the first few events of the meet and the 1:06 time was someone else's time. The person who got my 1:09.44 time might not know that he actually got 1:06.85. Fortunately, it made no difference in the age-group rankings for either him or me. Apart from that issue, this swim of mine was OK but not stellar. I know I could have done better. I had three turns and none of them were close enough to the wall to provide much thrust. Had I done my turns better, my time would have been 1-2 seconds faster. Oh, and a fellow team member pointed out that I didn't attack the wall at the end; I coasted in and got out-touched by my nearest competitors.

Event #2: 50-yard freestyle.
Time: 29.66
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3
My goal was to break 30 seconds, and I did! I was smiling for a good 30 min after this race was done, because I did it in 29.66 seconds. My old time was 30.4 seconds. In a race so short, this 0.74-second improvement is considerable. I had a great turn at the far wall to make up for the lousy ones in my last race.

Event #3: 50-yard breaststroke.
Time: 38.62
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
I have gone a year without improving my breaststroke times. But now I finally made progress. I swam this in 38.62 seconds, breaking my old record of 39.40. Again, a 0.78-second improvement is quite meaningful. I had a good dive, pull-out, and turn at the wall. I can't say that I was thinking about any other of my coach's pointers during the race; for example, I am pretty sure my head was up too high.

Event #4: 25-yard butterfly.
Time: 14.81
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
These short events are just pure fun and no one takes them very seriously because they are so short. In fact, I don't even breathe during a race like this. Anyway, because I did set another personal best, I'll make a big deal out of it. I swam this in 14.81 seconds, improving from my old record of 15.60. I may have shaved off some time due to a rather extended underwater series of dolphin kicks at the end of my dive.

Pittsburgh Great Race 10K

Race: 10K run
Date: September 30, 2012
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
Time: 52:19
Overall Rank: 2487 out of 8207
Age Group Rank: 236 out of 517
Results: http://results.active.com/events/city-of-pittsburgh-great-race-5k-10k/10k

This is a huge race with 8,172 particpants in the 10K and countless more in a concurrent 5K race. Due to the size of the event, we had to wait at the starting line for about an hour before the 9:30am starting time. The temperature was only 51 degrees. This made me very cold--shivering, in fact. The actual run was easy for about 3 miles. I wasn't even breathing hard. But after that, the race lost some of its fun. Despite some heavy breathing and painful calf muscles, I enjoyed the various bands that played for us along the route and the cheering spectators. It was raining some of the time, so those spectators were just as dedicated as the race participants. Well, almost.

My pace was not as fast as my 5K personal record, but it is very, very good considering the distance and my poor training regimen these last few weeks. In fact, I ran faster than 54% of men in my age group. This is my first 10K race, though I did do a 10K run as part of a triathlon earlier in the summer.

Pittsburgh Great Race 10K official certificate for finishing.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters swim meet (scy)
Date: September 16, 2012
Location: Sewickley, Pa.

First swim meet of the season at Baierl Family YMCA:
Event #1: 200-yard freestyle relay
Time: 2:12.23
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
Great to have a new team member who appears to be one of the top 3 fastest people at the whole meet. I am not as fast as him, but my dive was awesome.
Event #2: 50-yard butterfly
Time: 33.53
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 7
I beat my personal best by >1 second, had a great dive and a great turn, and I only swallowed one mouthful of water (oops).

Event #3: 100-yard butterfly
Time: 1:21.78
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
I beat my personal best by almost 2 seconds despite having to pause at the midway point. I pulled myself together though, and finished the last 4 strokes without breathing.
Event #4: 200-yard freestyle
Time: 2:41.57
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 5
Arms still burning from the butterfly, I had a great dive and kept neck-to-neck with everyone in my heat for 125 yards. Then the guy next to me took off. This depressed me for 50 yards or so and then I went all-out at the end. I did not beat my personal best but it was a good swim and I'm happy.
Event #5: 25-yard breaststroke
Time: 17.16
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 3
No great expectations here since I knew I'd be tired. But I covered the distance in 17.16 seconds, beating my old time of 18.5.

Presque Isle Triathlon

Race: Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 25, 2012
Location: Erie, Pa.
Time: 1:24:47.10
Overall Rank: 100 out of 356
Age Group Rank: 12 out of 25
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2012RESULTS/R082512FA/AgeGroups.htm

This was my last triathlon of the season and I had a blast. Not only did I do well athletically but I was in the company of many friends. The location was on a peninsula extending several miles out into Lake Erie from near Erie, Pennsylvania. The date was Saturday, August 25th, which is significant because if I wasn’t doing this with friends, I would have missed the event completely. On my calendar, I had entered August 26th and was not even aware of my mistake until the afternoon before the race! Good thing I still had time to eat a big dinner and start drinking a lot of water to manage my hydration.

