AMYMSA swim meet

Race: AMYMSA masters swim meet
Date: December 7, 2014
Location: Sewickley, PA
Results: http:

Two personal bests in 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. I came very close to setting two more personal bests in 50 freestyle (-0.16 seconds) and 200 IM (-0.56 seconds). This was the most fun I've had at a meet in a long time. I was relaxed...AND I swam well. I haven't been able to find that balance until now.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet
Date: November 16, 2014
Location:
Results: http:

I swam in four events and did not set any personal bests. This is maybe only the second time this has ever happened in my short swimming career, and I'm fine with it. I was distracted by a few things before/during the meet, I did not warm-up, I was poorly hydrated, and my confidence was a notch lower due to discovering some problems with my butterfly on Friday, only two days before the meet. I knew all of this going in, and it helped me relax and have fun instead of worrying about setting a personal best.

100 IM: 1:14.12 was 0.26 seconds off my personal best.
50 Fly: 31.58 may be a mistake. If accurate, I beat my personal best by 0.74 seconds and beat Dan by 0.01 seconds.
50 Back: 37.23 was 0.69 seconds off my personal best.
200 Free: 2:38.16 was 5.06 seconds off my personal best. I went out too fast and got tired at the end. I also had lousy turns.

YMCA Cross-Country 5K masters division

Race: Greensburg YMCA Cross-Country Meet 5K Master's Division
Date: October 25, 2014
Location: Greensburg Salem High School
Time: 25:11
Overall Rank: 1 out of 2
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
Results: http:

First run in about 14 days. I'd say I did excellent. The course was a mix of woods and flat grass and even some pavement, with scattered hilly spots. I was running with Shannan; we were the only two participants in the 5K! We started with the 4K heat of 13-14 year olds who looked at us like "what are you old people doing here?!" All of the kids rapidly got out ahead of me, but one girl was slowing way down and I could have caught up with by the 4K mark. I still had another kilometer to go, though, so I conserved energy and let her lead.

AMYMSA swim meet at Hollidaysburg

Race: AMYMSA master's swim meet
Date: October 19, 2014
Location: Hollidaysburg Senior High School
Results: http:

Most Master’s meets have between 60 and 120 swimmers. This one had around 40, for a variety of reasons, one being that it is on the eastern geographic edge of our league so a lot of people decide not to travel there. My usual carpool partners were absent, too, so I just drove myself and made it into a day trip that included a visit to the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark near Altoona and a hike on the Ghost Town Trail near…well, nothing (hence the name).

The swim meet was at the local senior high school instead of the YMCA, and this was an excellent choice. The facility was clean and recently renovated, I liked the huge bank of windows on the side, and we even had touch-pads at both pool ends so I can now examine my split times to get a better understanding of how I performed during the longer events.

EVENT #4: 200 Individual Medley (2:50.95)
I swam this 1.35 seconds better than my old personal record. This was probably all due to my butterfly, which felt effortless. I was a second ahead of Nick in the adjacent lane. I fell half a second behind Nick on the backstroke, but that’s actually good. I usually slow way down during the backstroke to recover from a too-fast butterfly. Today I continued to feel strong and negative-split my backstroke segment (second 25 yards was faster than my first 25 yards). I pulled ahead of Nick again during the breaststroke, with my 49.46 second segment solidly beating his 53.03 second segment. I negative split here, too. I was burned out by the end of the breaststroke and had a weak showing in the first 25 yards of freestyle. I found new energy at the end and negative split once again (23.18 seconds vs. 20.17). Nick beat me by around 5 seconds. It appears I am still inexperienced with pacing myself during longer races. I can also improve with my turns, as most were poor today.

Following the race I was dizzy and lightheaded. I wonder if I might have hyperventilated during the breaststroke; this would have caused the fatigue I felt during the freestyle.

EVENT #8: 100 Breaststroke (1:23.99)
I had plenty of time to recover from the 200 IM and gave a good showing with my breaststroke. I finished about half a second slower than my personal best. My dive and initial pullout were expertly executed and I had very consistent splits over the next 75 yards. I was finishing much slower than others in my heat, though, so I decided to increase my stroke rate considerably at the end. This led to a negative split of around 0.93 second in the last 25 yards.

EVENT #9: 25 Backstroke (16.91)
This was just for fun. I thought this was a personal best, but after reviewing my records I see I missed my best time by 0.41 seconds. Given the short distance of this swim, I wasn’t even close! But I beat everyone in my heat (in fact, all the other heats, too) and I felt quite full of testosterone.

EVENT #11: 100 Freestyle (1:09.46)
I swam 3.5 seconds slower than my personal best—not real good! But oh well. By the fourth event of a meet I am usually fatigued and don’t set a personal best. The meet director greeted me at the end of my swim and apologized for hitting the start buzzer before I was ready. He definitely rushed me, but it didn’t affect my time. Instead, I think I just got ahead of myself. I have been working with my coach over the last two weeks on a shoulder-driven freestyle technique that is used during short distance events. My brain switched immediately into this fast-but-inefficient stroke during the first 25 yards of my swim. I felt strong and it was fun to power through it. But I still had 75 yards to go, so I switched to hip-driven freestyle for the middle 50 yards and then tried to return to shoulder-driven strokes in the last 25 yards. My turns were still sloppy and just like last meet, I don’t remember thinking much about swimming during this race, so my mind wasn’t in it. That’s ok. I had a lot of fun today and swam very well.

Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K

Race: Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K
Date: October 5, 2014
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time: 34:34
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: 56 out of 213
Results: http:

I did the Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K run this morning, along with 4,000 other people. I finished in 34:34 at a pace of 8:26 min/mile. This ranked me in the top 26% of my gender age group (56 out of 213). This is not a bad result for me but I am surprised on a couple levels why I was not faster. First, it was only 2 weeks ago that I did my half-ironman so I should still be in great condition. Second, I have run two 5K races this summer where I dropped below an 8:00 min/mile pace. It may be that I kept such a pace today until the last mile when I may have slowed. I pushed very hard for the first 2 miles of the race. Then I felt hungry. At mile 3 I lost some concentration. I did, however, remember to "hoot" in the long tunnel we ran through; as a tradition, I do that for every tunnel I enter when running or on my bike. Within view of the finishline I was not feeling well at all. Once over the line, I steered over to the side, just in case I was going to vomit. Thankfully I didn't, but it would not have been out of place to have done so. The nauseated feeling was a sign that I pushed myself as hard as I could and I am happy to have done so. My triathlon season may be over but I've still got a competitive spirit!

Mighty Moraine Man Half-Ironman

Race: Mighty Moraine Man Half-Ironman Triathlon
Date: September 21, 2014
Location: Moraine State Park
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of 60
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 7
Results: http:

SWIMMING
60 degrees. The water temperature of Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park where we did the swim. Earlier in the week it was 67 degrees but today the fishing website says 60. In any case, my wetsuit kept me comfortable. Air temperatures ranged from 66 to 79.