SWIM segment, 640 yards
Time: 13:34.10
Age Group Rank: 7 out of 25

The swim course was laid out as a 640-yard triangular course in Presque Isle Bay. This shallow body of water is located between the peninsula and the mainland, so it was supposed to be warmer and calmer water than if we were swimming on the Lake-facing side. Key phrase here is “supposed to be.” The wind was stiff (14mph gusting to 18mph) and the waves were significant (for swimming). Water temperature seemed to be in the mid 70s, which wasn’t too bad. However, the water was murky with visibility measured in inches and there was some floating, stringy seaweed. Except for the challenging wave action, I have swum in these conditions before. But one more thing made the swim a challenge: the swim was run as a time-trial start in alphabetical order of the swimmers’ last names. This means a slow swimmer with a last name starting with ‘A’ would be quickly overtaken by a faster swimmer with a last name listed later in the alphabet. This is an inconvenience for the fast swimmer and something really terrible for the slower swimmers, as they might be inadvertently pushed around by surrounding swimmers in addition to the nasty waves. The waves were really terrible, even for me, a fairly strong swimmer. I swallowed lots of water in the beginning but soon adjusted by rotating far to my side to take breaths between strokes. My biggest challenge was staying on course. I think I naturally swim to the right of center, and after the first turn of the triangular course I veered far to the right. A lifeguard on a Sea-doo watercraft intersected me and pointed the way. I looked up and saw about two dozen swimmers at least 25 yards to my left. That’s where I was supposed to be! I think I lost a lot of time being so far off course, and I got discouraged a little. Plus, with the heavy wave action, I found I was kicking with my legs a lot more during my freestyle than normal. So with some concern for lost time and wasted energy, I pushed hard to finish the third side of the triangle and I exited the water and ran to the transition area near the beach. I passed at least 10 people as I ran to the transition area. These folks were clearly fatigued by fighting that choppy water and seeing their distress made me feel a lot better about my own condition (sorry for them, though). My swim time was 13:34.10, which ranked 7 out of 25 in my age group.

T1 TRANSITION
My transition time between swim and bike was 2:25.95, which ranked 191 out of 356 non-relay race participants.

BIKE segment, 13 miles
Time: 37:09.00
Age Group Rank: 10 out of 25

Triathlon bike segment was along a park road

My pre-race strategy was to swim and bike as hard as I could and then run with whatever energy I had left. Running is my weakest area and in past triathlons I think I have held back on the bike segment so that I wouldn’t fatigue on the run. For today’s race, I was just going to go all-out and risk fatigue on the run. I can’t say that I swam as hard as I could on the swim segment because I simply wasn’t concentrating on my pace. I was concentrating on beating those terrible waves. So now that I was on the bike, I pedaled hard and didn’t stop until the end of the 13-mile course. The wind was still a problem at the beginning; a headwind made me work hard to maintain my average 21 mph speed on this flat course. The wind was the only challenge though; Presque Isle is basically a giant sandbar and the highest point on the whole peninsula is 7 feet above the Lake’s surface! I passed a bunch of folks on the bike and was only passed by racers who wore the teardrop-shaped bike helmets that have become popular among the top triathletes. No offense to anyone who wears one of those, but I think they look dorky and wouldn’t shave enough time off my race time to warrant wearing one (or warrant buying one at $175). Nevertheless, those folks passed me, so something has made them fast. I just doubt it’s the helmet.

Within the first mile on the ride I passed a friend of mine with a last name starting with ‘A.’ This didn’t mean I was going to beat him in the end, since he is a much faster runner. So I kept charging on that bike. About a mile before the end of the bike segment I passed another friend with a last name starting with ‘K’ (just like my last name!), so now I knew I was competitive and I tried to stay ahead of him the rest of the day. My bike time was 37:09.00, which ranked 10th out of 25 men in my age group.

T2 TRANSITION
My transition time between bike and run was 1:44.15 and ranked 276 out of 356 participants. One of my friends asked me later why I took so long to change into my running shoes. I have no good answer to this. I think I just go slow because I’m mentally preparing for the run (a big challenge for me) and that occupies my thoughts. I was never good at multi-tasking.

RUN segment, 3.5 miles
Time: 30:09.90
Age Group Rank: 14 out of 25

The 3.5-mile run course was out-and-back on a paved road for most of the way. My legs felt great but I was out of breath in the beginning. I consumed a GU for fuel and by the time I was done I had gotten into a sustainable rhythm. For a short while I was running pretty fast (for me), but I slowed down just a bit in order to manage my energy and be sure to complete the race. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done this because I still had energy to burn as I crossed the finish line.

Near the finish line of the triathlon run segment.

Just before the turn-around point, my ‘A’-named friend that I passed on the bike segment passed me on the run. I expected this, but because he started the race earlier than me, it wasn’t clear how much he would have to beat me in the run in order to beat me overall. Since this was an out-and-back course, I looked at people who were racing in the opposite direction. I was both looking for my friends as well as the peoples’ race numbers, which indicated their placement in the alphabet and thus their start time in the race. I saw a satisfying amount of people behind me that had race numbers below mine. This meant that I was going to beat them in the overall race. I hate to admit that I am such a competitive person, but knowing I am beating somebody (anybody!) helps me keep going. For example, I saw my friend ‘C’ and then my friend ‘K’ and they were both behind me. I was beating them. Yay!

At the finish line, my friend ‘A’ called out and said “Jim, this is where you can sprint!” and since I still had energy left, I followed through with the advice and sped up. I finished the run in 30:03.90, which ranked 14 out of 25 in my age group. Overall, I finished the sprint triathlon in 1:24:47.10, which ranked 12 out of 25 in my age group and 100 out of 356 overall. I beat all my friends, and I am surprised that I feel less jubilant about that than I thought I would. I’m pleased about it, but beating them was really not that important. We finished the race; we supported one another; we bonded in the experience. That’s why I’m happy tonight.

Janney and the Y North Park Triathlon

Race: Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 12, 2012
Location: Allison Park, Pa.
Time: 1:26:23
Overall Rank: 154 out of 410
Age Group Rank: 12 out of 26
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2012RESULTS/R081212AD.HTML

Swim Segment, distance = 700m
Time: 17:09
Overall Rank: 119 out of 410
Part of the North Park sprint triathlon. I'm happy with this pace. I was ranked 119 out of 410 athletes. Time includes running a fair distance out of the pool to the T1 transition area.

Bike Segment, distance = 12 miles
Time: 40:26
Overall Rank: 148 out of 410
Part of the North Park sprint triathlon. I'm happy with this pace. The 40:26 time includes the T2 transition. I ranked 148 out of 410.

Run Segment, distance = 5K
Time: 28:48
Overall Rank: 203 out of 410
Part of the North Park sprint triathlon. Not proud of this pace but it's normal for me. My run ranked 203 out of 410, so I'm about average.

Pittsburgh Triathlon

Race: International distance triathlon (1.5K swim + 40K bike + 10K run)
Date: July 29, 2012
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 2:59:15.
Overall Rank: 278 out of 358
Age Group Rank: 27 out of 29
Results: http://www.piranha-sports.com/Results/EntryDetail.aspx?RegistrationID=60611


Swim Segment: 1.5K distance
Time: 27:21
Overall Rank: 158 out of 358


The triathlon swim segment was in the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh.

First segment of Pittsburgh International-distance Triathlon went well. The swim was in the Allegheny River as it flows downtown past Heinz Field and PNC Park. We entered between the two stadiums and swam directly upstream to the Clemente Bridge. Then at a yellow bouy, we turned 90 degrees and swam to another bouy halfway across the river. Then we swam downstream past the entry point and on to Heinz Field. I did a similar swim course a couple weeks ago, but today's race was very different. First, there were 135 men in my heat (crowded!). We all piled into the water, treaded water for a few minutes behind the start bouy, and started swimming after a countdown. Obviously there were lots of inadvertant contacts with other swimmers, and I felt trapped by not being able to pass people ahead of me while at the same time being bumped by people behind me. I suppose I could have been more aggressive by squeezing in between bodies, but the underwater visibility was zero and I had no idea what was ahead of the people I wanted to pass. One good thing about this race was that orientation was made easier by where the rising sun happened to be. We couldn't see the bouys marking the course, but if we swam toward the sun, we'd be heading in the right direction. The second thing that made this swim different from my last was the roughness of the water. A couple weeks ago, this river was as lazy and flat as a pond or pool. Today (after heavy rain all week), the water was more rough, and the current much stronger (16-fold increase in cubic feet per second). There was also a fair amount of flood debris. I'm making this sound bad, but it wasn't really. The water was still warm (78 degrees) and I swam at a speed comparable to my times in a pool.


Exiting the water after the 1.5 km swim triathlon segment

There were two instances where I almost got off course. First, I was swimming a little farther in the middle of the river than I should have, and I nearly missed a bouy. Swimmers were supposed to keep all bouys to his or her right, and I was nearly upon a bouy when a kayaker patrolling the race yelled at me. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but it was enough for me to look up and see that I needed to make a quick adjustment to my swimming direction to stay to the right of the bouy. I made a similar mistake a little later, as well. The bouy was marking a 90-degree turn and I cut off the corner. Realizing my mistake, I turned around and headed back toward the bouy so I could round it on the correct side. No race officials seemed to be nearby, so no one would have known. But I would have, and I didn't want to cheat.

Overall, my swim time was ranked 158 out of 358. Being below the median, I am happy with this time.



Bike Segment: 40K distance
Time: 1:24:21
Overall Rank: 265 out of 358
My T1 time between the swimming segment and cycling segment was 3:04. Looking at the results, I see that 76% of the partcipants did this faster than me. Oh well, I'm not that competitive. To save time I skipped my cycling gloves and I also didn't eat anything. I did get a swig of water.

Pittsburgh triathlon bike segment

Once on the bike, I started strong and quickly realized that the one other person I knew doing this race was just ahead of me. That's quite a coincidence, and I appreciated racing immediately behind him for the first few miles. Drafting was not allowed, so I kept a few bike lengths behind him. At one point I passed him going up a hill, but he soon passed me, and then maintained his lead for the rest of the race.

The bike segment consisted of two identical loops. The course wound around a few city blocks, then climbed an entrance ramp onto a highway HOV lane (closed to car traffic). We followed the HOV lane to its first exit (at Perrysville), looped around a park-and-ride lot, and then followed the HOV lane back into downtown. Then repeated the loop. Going into the race I was not concerned about the bike segment at all. I can charge up the (steep) hills around my home without much trouble, so when I looked at the bike route for the race I didn't see anything I couldn't handle with ease. However, what I maybe didn't prepare myself for was the continuous incline that the HOV lane features from the downtown entrance ramp to the Perrysville Exit (approx. 3 miles). So while the slope of this hill wasn't bad, its length tired me out. I maintained a speed around 10-11 mph going up hill and then 22-24 mph going downhill. I was expecting a faster descent but the wind was a headwind, I didn't pedal on some parts just to give my legs a rest, and on the second descent I even stood up on the pedals (not aero!) to stretch some really sore back and hip muscles. My max speed was 34.3 mph.

The part of the loop downtown featured a lot of brick crosswalks that I had to be careful on as I rounded corners. I saw one person had crashed taking a corner too tightly on the brick surface (he was OK).