60% chance of rain. The forecast looked quite bad for a race, and things didn’t look good at the start. Dark clouds and a brief rain shower came in just as we were entering the water at 8:30am. Otherwise, we had no rain for the rest of the day.

6 buoys. The swim course was a giant triangle marked off by six large orange buoys. This would have been an adequate number of buoys on a clear day, but today the skies were dark and the water was gray. My newest pair of goggles is tinted gray, so I was not seeing well at all. Between the second and third buoy I got disoriented and swam 90 degrees off course for several strokes. I looked up, and seeing no buoy, stopped swimming. As I treaded water, I couldn’t find any buoy at all, and then I saw one 50-100 yards away. I was about to swim toward it when I saw a pack of swimmers moving past it to the left. Their direction of movement was not what I was expecting, and this is when I realized I was looking back toward a buoy I had already swum past. I turned around and picked out the proper buoy I should swim to, where I eventually joined that pack of swimmers. I would have been well ahead of them if I had stayed on course! (It’s my fault I got turned around, but this does suggest the race needed more kayakers and boats watching for wayward swimmers like me)

17th place. I finished my 1.2 mile swim in 36:38, which was the 17th fastest amongst 60 competitors. Dan was 2:02 ahead of me and came in 11th. Given that Dan was not that far ahead of me, I guess my getting lost during the swim did not set me back as far as I was thinking.

BIKING
16.0 mph. This is our average speed on the bike during the first of two 29.25 loops on the bike route. This number dropped to 15.2 mph by mile 40 and was 14.5 mph at mile 58. The bike course consisted of two loops along country roads in and near Moraine State Park. It was a challenging course with no flats at all. We were either descending fast or climbing slow.

39.6 mph. This is my maximum speed during the race. I tend to keep it under 40 for safety reasons. In this case, nearly every downhill segment ended with sharp curve or stop sign so I had to be conservative. I am very pleased that Dan and I arrived a day early and drove the route in his car so we could see what the hazards were going to be. Cyclists (and motorists, too) tend to treat Stop signs like Yield signs. This is especially true during a race. Today though, I had to stop for a couple cars at an intersection and both front and rear tires skidded as I stopped. I was headed downhill and the pavement was still wet from the earlier rain shower. Skidding on wet pavement is something to avoid, but I never lost control of the bike, so this episode did not diminish my fun.

4,367 feet. This is the total elevation climb of the course when all hills are added up together (according to MapMyRide.com). Dan and I were trying to figure out how this bike course compared to the first day of our MS150 ride back in June. On that day we rode 86 miles and climbed 4,758 feet at an average speed of 15.4 mph. If one compares the feet climbed/mile for each of the two rides, today’s race course was 26% harder than the MS150 ride. “Who chose this triathlon to do?” asked Dan during one of the six biggest hills. “I think it was you!” I said.

Three. This is the number of chipmunks that scurried across the road right in front of my bike. I would have lost control if any of them chosen the wrong way to go. I also avoided driving over a spotted newt, a frog, and countless caterpillars. In fact, it’s a good day when I don’t kill anything with my bicycle!

Three. This is also the number of Honey Stinger Waffles I ate while on the bike. I drank 42 ounces of water and 21 ounces of Gatorade. I have had varying levels of success staying hydrated and fueled during my previous triathlons, so I had to be careful not to drink or eat too little or too much. I think I found the right combination today. I was in good shape for the bike but was very hungry toward the end of the run. My hydration was perfect, though. We athletes are always paying attention to our urine. I visited the port-a-john in the transition zone at the end of the bike ride and it took me a full minute to empty my bladder. My urine was also light in color. This means I had good hydration and I wasn’t hydrolyzing much muscle protein, either. About 5 hours into the race, I was still feeling good.

40 miles. This is about where the aid station was on the bike course. Dan and I stopped to fill our water bottles. We asked for food, too, since it was announced there would be food at the aid stations (bananas and energy gels). The friendly volunteers had no food to give us, but they had food for themselves that would soon arrive. “That was the pizza guy; he’ll be here in one minute,” said one volunteer to the other as Dan and I pedaled off. Pizza would not have been a good food to serve athletes in a race, but it sure sounded good. Volunteers need to eat, but I craved a banana and didn’t get one. Dan was hungry, and so were two other athletes that passed us around that time.

51 miles (7.5 miles to go). This is the point in the bike segment where Dan started to lag far behind me. I stopped at the crest of a hill and waited about 30 seconds for him. He unclipped from his pedals so I knew he needed to rest. His hands were shaking as if he were shivering. I often shiver at swim meets so I joked “it’s your turn to shiver.” He wasn’t in the mood for a joke. He was tired. In fact, I was really concerned for my friend. I did not think he was having a medical emergency; he was simply exhausted and needed food. But there was no food, and there was no one else I could ask for food. Only one athlete passed us by during these minutes we were stopped, and she had no food and was hungry herself. Dan really wasn’t improving but somehow he found the motivation to get back on his bike. I decided to let him set the pace and I followed closely. I was worried that Dan would lose his ability to stay upright on the bike. And then what would I do?

53 miles (5.5 miles to go). This is where Dan was saved and I was surprised. Dan’s wife and cousins had been cheering for us the whole day, and this included driving to different places along the bike route to cheer us on. And there they were at mile 53. I was praying they had food they could give Dan, and sure enough, they got us some pretzels to eat. (This was one of three USAT rules that we broke, but to hell with that). As Danise was caring for Dan she said to me “Go ahead to that stop sign. You’ll be glad you did.” I didn’t know what to think but I wondered…could it be? And sure enough, it was. My girlfriend Shannan was standing there with a big grin. She had gotten up early and driven a few extra hours from Ohio to surprise me. It meant the world to me.

4:29:03. This is how long it took us to do the bike ride. Dan was determined to keep going, “even if they disqualify us [for taking too long].” How long would it take to walk 13 miles? A long time, but I would do it with him.

RUNNING
21 minutes. This is about how many minutes of walking we did during the 13.1 mile running route. Maybe it was more. Yes, probably it was more. But I only remember stopping to walk 6 times along the paved, shaded, and beautiful path along Lake Arthur. At the very start, Dan was recovering but still fatigued and he encouraged me to go ahead of him. He would walk and I would run. I refused, so within a couple minutes Dan decided he would try to run. That went well but his confidence was shaken—we still had at least 2 hours to go and we didn’t want to push him too hard. So at mile 2 we walked again. I watched the clock and got us running again after 3 minutes. At mile 3 we stopped and walked 3 more minutes, then started up again. We did the same at mile 4. There were actually a lot of athletes who were walking.