Probably my favorite part of the bike segment was at the park-and-ride parking lot where volunteers were there handing out water and Gatorade. Instead of handing us paper cups, they handed us plastic bottles that fit into our water bottle cages. Since I was having a hard time on the bike, I elected to take one of these bottles. I simply put my hand out, and grabbed it as the volunteer held it out. I felt like "yeah, he's on my team." It felt so natural and practiced, but I can't think of any other time that I've grabbed something from someone while riding past them at 15 mph (except maybe when I was a juvenile deliquent purse-snacher...just kidding). BTW, I had purposely left my water bottle off my bike during the race, so when I was done drinking, I slipped it into that vacant spot on my frame. I had decided against bringing water with me because I expected to complete the bike segment in about an hour. I figured I'd be fine for an hour without water. However, it took longer than an hour and I was glad to have a drink.

My total time on the bike ranked 265 out of 358 participants. Obviously, this isn't very good, and I knew that as soon as I started the bike segment. I passed almost no one, and it seemed like nearly everyone passed me!

Run Segment: 10K distance
Time: 1:01:12
Overall Rank: 296 out of 358


Run segment of Pittsburgh Triathlon, international distance

Given how tired and hurting I was from my bike ride, and given how challenging running is for me, I decided as I pulled into the transition area that I would walk my bike there, rather than run with the bike to my assigned rack. I felt a little embarrassed to walk, as everyone else was rushing around. But I needed to rest and re-group for my run. I sat on my towel, changed my shoes, grabbed some food and drink, and started the run. And run, I did. It actually felt easy. My leg muscles were not complaining and any discomfort I had from the bike ride dissolved. I was worried about cramps, but no cramps! Several things caused my run to go really smoothly. First, the aforementioned walk in the transition zone. Second, I knew that a ton of people had passed me on the bike, so I no longer had the illusion that I would have a competitive finish time. Therefore, I allowed myself to just go slow. Third, I drank orange juice in the transition area. No, not orange-flavored Gatorade. This was 100% pure orange juice left over from my breakfast that I kept in a cooler. Oh, did that taste and feel good going down! Real OJ has a lot of sugar and potassium, too, so it's just as good as the artificial Gatorade stuff. Speaking of artificial stuff, the last thing I can think of that led me to have a good run was GU packets. My triathlon shorts have a zippered pocket in the back, and I stashed three packets there. GU is really gross. Containing several types of sugar and some vitamins, it's like consuming flavored honey or drinking maple syrup. It doesn't feel or taste good. But it really worked for me. It gave me the calories I needed to keep going without putting solid food into a bouncing-around stomach. I haven't used GUs before, so I felt a bit like those early astronauts that had to eat tubes of food paste. (this allusion probably sounds strange to you, but for a moment I was pretending to be an astronaut eating paste, and that was a pleasant distraction from my run!).

The run course was on the riverwalk that runs along the Allegheny River north from downtown (on the North Shore). Half of it was paved and half was crushed stone. We ran 3.1 miles north, turned around, and came back. Having runners using the same trail to go both directions was useful because as a runner going the opposite direction would approach, I'd glance at him or her, and wonder about who the person was: how old they were, what they did at work, whether they had families, how rich or poor they were. Just people-watching stuff to keep me entertained.

Like every other out-and-back race I've done, the first half seemed to take forever. This is because I didn't scout out the trail ahead of time and didn't know where the turn-around was. But once I had turned around, I knew that I was halfway done. Of course, I knew pretty well where I was along the course, first because there were volunteers handing out water at every mile, and second because I was wearing my HR monitor and it was telling me what my pace was.

Speaking of heart rate, I am truly surprised that I kept it so low. When I run (up hills) near my home, my HR regularly goes above 160, and sometimes higher than 180. But on this flat course, I had a steady 150-155.

With 1 mile to go, I decided to pick up the pace. After a pair of folks passed me, I thought maybe I would increase my speed to keep up with them. That worked for a while, but ultimately they were going too fast. Nevertheless, I was running faster and maintained a quickened pace until the finish line. As I crossed over the finish mat, I saw the time was 2:59:15 and my spirits raised considerably because I realized that despite my slow biking and running segments, I still acheived my goal. I wanted to finish in under 3 hours, and that's what I did. Amazing!

Moments after crossing the finish line, I experienced something that has never happened to me. My eyes started to tear up. This sensation lasted only a minute, but it was a curious experience. Were these tears of exhaustion, or tears of joy, or...what? To be honest, I wasn't all that exausted, but still, with the cesation of exercise, I imagine certain neurotransmitters and hormones started to change in their rates of secretion. But even though I am a biologist, I don't think I need to come up with a physiological explanation here. I think these were tears of joy. This was my first olympic-length triathlon (the ones I did last year were shorter), and I have been looking forward to this day for months. To complete the race--just to finish it--is a great feat that five years ago I never would have imagined I could do. I am a confident person in many areas of my life, but a race like this helps me realize that I can do great things in many more areas than I previously thought. Joy. It feels good.

Oh, and just so you don't think I'm a sap, I want you to know that no tears were actually shed. I only felt the sensation of wanting to cry. The only thing running down my cheek was sweat.

USMS Search for Monongy Swim

Race: 1.2 mile open water swim
Date: July 14, 2012
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 38:31.16
Overall Rank: 7 out of 15
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1

This was my first open-water swim race. It was sanctioned by U.S. Masters Swimming. Going in, there were a number of things I was worried about, but today turned out great and none of my fears were realized. In fact, I could have easily swam farther or faster than I did today.

Basic facts: 45 swimmers, adult males and females of different ages.
Water temperature of Allegheny River: Listed officially as 78 degrees, the water felt much warmer to me--probably 82 degrees.
Water current: About 0.1 mph, so swimming upsteam was negligibly harder than swimming downstream.
Air temperature and weather: 69 degrees with light rain and a 3 mph wind.

I was in the fourth heat: men (all ages) swimming 1.2 miles. The earlier heats were for more experienced or crazy swimmers doing two loops and going 2.4 miles. We started between two buoys about 20 yards off from the riverwalk at Heinz Field (where the Steelers play). With the bullhorn, the eight men in my heat started swimming. I overtook 4 of them immediately but had no idea that three took off far ahead of me. So during the whole race I was thinking I was swimming first in my heat. I'm not that fast a swimmer so I wondered as I swam past the first turn bouy at Ft. Duquesne Bridge whether I should slow down a bit and conserve my energy, as "everyone" else in my heat was behind me and they must know something more about pacing themselves than me. So I slowed down.

Soon after circling around the turn-around-point buoy, a couple women zoomed past me. "Who are they?" I wondered (I'm still not sure). At that point I worried that others would start passing me, so I sped up a little. Besides those two women, I swam this whole thing without seeing another swimmer. That was fine, except it didn't encourage me to swim fast. I need a competitive event to push me beyond my perceived limits, as that is how I get better and stronger physically, and how my self confidence is reinforced.

Soon after the turn-around point at PNC Park I saw my friend Dan watching me from a pier. I waved slightly (so as not to disturb my stroke) and kept swimming, thankful for having someone watch over me.

I started to tire a little bit as I swam past the Del Monte Foods headquarters. But at no time was I worried that I wouldn't finish. This race was easy! Water was warm, water was flat, current was very slow, the river water was a foggy green color but not impenetrable to light, and there were so few competitors that I didn't have to worry about anyone accidentally hitting me in the face.

As I neared the finishline, I felt I had some extra energy left and I debated when and how to use it. "Is this the point where I should go all-out?" I kept wondering. But distances were hard to judge and I didn't want to burn out before I got to the finish. So I never did go all-out. I had joked earlier about swimming a portion of the race using the butterfly stroke, but as I approached the shoreline I had to make sure I was swimming to the proper target. So I just swam straight to the finish line, proud to have completed another new experience in my rich life.

I was the 7th person to finish out of a field of 45, but since some folks were swimming two loops and I swam only one, this is not the best comparison to make. All I can say is that I placed 4th among the 8 men that swam in my heat. Not bad for a first try. Not bad at all.

Escape to the Lake MS 150

Event: bicyle ride in support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Date: June 9-10, 2012
Location: Zelienople, Pa to Conneaut, Oh
Time: 5hr:15min on Day 1 (14.4 mph pace) + 4hr: 9min on Day 2 (15.5 mph pace)

Overall, this was the best experience I've had so far in 2012. The event had 1300 participants and was very well organized. There was an extraordinary number of volunteers that staffed rest stops every 15 miles, controlled traffic at intersections, drove Support & Gear Vehicles, and cheered us on. I rode with a good friend of mine, and we mostly stayed together on the route. We became very comfortable riding side-by-side, and if we wanted to pass someone, we'd just read each other's body language and pass as a team. A third friend was frequently behind us, but we waited for him at the rest stops where we ate free snacks, filled up our water bottles, and re-applied sunscreen.

Day 1 consisted of a ride from Zelienople, Pa., to Meadville, Pa, a distance of 75.8 miles.

Miles 1-16 featured a lot of shade, which was mostly nice, but given that it was in the upper 50s, it was a little chilly! There were so many hills on this route, I don't remember them all. But I do remember the first Category 5 hill where some cyclists had dismounted and were walking up the hill. And it was a big hill. Still, I thought "if they are walking and I don't have to, this means I'm in good shape to finish this!" At the rest stop at Moraine State Park, Mike took advantage of the free bike maintenance tent and had some adjustments made.

Miles 16-33. There was a second Cat 5 hill, but I don't remember it. Our rest stop was at a church. It was hot already! (This church needs more trees in their parking lot!). Anyway, there were some volunteers with horns and bells that cheered for us as we entered the rest stop. Nice gesture. Dan and I then waited for Mike who pulled in with a flat front tire. Mike hadn't noticed that (I guess it was such a gradual leak...), so we spent some more time at the bike maintenance tent.

Miles 33-47. There was almost no flat land anywhere along the route, but if I had to choose what section was flattest, this would be it. Here, we were on un-traveled country roads, many small enough that they didn't even have yellow lines down the middle. Very enjoyable. At the end of this section we had lunch at a Elementary School. A lot of cyclists sat on the ground to eat their turkey, PBJ, or cheese sandwiches, but the school cafateria room was open for our use, so the three of us ate there. The medics were motherly and told us to hydrate and use sunscreen.

Miles 47-61. This leg was uneventful for me. The elevation profile shows we had a steep descent to the rest stop at a local park. The gossip was going, though. Word was that a steep hill was about to begin. In fact, it was so steep, that the next rest stop was perched at the top, in just 4 miles.

Miles 41-45. This was the third Cat 5 hill of the day. It wasn't terrible, though. The steepest section was very steep--maybe a 25% grade--but it was short and I never had to walk like a lot of folks were doing. The rest stop was outside at a small country church. They had run out of ice but still had water and Gatorade. I enjoyed watching barn swallows fly under the eaves of the church to tend to a nest. Cyclists sitting immediately below the nest were oblivious. That was probably fine with the bird parents.