5 miles (8.1 miles to go). We did not stop at mile 5 to walk. Dan was doing quite well now, and it was me who was starting to lag behind his pace. I wasn’t concerned about myself at this point, and since Dan was doing fine, we just ran for a while. Between miles 6.5 and 8.5 I started to lose motivation. Little pains were springing up all over my body and I couldn’t distract myself from them. I stopped to walk briefly after every water station (every mile or so). Dan was having fun joking with the people at the aid stations. I appreciated that a lot, but was too tired to contribute. I told Dan that during the last 5K (3.1 miles) of the race I would not walk. I don’t remember why I broke that goal, but I remember we stopped to walk once during that last section (oh well). By the time we reached the finish line I think my walking stride would have been longer than my running stride. But it’s a run. Nobody walks across a finish line!

2:08:15. This is the time we took to run 13.1 miles. Dan and I crossed the finish line together, so we were puzzled when it was announced that I took 5th place in my age group. I guess there are no ties, so I got 5th place because compared to Dan, my last name comes first in the alphabet, or my race number (122) was less than his (123). I have never had my name announced as a winner. Cool! Of course, there were only 7 people in my age group so a 5th place is not really something to celebrate.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: September 14, 2014

Overall, I feel great about this swim meet. My level of fitness is at its peak. I set one personal best today, and came very close in two other events. The fourth event...well, let's just not consider it, ok? Here are my results:

EVENT#2: 100-yard Individual Medley--
I swam this is 1:13.78, which was only two one-hundreths of a second off my personal best of 1:13.76. My dive was great and my butterfly seemed effortless. In fact, I was almost to the wall when I decided I should take a breath, even though I didn't need one. Note to self: skip it next time. I can breathe during backstroke. My backstroke was good, though my hips tended to sway too much. The breaststroke went well; I felt like I slowed down toward the end of the 25 yard length. Freestyle was fast, but I could have gone harder. I knew my next event would be in less than 5 minutes so I raced conservatively. Shannan says my hips were swaying here, too. This may be a chronic problem, but at least for this short event I can tone down the hip rotation and concentrate on a shoulder-driven stroke, and this will clean up my excessive swaying.

EVENT#3: 200-yard Breaststroke
I finished in 3:08.25, which was 2.5 seconds faster than my previous best time of 3:10.76. Shannan said I looked good, and it felt good. Earlier in the week, my coach told me breaststroke was my best stroke. I am not so sure, but it looks like his confidence gave me more confidence! I found today's swim to be relaxing, and I didn't feel tired until I got out of the pool. I got an early lead in my heat, and I admit to pausing at each wall longer than needed. I was scanning the pool to see where people were in the other lanes. The best thing about this swim was I didn't hurt my knee. Earlier in the week, it got very painful during practice. Once out of the pool, my quads and biceps were burning. It was very, very unpleasant. I wanted to sit down immediately and give them a rest but I waited for Shannan to finish her swim.

EVENT #7: 50-yard Backstroke--
I swam this in 36.75 seconds, which was just a fraction of a second slower than my personal best of 36.54. I had a sloppy start and a sloppy turn, but otherwise I am pleased with the swim. I once hurt my calf muscle on a backstroke start, and I couldn't risk that today, so I just kind of plowed into the water without much momentum. I was paying close attention to Dan in the adjacent lane. I have endeavored to beat Dan someday in something--anything--at a swim meet, and in past years I have come closest in backstroke events. He seemed slightly ahead at the halfway point so I sped up my cadence. I also, for the first time, had a perfect finish. By this I mean that I stopped my arm stroke well ahead of the wall and dove backwards with my right arm stretched toward the touchpad. I have never done this successfully before. I usually hit the pad with a bent elbow when I realize I am too close to the wall to do anything else. Anyway, Dan out-touched me by 0.25 seconds, so he remains my friendly nemesis.

EVENT #8: 200-yard Freestyle--
I finished in 2:41.56, much slower than I have in the past (2:33.10). I got off to a rough start because I was surprised by the start signal--I was not ready because the man in the first heat was not yet out of the water. But this isn't really why I had a poor swim here. My mind simply wasn't in it. After 100 yards I found myself thinking about next weekend's half-ironman race. And then I realized I had gotten far behind Dan in the next lane over, and there were several men watching the race from the pool deck (I was in lane 1, so they were basically standing over me), and I wondered if they had noticed how slow I was, and then I studied the way the stairs go into the water next to my lane, and Shannan was cheering for me and I smiled underwater because she seemed so supportive even though I was going slow. See what I mean? I can't tell you about my swimming during this event because I wasn't paying attention. I reached the end of the swim, and I was happy I was done. I didn't care if I was slow today. I know I have it in me to do it faster, and I had fun.

Presque Isle Triathlon 2014

Race: Sprint Triathlon

Date: August 23, 2014

Location: Erie, Pa.

Time: 1:19:21.45

Overall Rank: 69 out of 355

Age Group Rank: 9 out of 24
Results: http:

This was my third triathlon of the season and it was a good one. This was also the third time in as many years that I did this particular race, and I have improved each year. In 2012 I finished in 1:24:47.10; in 2013, I finished in 1:24:13.45; and this year I finished almost 5 minutes faster in 1:19:21.45.

SWIM segment, 616 yards

Time: 10:44.15

Age Group Rank: 5 out of 24

Overall Rank: 45 out of 355

Compared to last year, I improved my time by 21%, finishing 2:50 faster. Water conditions were different this year, so maybe some of this apparent improvement had more to do with external circumstances. Indeed, when I look at my rank compared to other swimmers, I was in the top 13% this year, but last year I was in the top 11%. These data suggest that, on average, most swimmers enjoyed a faster swim this year, and my improvement was not as great as that of the average. I did not feel the water conditions were too bad. Nevertheless, the race director decided to change the swim direction on the route (from counter-clockwise to clockwise around three buoys) because of “water currents” that made swimming in the opposite direction more hazardous (somehow). Water temperature was 71 degrees.

The swim segment was an in-water wave start, meaning groups of about 50 swimmers started in the water all at once. The entry into the water was disorganized and I was too far back in the line to get near the front of the group. As my friend Dan and I treaded water and waited for the starting signal, I had some opportunity to find my way to the front of the group but decided not to take it. The wind and water currents were pushing the whole group of would-be swimmers away from shore and the front half of men treading water were already past the starting buoy. If I had made my way to the front of the group I would have felt like a cheater. I’m sure the men who started ahead of the starting buoy were not intending to cheat, but if I had made any purposeful forward progress in the water past that buoy before the official start time, I would have received an advantage I didn’t feel I deserved. I stayed in the middle of the group and consequently had to navigate through a human mass of flailing arms and legs after the starting signal.