Miles 65-75. Home stretch! Very hilly, and I was feeling tired at this point. But after going 65 miles, what's another 10? The first day's route ended at Allegheny College where Dan and I shared a dorm room. There were several things to do on campus: pick up your bag from the luggage truck, leave your bike in the campus gym secured for the night, have dinner, enjoy a band concert with beer garden, swim in the campus pool, and get a massage. Dan and I inteded to enjoy all these activities but we ran out of time and energy. We didn't get to the pool or even have a beer. At 9pm everyone was packing up and heading to their sleeping quarters. Some of the cyclists had brought camping tents and camped on the campus green. I'm glad to have had a bed to sleep in, but I didn't really sleep well. I was still too excited about my trip.

Day 2 distance = 64.1 miles
The second day of the MS 150 ride to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society began at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., and continued to the shore of Lake Erie in Conneaut, Ohio. We awoke at 6am, took our bags back to the luggage truck, and were eating breakfast in the college dining hall by 7am. Dan and I had shared a dorm room but we wanted to meet Mike (who stayed at a hotel) for breakfast. The 7am meeting time was my idea, but it wasn't a very good one. Our event actually started at 7am (I thought it started at 7:30), so while we weren't the last cyclists to leave the campus, we were almost last. It wasn't a big deal; we were still cycling with a group of about 100 people!

Miles 1-14. Dan and I were feeling good and sped rather quickly through the leafy neighborhoods of Meadville. We encountered the first Cat 5 climb of the day at mile 6, and I don't remember it. That's a good thing, isn't it? The rest stop at mile 14 was at a volunteer ambulance service where we applied sunscreen. A woman about our age came over and asked to use some of our (Dan's) sunscreen. Dan said "sure," and this started a bit of conversation that started up again at later rest stops. That's one thing that was so neat about this experience--everyone was friendly and supportive.

Miles 14-27. This section was really rolling. Somewhat steep hills were followed by equally steep descents, and so on. Was this the section where a man with bagpipes stood on the roadside, playing for cyclists as we rode by? I forget exactly where that was, but he deserves mention. There was a Boy Scout Troop in charge of refreshments at the rest stop (picnic shelter in a local park), and they walked around asking if you needed anything. I kind of hated to turn them down, but I was still able-bodied enough to refill my own water bottle and grab a delicious slice of cinnamon raisin bread. Mmmmmmm! Mike was waiting in line at the restroom and he told Dan and I to go on without him. We agreed to leave him but then decided it would be fun to secretly hang back, give him a head start, and then pass him on the road. And that's what we did. I think Mike appreciated the fact that we didn't actually leave him, even though we said we would.

Miles 27-42. This section featured the fifth and last Cat 5 climb of the trek. Then after the climb, the elevation map shows we decended quite a bit. However, I didn't notice the decents because I was starting to get a sore back. And once you feel pain, you get tired (or maybe it works the other way around). Anyway, Dan kept going strong and so I pushed forward, too. Lunch was provided at the next rest stop (another local park), so it was good to sit at a picnic table and eat a lot of food. I took some Tylenol, too.

Miles 42-54. The route was in open farmland and we steadily climbed some more, but the slope was very mild. My back was better and since there was very little traffic, Dan and I rode side-by-side for almost all of this section.

Miles 54-64. The last stretch! I was back to feeling sore at this point, but what's another 10 miles after doing so many already? Despite any back pain I was feeling, I think I might have had the most fun in this last section because after we entered Ohio and got closer to the finishline, local residents started to be very vocal in their support for us. People in cars coming the opposite direction would wave or give us a thumbs-up sign. People put signs in their yard, welcoming us to Conneaut. Folks on porches would wave and cheer. In the neighborhoods close to the lake, there were actually some folks lining the streets watching us ride by. Wow! This wasn't the Tour de France but it sure felt like it.

Lake Erie was at the finish line, along with pork barbecue sandwiches, ice cream, and soda/pop. Music played, and an announcer would occasionally read the list of corporate sponsors. After the meal, Dan and Mike and I loaded our bikes onto a tractor trailer truck, picked up our luggage, changed into street clothes, and boarded a charter bus heading back to Zelienople, Pa.

Two-day total = 140 miles. Elevation gain = 3,638 feet.

A Rabbit Runs Through It 5K

Race: 5K running race
Date: April 14, 2012
Location: Latrobe, PA
Time: 25:16
Overall Rank: 62 out of 235
Age Group Rank: 9 out of 18
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2012RESULTS/R041412CB.HTML

First 5K race of the year (and only my 4th 5K race ever). My fastest running pace ever. So it was a great race! The route was through downtown Latrobe, PA; it was mostly flat. They actually started the race 3-4 min early, which was considerably dumb, as there were some folks who hadn't gotten to the starting line yet. Glad I was early instead of my normal 2-min tardiness to everything. This was a family-friendly event and a surprising number of participants ran about 0.5 mile and then exhausted themselves. That would have been me a couple years ago. But not today. At that point, I was relaxed and enjoying the fact that I was passing lots of people. At each straightaway though, I'd see 50 or more people ahead of me, and that kept me going until I realized I'd never catch them. So I just found a pace I liked and kept going. At the midpoint I was a little concerned that I would run out of energy before the end. People around me were breathing hard and grunting and spitting, and even though I wasn't doing the latter two things, it kind of made me want to. Coming into the home stretch (which seemed to stretch a little more than I thought as we circled the stadium where we had started), I was ready to be done. But then I heard someone coming up from behind me and I thought "oh no you don't" and started to sprint, too. The man exclaimed "we've got to beat the ladies!" referring to two women just ahead of us. Somehow he passed me but I stayed on his tail, passing both women. I said "sorry" as I passed them, thinking it was a little obnoxious to zoom past them just ahead of the finish line. "We did it!" I said as the man and I crossed the finish line, and he and I did a high-five. We walked the rest of the track to cool down, during which he talked about going fishing later in the day. The man ended up winning second place in the 50-59 age group. That's actually how I know my own finish time, because I wasn't paying any attention to the finish clock when I passed it. I just wanted to "beat the ladies!" I'm sure they didn't care. It's all for fun.

AMYMSA Championship

Race: Masters Swim Championship (scy)
Date: March 31, 2012 - April 1, 2012
Location: Clarion, Pa.
 
DAY 1: I raced in one relay and four individual events.

(1) 200-yard Medley Relay--I started off my team by doing 50 yards of backstroke. I've been practicing backstroke recently and this paid off. I finished in 39.25 seconds, which is a personal best. Unfortunately I hurt myself on the start. I pushed off with such great energy that I pulled a muscle in my right calf. It's a chronic problem for me. I'll be OK, but it sure soured the rest of the day, since I knew I wouldn't be performing at 100% for the rest of the day. My team came in 4 out of 4 in our gender age group.
(2) 100-yard Freestyle--I was still worried about my leg, so it's not surprsing that I finished this event in 1:12.32, which was about 3 seconds slower than my personal best. I was disappointed. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.
(3) 25-yard Backstroke--I had to do another backstoke start here with my injured leg. I finished in 17.41 seconds, which is almost a second slower than my personal best. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.
(4) 50-yard Freestyle--Oh dear, at this point I was psyched out. I had hurt myself and was under-performing. That's unfortunate because the 50-yard freestyle was supposed to be my BIG event. I have been slowly but steadily improving in this event all season long, and breaking the 30-second threshold was within my grasp. My personal best was 30.37 seconds, I wanted to break this record and finish under 30 seconds. Alas, I was unable to meet this goal. I swam it in 30.91 seconds. Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4.
(5) 50-yard Breaststroke--I don't remember much about this event. I was sulking about my poor performance and didn't care so much about my last race of the day. It is ironic that I actually did very well in this event: I came within a tenth of a second of my personal best, finishing in 39.49 seconds. Age Group Rank: 4 out of 5.


DAY 2: I raced in one relay and three individual events.

(1) 200-yard Freestyle Relay--Once again, I started off for my team. This is not by accident, as I had mistakenly shared with my teammates my fear of diving into one of them during the relay (I had never done relays before). So they put me in front so that I'd be diving into an empty lane and no one would have to worry about me diving into them. I wonder now whether they will ever let me compete in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th position. So anyway, I finished my 50-yard segment in 30.67 seconds. As I mentioned in my report on Day 1, I was hoping to break 30 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle race, and I viewed this event as my second chance. I donned a swim cap for the very first time, thinking it might help me psychologically if not hydrodynamically. I got closer to my goal, but I didn't break 30 seconds, nor was my time lower than my 30.37 personal best. I felt good, though, and I was looking forward to the rest of the day's events. My team came in 5 out of 5 in our age group gender category.
(2) 100-yard Individual Medley--This event held promise. I'm pretty good at it. But bad luck was still following me. For the first time in a year my goggles fell off during my dive. I was able to slide them back into position during the butterfly segment and I thought I'd be OK, but then as I was doing backstroke I realized I couldn't see the flags or the wall. One cannot speed through the water and then not know where the wall is. So I slowed down, felt around for the wall, and with my other hand threw off my swim cap and goggles. I plunged back into the water for my breastroke and freestyle segments and I swam as fast as I could. I was determined to make the best of this bad situation and I nearly beat one of the other swimmers in the pool. But I didn't, and my time of 1:24.89 was obviously nowhere near my personal best of 1:19.30. It certainly didn't take me 5 seconds to discard my swim cap and goggles, but swimming with distractions is not going to break any records. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.
(3) 50-yard Butterfly--What the heck! Nothing more can go wrong this weekend, so I was no longer worried about doing well. I concentrated on having fun. I really like the butterfly stroke, so let's go! I finished in 35.23 seconds, about 0.4 second slower than my personal best. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 4.

(4) 100-yard Butterfly--This was my last event of champs, and I had to decide what I wanted to do with it. I had never competed in the event before, so I had no personal best to beat. I was also the only person in my gender-age group, so I was guaranteed a first-place finish. I had no pressure to do anything but finish. Should I do my best anyway? Given it was the very end of the meet, should I expend every ounce of energy to do well? Yes, that's what I would do. I would give it everything I had left. Butterfly is fun, and I wasn't feeling good about my earlier swims. So what was there to lose? I dove in and swam. I passed the 50-yard mark and didn't feel too bad. I got to the 75-yard mark and wasn't too winded. Oh, but the arms and shoulders started to fatigue. It became hard to convince those arms to come out of the water with each stroke. My undulations became exaggerated as my arms got weaker, and my kick started to disconnect from my arms (because the arms weren't doing their part). At 90 yards or so, I was a mess. But I made it, and my friends cheered. I finished in 1:23.58, which was 4.5 seconds faster than the seed time I submitted. I finally felt like I had won something. And then I went home. Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: March 4, 2012
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

I did four events: (1) 500-free in 7:27.50, which beat my old record set last October by 22 seconds. Ha! This was the most fun I've had in a while, as I was neck-to-neck with the guy in the adjacent lane for the whole race. And then I gave it everything I had and beat him in the last 25 yards. He finished in 7:29.  Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.