Almost immediately, I started to see lifeguards in the water with their red flotation devices and 1-2 swimmers hanging onto each. There was a rescue kayak to swim around, and numerous swimmers who had stopped in the middle of the course just to get their bearings in choppy water. Somebody was doing the backstroke. I assume this person started out doing freestyle and lost their nerve. It is more comfortable to swim backstroke in a bay because you can breathe more easily and you don’t have your face in cold, dark, and murky water. But you also can’t navigate, and you run into people. In sum, there was chaos in the water all around me and I just kept my calm and swam through it as fast as I could. By the time I got to the first turn, I had very few competitors nearby and I was able to concentrate on my race strategy: long, strong arm strokes.  

T1 TRANSITION

My transition time between swim and bike was 2:00.2, which was 20 seconds faster than last year, and ranked me 9 out of 24 in my age group. The time savings is probably due to my triathlon suit, worn beneath my wetsuit. I did not have a triathlon suit last year; instead, I had to put a biking shirt on over wet skin, and that is hard to do quickly. Today I was worried about shedding my wetsuit because I had a deep cut on my shin from a bike incident a few days before. It hurt a lot as I put the wetsuit on before the race, but it didn’t hurt taking it off.

BIKE segment, 13 miles

Time: 38:06.75

Age Group Rank: 9 out of 24

I improved my time over last year by a little more than 2 minutes, or 6%. My average speed was 21.8 mph on this very flat course around the peninsula. Part of me is pleased with this improvement, but another part of me is surprised it wasn’t a greater improvement. I expected more improvement because in 2013, my brake pad was rubbing on my wheel during the race, and in 2014, I have been doing more bike training. I also invested in a set of aerobars and I stayed in aero position for the entire race today. However, my bike training has concentrated on longer distance rides with more hill climbing. I never maintain a 21.8 mph pace during training. In fact, I was not pedaling in my biggest gear during this race. I shift gears based on pedal cadence, and I was staying within the most efficient range of cadences (80-100 rpm) without being in my largest gear. I have the potential to go much faster if I can strengthen my leg muscles to pedal in my largest gear while still maintaining a fast cadence.

There was a lot of wind on the course (as usual), especially on the bay side of the peninsula. I watched my average speed drop from 22 mph to 18 mph during the last couple miles of the ride as wind blasted me from the right side. Using aerobars will provide no improvement in speed when the wind is blowing perpendicular to the direction of travel.

I could have pushed myself harder during the bike segment, but there is always a little voice inside me that tells me I have to save some of my effort for the run. I know this is not often the best strategy, but it worked fairly well today.

T2 TRANSITION

My transition time between bike and run was 59.65, about 27 seconds faster than last year. I am not sure what caused me to be faster.

RUN segment, 3.5 miles

Time: 29:47.25   

Age Group Rank: 14 out of 24

I ran this segment 69 seconds faster this year compared to last, but only 17 seconds faster than in 2012. I really need to work on this next year. My running pace was 8:31 min/mile; in just a simple 5K running race, I can go below 8:00. Today, my calf muscles felt tight for the first mile but they didn’t cramp up. I ate some “energy beans” and felt better. I also avoided most of the water stations. In my last race two weeks ago, I was feeling nauseated during the run, and I think maybe I was over-hydrating then. My stomach felt better today until the last 0.4 miles when the course goes into a grove of trees and I quickened my pace. I knew I was close to finishing and could afford to push more. Just before doing so, I had been running just a few steps in front of a man who was breathing hard. He would clear his throat every 12 breaths. Yes, I began to count and look for a pattern. Breathe-breathe-breathe…a-hem! Breathe-breathe-breathe…a-hem! It was remarkable how regular he was doing this and I wondered if he was aware of this habit. My question was answered at the end of the race when he found me in the crowd and apologized for all his noise. He simply had some phlegm and he couldn’t dislodge it. He wanted me to know that he doesn’t have an odd habit at all! How funny that he would be so self-conscious to apologize to me. On the other hand, it makes me feel good to know that I had a running companion that must have been studying the back of my head as I considered what was coming out the front of his own! He was one of several bikers and runners with whom I shared passing moments, both literally and figuratively. We are all in the same struggles of life together, even if we go at our own pace. 

Cayuga Lake Triathlon

Race: Cayuga Lake Olympic-length Triathlon
Date: August 3, 2014
Location: Ithaca, NY
Time: 2:53:57
Overall Rank: 108 out of 248
Age Group Rank: 13 out of 18
Results: https://results.score-this.com/SearchresultsPageMS5split.html?raceid=20140803CAYG&yr=2014

My second triathlon of the year has come and gone. I miss it already, even though I have two more lined up over the next 7 weeks. I miss the excitement and anticipation that builds up in the days before the race, and the sense of accomplishment that comes on rac

I pose with my family before the triathlon

e day.  I am sincerely grateful to my parents and to my sister and nephew for showing up super early in the morning on Sunday to cheer for me. They all wore personalized T-shirts, and cheered, and took pictures and video, and they even made a “Go Jim” sign for me. Fantastic! I will never forget it.

SWIM 1500m (0.9 miles) in 29:27—

I ranked 5^th out of 18 (top 28%) in my age group. The course was an out-and-back route. Buoys were placed in a straight line every 50 meters, and there was a rope that ran between each one with floats in between. This rope was a center line and acted to separate the swimmers going out and the swimmers coming back. The placement of this rope will have some significance later in my report.

The 8:05am heat consisted of all men aged 25-44 years old; there were 66 swimmers in this group. I made sure to get near the front of the group before the starting signal, and I was also positioned fairly close to the center line. This was part of my strategy, as I had looked up last year’s race results to see how competitive I would be (assuming the field of competitors is about the same each year). I saw that compared to last year’s swimmers in my age group, I would be around the top 33% of finishers, so at the starting line I wanted to place myself about a third of the way from the front of the group. I felt really confident with the swim today, so I actually moved to a position just behind the leaders. At the start of the swim I was able to stay close to the lead for a period of time, thus avoiding a lot of the turbulence and person-to-person contact that occurs in the larger “peloton” of swimmers.

I soon got into a sustainable rhythm. The water was quite smooth and flat and I didn’t notice any current or waves until after the turn-around point when swimmers going the opposite direction on the other side of the dividing rope started making waves. The water temperature was 69 degrees, and my wetsuit handled that easily. I felt comfortable and tried to keep my mind occupied with positive thoughts about the upcoming bike and run segments. I never veered too far off course because the buoys were easy to see during my breath cycle. However, there was a time after the turn-around point that I got too close to the center line. My right hand and arm got tangled in the rope for a moment and then two strokes later I struck one of the bigger buoys while my right arm was out of the water. I feel kind of dumb for doing that, but I was trying to thread the needle between a slower swimmer on my left and the buoy on my right and I guess I got too far to the right. It was during one of these collisions with rope and/or buoy that I sprained my right thumb. It must have bent a little too far in a direction it wasn’t mean to go. I did not realize I was injured until I started my bike ride about 10 minutes later.

Coming out of the water was a great feeling. There was a huge crowd of spectators that were cheering. Looking at the results for all age groups and heats, I was actually the 23^rd person to emerge from the water.  Since the 645 race participants did not all start at the same time, this does not mean I was the 23^rd fastest swimmer (actually, I was in the top 19%), but it sure gave me a boost of adrenaline to see only 22 competitors were in front of me!

T1 in 2:47—

I ran to the transition zone, stripped off the wetsuit, and mounted my bike. At this point, with me being so far ahead of everyone else, nearly all the bikes were still racked and I didn’t have to weave around my competitors.  For what it’s worth, the time I spent in transition ranked 13 out of 18 in my age group. I am always a bit slow in transition, but I felt so out of breath that I didn’t want to go faster, even if I could. I was still really out of breath for the first mile on the bike.

BIKE 39 km (24.3 miles) in 1:20:17, averaging 18.2 mph—

The bike route started uphill almost immediately. The MapMyRide website indicates this climb is 1.6 miles at a grade of 2.9%, which classifies it as a Category 5. It was on this climb that I realized my thumb was injured because it hurt to put my hand on the “hoods” of the handlebars (there are three hand positions on a road bike, and the hoods are where I place my hands during climbs). I compensated by using the “drops” handlebar position, but I am less practiced in shifting gears when in the drops so at mile 4—now descending after the climbing the first big hill—I didn’t push the shift level completely and my chain dropped off the front crank.  I could have coasted down the hill to the bottom and fixed the chain there, but I decided to stop on the hill so that once it was fixed I could recoup my lost time by powering down the hill. I think this was wise. It took only 10 seconds to fix the problem and during that time only two cyclists zoomed past. They likely would have passed me anyway.

There were very few cyclists ahead of me at this point. I was alone on the route much of the time. Once in a while someone would pass me, but I never felt bad about this because they were really speeding by. I was not in their league!

At mile 9 the route took a 90-degree turn into the Sheldrake community and then there is a steep descent followed by another 90-degree turn at the bottom of the hill. I have good handling skills and took the second turn at 29 mph with no fear. A motorcyclist with a photographer hanging off the back was taking my picture. I was overcome with emotion then; at this point I was literally having the best race of my life and I was nearly halfway through the race.

Such feelings would not last. At mile 12 I started to notice more cyclists pass me by as we started up another hill.  And between miles 14 and 18 there was a steady but shallow climb that looked flat to me but I just couldn’t get any speed. My lower back started to hurt from being in a bent-over position for so long. I was using the drops and aerobars far more today than I ever had on my training rides. At home, I can’t find a road flat and straight enough to be in this position for very long before needing to brake or shift. My back hurt and now my legs would not generate the pedaling power I was accustomed to. In fact, I was starting to feel leg cramps develop, so I ingested a packet of gel to supply some nutrition. More people were passing me. At mile 23 I started the steep descent to the transition zone. I had to decide whether to coast at about 26 mph down the hill, or pedal down the hill to get my speed into the mid 30s. If I continued to pedal, I would not be resting my legs in preparation for the run segment. But part of me wanted to stay competitive and keep my speed up. Being the indecisive person that I am, I did a little bit of pedaling and coasting. The race has turned a little sour with my back pain and weak legs, but speeding down this hill was still a lot of fun.

T2 in 1:33—

It was time to shed my helmet and change my shoes. My transition time was not too bad; I ranked 9 out of 18 in my age group. I could have saved a few seconds by starting to run immediately, but I took a few walking strides to test out my muscles. All seemed well enough so I started to run.

RUN 10 km (6.2 miles) in 59:53 at a 9:40 min/mile pace—

I just wasn't having a good time at this point.

I usually get cramps in my calf muscles at the very start of the run segment after biking, but not this time. I started with a burst of renewed energy and felt ok for the first mile. But I got discouraged at the mile 2 marker because I felt I had been running longer than I had. My pace was still reasonable. Using my watch, I figured I was doing an 8:30 min/mile pace for the first two miles. But I got slower and slower. All kinds of people were passing me on the dirt trail: tall ones, old ones, young ones, people in knee braces, people jumping in potato sacks. [That last one’s just a joke]. One of the volunteers commented on my “relaxed pace” and while she meant it as a compliment, I felt discouraged. I tried to go faster multiple times between miles 3 and 6 but I began to feel nauseated each time. Mile 3 out of 6 is too soon to feel that way, so I backed off. I sprinted for the last 0.2 miles, though, just to shave off a few seconds from a race time that was getting longer and longer.

My overall running pace (9:40 min/mile) placed me 15 out of 18 men in my age group. This pace is about what I was running in 2011 when I started doing triathlons. I am embarrassed at how slow I went. I’m not sure what the problem was, but there are two things that probably contributed: (1) pain makes me tired, and back pain on the bike might have taken away energy I needed to have a good run; (2) I did not start the race with fully rested and recovered legs. The day before my race I biked 14 miles. I did not take it hard or fast, but perhaps I went too far. Two days before the race I ran 9 miles. I think this is why my legs didn’t feel strong on the bike or run segments.

My finish was 2:53:57, which ranked me 13 out of 18 in my age group and 108 out of 248 overall. I wanted to finish in under 3 hours and I did. This race was really fun to do. The lake swim was great, the bike route was hazard-free and scenic. The running route was beautiful because of the waterfall and stream. The race organizers did a good job and the volunteers were abundant and very cheerful and supportive.  My family cheering section was the best.

Turtle Trot 5K

Race: Turtle Trot 5K
Date: July 26, 2014
Location: Turtle Creek, PA
Time: 24:40
Overall Rank: 67 out of 197
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 10
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2014RESULTS/R072614BC.html

This was my fastest 5K ever. But not by much! I had a 24:44 at the Boston Trail 5K in April of this year, so I beat myself by 4 seconds this time. The two routes were different, but both were straight and flat so they seem comparable. Improving by 4 seconds over the entire summer isn't impressive, but at least I know the sub-8:00 min/mile pace is here to stay and was not a fluke the first time. Great to run with Shannan and her dad!

MS 150 Bike Ride

Event: MS150 Charity Ride
Date: June 7-8, 2014
Location: western Pennsylvania

MS 150 (Day#1)

This was a charity ride for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  I received sponsorship from 9 people totaling $390. When this is added to my rides in 2012 and 2013, my total fundraising for charity is $1,360. Of course, I didn’t do this ride by myself. My friend Dan and I were with more than a thousand other riders when we left Zelienople, Pa. and traveled to Meadville, Pa. on the first day (86 miles). We stayed overnight on the Allegheny College campus and then traveled to Conneaut, Ohio to complete the trip on the second day (another 64 miles). Total distance was 150 miles in 9.4 hours of riding over two days.