(2) 50-free in 30.37 seconds, which beat my old record of 30.60 seconds. I wanted to break the 30-second barrier but I'll take the incremental improvement and break it next time. Age Group Rank: 5 out of 5.

(3) 100-breast in 1:29.40. I failed to break my old record of 1:27.70. Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2.

(4) 25-back in 17.37 seconds. I had not done this event before so I have no old time to compare. This was another race where my lane neighbor and I were swimming at the same pace; in fact, we tied. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.

Duquesne University's pool seems really old and in poor shape. I was mildly disappointed to see this. I'm surprised a university would have a pool in worse shape than most of the YMCAs where we typically compete. My next swim meet is Chapionships at Clarion University at the end of March. Maybe they'll have a better pool...

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: February 19, 2012
Location: Cranberry, PA

Had another great swim meet yesterday. I did 4 events.

(1) 100-yard IM in 1:19.30. This broke my old record by 2 seconds. I attempted to do the fly-back turn the way my coach taught me, but i think I failed in that endeavor. So it wasn't pretty but what I did still worked. I came in 5th out of 6 in my gender-age group. That's actually an improvement--this may be the first time I ever beat someone in my group!

(2) 50-yard butterfly in 34.84 seconds. This again broke my old record by 2 seconds. A third-place win (out of 3). My friend Dan said I looked good but held my head up. I'll work on that.

(3) 25-yard freestyle in 13.91 seconds. I did not beat my personal best this time. I was off by two tenths of a second. A third place win (out of 3). This was despite the fact that I had just cut my toe and the bleeding had stopped only a minute before I climbed to the starting block. I thought maybe I'd have to scratch, but no one around me seemed to care that I was swimming with a bloody toe.

(4) My best race was my last. I swam the 200-yard freestyle in 2:38.86 (3rd out of 3). This beat my old record from October 2011 by 14 seconds. I destroyed the other swimmers in my heat. I finished so much before them that I wondered if I had counted laps wrong. When I was done I realized I wasn't even breathing hard. I could have swum harder!

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: February 5, 2012
Location: Clearfield, PA

My meet yesterday was at the Clearfield YMCA. It’s a brand new pool. I did 4 events and set personal bests in all of them:

1. 100 IM = 1:19.64 is about 2 seconds better than when I did the event in October. Somebody on my team told me I flutter-kicked between backstroke and breaststroke. I said “yes, that sounds like something I would do!” I’m within 6 seconds of my best friend, so I know I’ll beat him at some point. Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4.

2. 50 Fly = 35.45 is about 2 seconds faster than my personal best. The swim went well, but my ending was terrible—I hit the wall at midstroke so that was a little awkward and probably added a second to my time. Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3.

3. 25 Free = 13.72 is about 0.3 sec faster than my personal best. Of course there is a lot of measurement error with such a short event combined with human stop-watch operators. I remember breathing a few times, and this shouldn’t be necessary so I know that’s one way to improve. I got first place in my gender-age group for this event because no one else did it. Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1.

4. 50 Back = 41.16 is considerably less than the seed time of 47.0 that I submitted, but that was simply a guess because I had never done this event before. I think my start was reasonably good for someone who hasn’t had much practice. I don’t know if my hands and head landed in the right spot, but it felt fine. I really flew on the first 25 and despite paying attention to the flags I flipped over far too late to do a flipturn at the wall so I did an open turn. On my way back, my friend said my hips/torso was undulating side-to-side too much. I sometimes (often?) do this in freestyle, too, and I’m not sure whether this is fatigue or just too much [wild] enthusiasm during a race. Speaking of wild enthusiasm, at the end of the 50 yards I somehow ended up in the corner of the lane and missed touching the pad, so I think I might have been a second or two faster than indicated. Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2.

I’ve now acquired 100 points over 6 meets this season. I’m still the slowest member of my gender-age group but I’m having a blast.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: January 8, 2012
Location: Grove City, PA

Event #1: 100-yard freestyle
Time: 1:09.28
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4

Event #2: 50-yard freestyle
Time: 30.57 seconds
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4

Event #3: 50-yard breaststroke
Time: 40.50 seconds
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

Event #4: 25-yard butterfly
Time: 15.55
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

I did a 450-yard warm-up then waited for my first event: 100-yard freestyle. I kicked butt. My second event was 50-yard freestyle and I again beat my personal best. And you know what? I could have gone faster. My third event was 50-yard breaststroke and I messed up to the point that I should have been disqualified but apparently the official didn't notice or care. Upon diving, I got a bit of water in one of my goggle's eye sockets and this distracted me enough that my first stroke in the water was butterfly instead of breaststroke. It took me a while then to figure out how to start breaststroke from a butterfly position but I made it work. I did breaststroke for the rest of the race but I didn't push myself. I wasn't even winded at the end. My teammates were laughing really hard when I got out of the water. Glad to be the source of some humor!
My last event was 25-yard butterfly and I beat my seed time by 0.2 seconds. It's hard to improve by much with such a short distance. It's all in the dive. All in all, a great day of competition.