There seemed to be fewer riders this year compared to last, so it seemed quieter on the road. There were actually a couple times when the riders in front of us disappeared and Dan and I felt like we were the only ones on the road. With fewer riders, we also had fewer people to observe and remark about. For instance, in previous years there have been people who adorned their bikes or cycling clothes with unusual objects that were fun to joke about or at least watch out for. But other than a couple guys with red Mohawks (and these were covered by cycling helmets, so we never saw them on the road), a couple men with very long beards, one person on a hand-crank bike (I assume his legs were disabled), and a scattering of couples on tandem bikes, there were not many cyclists that stood out from the crowd. Except, maybe us!

We maintained a good pace this year. Rest stops were placed on the route about every 14 or 15 miles. It seems like we would pass a lot of people on the route and then stop for a longer-than-average period of time at the rest stops, so we would end up passing the same people over and over again. Our average pace was similar to last year:

2012: 14.4 mph on Day#1 and 15.5 mph on Day#2

2013: 15.3 mph on Day#1 and 16.8mph on Day#2

2014: 15.4 mph on Day#1 and 16.7mph on Day#2

Why the differences from Day#1 to Day#2? Well, it all has to do with the hills! On Day #1 the ride had a total ascent of 4,758 feet with three hills steep enough to be given a “Cat 4” or “Cat 5” rating by MapYourRide.com (see http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/380078413). To put things in context, these hills were not terribly steep or long, since “Cat 1” grades are more challenging than what we had to do. Nevertheless, they slowed us down. On Day#2 there was a total ascent of 1,1880 feet with only two Cat 5 hills to climb (see http://www.mapmyride.com/us/conneaut-lakeshore-pa/2014-escape-to-the-lake-day-2-route-179324514).

By the Miles:

Mile 2: It is cold again. Last year it was 60 degrees and I was not dressed for it. This year it is 54 degrees at the 7am start and I am wearing an UnderArmour shirt underneath my jersey. This kept me sufficiently warm.

Mile 16: Rest stop at Moraine State Park. This brought back recent memories because I just completed a triathlon on some of these same roads a few weeks ago. Time to apply sunscreen! 

Mile 17: While ascending a steep hill, I intend to shift down to a lower gear but the front derailleur fails to move the chain to the smaller chainring. I have to stop and walk the bike up the hill because it is too difficult to pedal in the higher gear. I am angry because just a day ago I had gotten my bike back from the repair shop where I asked them to service the front derailleur. [Fortunately, I did not have any more trouble with the derailleur on the rest of my trip]

Mile 33: Rest stop at Beloved Disciple Church.

Mile 44: Lunch time at the town square in Mercer, Pa. Our route last year did not include this location. I liked how the food tent, bike repair tents, first aid station, volunteer station, and port-a-johns were spread out around the perimeter of the courthouse. It seemed more festive, somehow. Dan and I got food (including grilled chicken sandwiches) and sat on the courthouse steps in the shade. It was not the most comfortable of sitting spots, but we had few other options in the shade.

Mile 45: The course leaving the town square began to descend a slight hill and we picked up some speed. But then we had to stop. A woman had fallen off her bike after hitting a pothole. I am sighing heavily even as I write this, because this weekend was supposed to be a fun outing for everyone, and here was someone who’s happy experience was taken away. The woman was sitting in the middle of the road, crying out in despair. She was bleeding significantly from her face, and Dan said later he had seen blood on the pavement about 20 feet ahead of where the woman was now sitting; she must have had some momentum when she fell. About 6 fellow cyclists surrounded her and were attempting to help her to her feet to move her out of the road. One person was on his phone, having called 911, and was asking people what street we were on. Dan and I were in a group of 9 others who stopped and watched for a minute, not knowing what to do. There were enough people already helping the woman, but it didn’t seem appropriate to just ignore the situation and ride on past. But eventually we did carry on. But all the cyclists were quiet and riding a little slower for a mile or two, as seems to happen to me when I am in my car and pass a bad crash on the highway.

Mile 59: Rest stop at Goddard State Park marina. Again, this was a new venue for a rest stop. It was a great spot with a big reservoir and boats. My upper back is starting to get really stiff. I spend many minutes at this rest stop moving my neck up and down and from side to side to loosen things up. Dan and I enjoyed watching a male and female Tree Swallow perch on a nest box very close by. We even saw them copulate on a tree branch just over our heads. I am currently supervising a student research project on Tree Swallows back home, so I was particularly interested in this.

Mile 61: More hill climbing. Dan said he is tired. He lags behind me as we climb but I keep him in my sights. It’s not fun to be left behind, but I can tell he doesn’t want me to slow down on his account.

Mile 73: Rest stop at Cochranton Park. Everyone is always talking about “heart attack hill” coming up, but Dan and I have never found this hill to be too much of a challenge in the past. No problem this time, either. Dan is hanging in there. I text Shannan, saying “Only 11 more miles to go. We will be ready to stop then.” My mileage estimate was off, but what I was saying was I was now getting tired, too.

Mile 77: Rest stop at St. Peter and Paul Chapel.  The hill slowed us down, but we probably didn’t need to stop. We did anyway.

Mile 86: Finish at Allegheny College.

After this first day of riding, we got our dorm room key, dropped off our bike in the gym, picked up our luggage, took a shower, and changed clothes. This whole process took a little longer this year because we were in a more distant dorm. Our room was on the third floor (was there even an elevator?), and the shower only had three stalls so we had to wait. We headed to dinner around 5:30pm. Around 7:00pm we went back to the dorm room and got our swimming gear. We walked around some booths set up near the “beer garden” where a band was supposed to be playing (but they weren’t). One of the booths was promoting electric-assisted bicycles and I rode one. It was delightful! With each pedal stroke, the bike pushed ahead effortlessly. Not having $3,000 to buy one, Dan and I then went to the campus pool and put in a reluctant 650 yards. I think this was good for loosening muscles and getting refreshed. In fact, I was less tired after the swim than before. Nevertheless, we walked back to the dorm room and dozed from 8:00 to 9:00 when we started getting ready for sleep. And we slept like logs.

MS150 Day #2

This is part 2 of 2 about a charity ride for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Having already ridden 86 miles on June 7, my friend Dan and I and more than a thousand other riders began the next day at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., to travel to Conneaut, Ohio.  We arrived at the starting line at 7:19am and were released soon thereafter. I had slept really well and felt good. Dan said he felt good, too. So let’s see how we fared over the next 64 miles…

Mile 2: Given that this was supposed to be a warmer day, I did not wear anything under my jersey. I am regretting that now. It is 62 degrees. The irony is that I easily could have worn more clothes. I had extra capacity in my jersey pockets to stash them after I warmed up.

Mile 3: Word has gotten around about the woman who hit a pothole yesterday. As we ride in a large peloton through Meadville, there are numerous potholes and riders are pointing them out to one another. On the one hand, I appreciate their care and caution. On the other hand, this behavior seems hypocritical (or at least inconsistent); there have been potholes throughout the course that no one has felt the need to point out. As I expect, the hyper vigilance about potholes disappears after a few miles.

Mile 14: Rest stop at Summit Volunteer Ambulance Service. I’m feeling good. I probably didn’t need to stop, but it’s always good to stretch the neck, which by the way, isn’t bothering me one bit today.

Mile 20: There is a dead fox in the road. I make Dan and a few others laugh when I recite a few words to the song “What Does the Fox Say?”

Mile 27: rest stop at Lord Mason Park.

Mile 35: A long straightaway with vast fields on either side of the road. We encounter at least three Amish buggies going the other way. Everybody waves. When I lived in Lancaster, I saw Amish kids on bikes. Still, I wonder what they think of us on our $1000+ shiny metal racehorses.

Mile 42: Rest stop at Connie Lance Memorial Park. I remember in previous years there were sandwiches and wraps being served here—more food than a normal rest stop. However, this year there is nothing special. It’s just bananas, oranges, cheetos, chips, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars, blueberry protein bars, and fruit snacks. That’s plenty of food, but it’s the same food as was available at all the previous stops. Actually, the oranges are unique, I think. With the orange slices and cheetos, I am in need of a napkin. I look around and see none. I ask a worker about it and she finally finds a package after digging through several boxes of supplies. I was perfectly polite about this, but I was impatient inside. This rest stop was not operated by volunteers. Instead, it appeared to be operated by 20-year old kids working for Dick’s Sporting Goods. I am pretty sure they were getting paid. And yet, they didn’t seem to be working as hard as the volunteers at the other stops.  

Mile 43: We keep passing this couple on a tandem bike with a small dog in the front basket. It’s a great photo opportunity so I take my camera from my jersey pocket and loop the strap around my wrist. This takes some concentration to do, so I guess I slowed down enough for this couple to pass me on my left. I then had to speed up to try and pass them again with my camera ready. However, we are coming to an intersection with volunteer flaggers. The flaggers are indicating that we should be making a left turn at the intersection, but I am not paying attention to them. I have the tandem bike in my sights! So when the tandem bike mistakenly goes straight instead of left, I follow them without question. The pavement ends and we are on a dirt road. It is at that point when I realize we made a mistake. The tandem bike turns around, I turn around, I snap their picture, and then, embarrassingly, I take the correct route and try to catch up with Dan.

Mile 49: “I think I just got hit by a raindrop,” says Dan. Yes, it’s true. This will be our first ride in the rain during an MS150. It’s just sprinkles at this point. Dan and I talk about how this will affect our bike riding: we have to be more careful on curves, reduce speed, watch the road surface for slick spots, and stay closer to other cyclists so motorists have a better chance of seeing us.

Mile 52: It is raining harder now. We are soaked through. My cycling glasses are fogging up and huge droplets of water are obscuring my view.  Dan now stays a couple bike-lengths behind me so that water thrown up from my rear tire doesn’t squirt him in the face.

Mile 54: Rest stop at Thorton Industries. Fortunately, there are fewer cyclists at this rest stop than some of the others. We gather under the tent and get offered “butt cream” by one of the volunteers. If we weren’t cold, wet, and tired, I am sure I would have joked around more with her. I’m not entirely sure what butt cream is for, but that’s ok. What I do know is that I don’t want any. Dan checks the radar picture from his phone. A large band of heavy rain is just to our west. We had a decision to make. With just 10 miles to go, should we try to beat this storm or wait it out here? I want to go on. It seems inevitable that we will be riding in rain, even if we wait for the heaviest of the showers to pass on. I said, “let’s go now and take advantage of the light rain for as long as we can before the heavy rain starts.” Dan agrees and we go. And then it thunders overhead.

Mile 56: No thunder in a while, it is still raining but the sky is brightening. Dan and I seem to be alone on the road, and we are going fast. What happened to all the other cyclists? My feet are squishing around in wet cycling shoes. I can feel cold drops of water spraying my back from the rear tire. Cars pass us by on a somewhat busy road. I wonder what they must be thinking of us. Crazy, maybe. But in my mind, I am calling myself “bold.”

Mile 64: Finish at Conneaut Township Park, Ohio!

Dan and I ride straight to the truck that will take our bikes back to Zelienople. It is still raining, but the oranges and reds on the radar picture that we thought we would encounter must have passed on to our north. It has cooled to 62 degrees and I am shivering to the point where I have to breathe hard to fuel the muscle movements. We get our suitcases, find the men’s changing tent, and get into dry clothes as soon as we can. Then we head down the hill to the food tents and enjoy pizza, pulled pork, fried chicken, and ice cream. I almost forgot to get my finisher’s medal. It’s importance was fairly low compared to getting warm, dry, and fed.

We eventually get on the bus with our luggage and head back to Zelienople. When we get there, we see the woman who fell of her bike yesterday. She has two black and swollen eyes and her arm is in a sling. But at least she is going to be ok.

Mighty Moraine Man Sprint Triathlon

Race: Mighty Moraine Man Sprint Triathlon
Date: 18 May 2014
Location: Moraine State Park, Pa.
Time: 1:30:00
Overall Rank: 38 out of 97
Age Group Rank: 7 out of 13
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2014RESULTS/R051814BB.html

I finished this 0.25 mile swim + 13.7 mile bike + 3.1 mile race in about 1:30. I was ranked 7 out of 13 men in my age group. This ranking is fairly typical of my previous triathlons; however, given this was a smaller race, I was hoping to do a bit better relative to my peers. No big deal. In fact, I am very happy about this race because it was unusually challenging in several ways.

First, I had been mildly alarmed about this triathlon for a couple months due to the expected water temperature of Lake Arthur. It turns out I was right that the lake would be colder than anything I have ever swam in, but I was wrong to be alarmed. The water temperature reported by the race director was 60 degrees. My wetsuit handled that without any difficulty; I am so relieved that I was not thrown into hypothermia during or after the swim! Also, note to self—the neoprene booties I brought to wear during my swim were not necessary to keep my feet warm and they would have slowed my swim given how much water they absorbed; I am glad I left them on the beach before the start.

Second, the air temperature at the 9:30 start time was in the mid 40s. This had the potential to complicate and delay my transition times because I would need to wear extra layers. I imagined getting out of a cold lake and immediately starting to shiver violently as the water evaporated from me during the bike ride. This did not happen at all. I chose my wardrobe perfectly. I wore the full length wetsuit, and this kept me warm even out of the water as I made my way to T1. There, I peeled off the wetsuit to expose my singlet triathlon suit. The triathlon suit has no sleeves and it is made of very thin fabric, so I had earlier put on a long-sleeved UnderArmour shirt (mostly nylon and elastin) under the tri suit so the cold air during my bike ride would have less of a bite.  This worked perfectly. I was not cold on the bike segment. In fact, I left my cycling jacket and long-fingered cycling gloves in T1 because I was not feeling cold.

Third, the bike segment featured numerous steep climbs. My bike training so far this spring has been below average compared to other years, so I am happy that I could still pass a lot of people on the hills. I really pushed. I pushed so much, in fact, that at mile 4.5 (out of 13.7) I looked at my odometer to see how far I had gone. Answer: not very far at all!

Some other observations from the race:

1.  The bike corrals were too crowded. I am fortunate that I staked out an end on the rack, which gave me extra space to set out my gear during transitions.
2. The race started half an hour late because the required ambulance crew had not arrived. The race director was overheard giving someone directions on her cell phone. I assumed it was them, and I wondered why an ambulance would need directions. I am glad it was not a real emergency. [It is possible she was giving directions to the pizza delivery guy; see below]
3.  As my wave of swimmers entered the water, prior to the starting horn, the man in front of me turned around and looked me up and down and said “You look like a swimmer.”  I confidently told him he was correct. He got out of my way so I could get out in front. I appreciated that a lot, and it encouraged me to rocket ahead of most of the group as the race started. But alas, I went out too fast, so I got tired halfway through the swim. Then I swallowed a mouthful of water and I simply had to stop for 20 seconds to cough it up while treading water and watching forlornly as a dozen swimmers swam past me. Note to self: You don’t have to prove anything to other people—just yourself. There is no need to swim at an unsustainable pace.
4.  I was tired and glum getting out of the water so I did not run to T1. Plus, the wetsuit always takes a lot of time to take off. My T1 time was probably super-long.
5. The bike ride was tough but went well. There was a racer behind me for a couple miles. He was trying to pass me, but he just couldn’t do it for a while. I pushed a little harder to keep him trailing me, but ultimately, that cost me. I must have slowed down a bit and he passed me.
6.  I felt pretty good at T2 but as soon as I started to run, my lower back and hamstrings felt stiff and painful. During the first half mile (or more), my calves were seizing. This happens on nearly every triathlon, so I must do more ‘brick’ training (bike + run). As always, the first half of the run seemed to take forever, and then the second half seemed faster. At mile 3.0 I tried to run faster (aka sprint to the finish), but I really couldn’t.
7.  Dan was there to greet me and I am honored that he would spend a few hours of his weekend to drive up and watch me and Shannan do this race.



Wetsuits were definitely required for the 60-degree water.

8. The food provided to the racers was the best I have ever had in 3 years of doing triathlons. There was hot pizza, homemade pasta, chips, homemade cookies, watermelon, grapes, apples, goldfish crackers, and cinnamon bread. In fact, the race director’s husband’s family owns a bakery so they gave us all a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread to take home.

Pittsburgh Half-Marathon 2014

Race: Pittsburgh Half-Marathon
Date: 04 May 2014
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 1:54:59
Overall Rank: 2743 out of 14665
Age Group Rank: 265 out of 822
Results: http://results.xacte.com/?mid=79

Congrats to all the runners today at the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! This was the second year I did the half-marathon (13.1 miles). Last year I finished in 2:02:17 at a pace of 9:20 min/mile. This year, I finished in 1:54:59 at a pace of 8:46 min/mile. I felt pretty good the whole way. Dan and I kept up a good pace through mile 10 and then I started drifting behind him some. I was still feeling good but I may not have been covering as much distance with each step. I was actually super pleased that it was mile 10 and I had gotten that far without any discomfort or negative feelings. The finishline was 3 miles away and I knew I could make it. However, miles 11-12 seemed to take for ever. Stupid hill. Dan had left me by then (good job!) and so I was trying to pick out people ahead of me to catch up to. I know I'm not very competitive, so I was trying to gather that spirit within me. But I couldn't keep up with my targets and I lost interest (or vice versa). I found it easier to pick up the pace in the last mile as we went down hill, and by the time I passed the mile 13 marker, I was totally sprinting. I will be sore from that. Ok, now a nap is in order.

Boston Trail 5K

Race: Boston Trail 5K
Date: 19 April 2014
Location: Boston, Pa.
Time: 24:44
Overall Rank: 40 out of 295
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 10
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2014RESULTS/R041914BC.html

This was my fastest 5K ever. There are two reasons for this. (1) it was a flat course, (2) I follwed Geoff for 1.5 miles and this pushed me to go a little faster than normal. I was in a great mood and felt like pushing. During the last half I was breathing quite hard and my heart rate was in the 175-180 range. I sustained that level of effort for a long time but eventually slowed down after my hands started to get tingly. Shannan had said "look for the bridge and then you will know to sprint to the finish." Well, the first time I saw the bridge it was way in the distance so I knew that wasn't the sprinting point. But then much later the whole bridge came into view off to the right, and that is when I knew to speed up. And I did. I also saw a sign that said "photograph point," and so I smiled. It was easy to smile because I knew I had done well. I am also so happy to have run this race with my nephew. This was Ryan's first-ever 5k race. He so enjoyed it that he plans to do another soon. I was so happy to run with Shannan and Kendra, too.

Running a 5k: family affair.

AMYMSA Championship Meet

Race: Masters Swim Championship Meet
Date: 5- 6 April 2014
Location: Indiana, Pa.

Saturday, April 5, 2014
I have now completed my 3rd year of swimming competitively for the AMYMSA organization. In my first two years I experienced a rapid improvement in race times as I learned to perfect my strokes. In this third year, my strokes still need some work, but I have been doing a lot more training sessions at race speeds to improve my endurance and my overall pace. I have continued to improve my times for most events this year, but only by fractions of second in most cases. My performance at this weekend’s championship meet is a reflection of this state of affairs; I set 2 personal bests (out of 7 events) and came very close to my top times in the remaining 5. Alas, I was hoping for even greater success. I am still pleased with how well I swam this weekend because I have been suffering from a fairly potent cold since Wednesday. Symptoms included sinus congestion, chest congestion, laryngitis, lethargy, and even a bout of diarrhea on Saturday morning. Sorry to be so graphic about that, but I am really proud of myself for even getting in the pool, and even more, swimming at or near my top speed for all events. I express my apologies to anyone who catches my cold in the coming days…

EVENT #2: 200 yard Medley Relay **personal best**
This event was swum by 4 male members of the Greensburg team in the order of backstroke, breast, fly, and freestyle. We agreed that I would do the backstroke segment. This was a wise choice; I swam it in 35.99 seconds, which is 0.55 seconds faster than I have ever swum 50 yards of backstroke. Unfortunately, medley segment split times are not counted when my season’s best times are posted on the organization website, so I won’t use it as a new benchmark for backstroke.

EVENT #3: 100 yard Freestyle
I swam this event in 1:07.17, which is 1.23 seconds slower than my best time. In the water, I felt pretty good about this swim. But during the last 25 yards I noticed that my arm turnover rate was really fast and I didn’t seem to be gaining any extra speed from that. In fact, I swam the first 50 yards in 31.87 seconds and the second 50 yards in 35.3 seconds. These splits are not too bad, but Shannan noted that I wasn’t stretching my arms in front of me to grab enough water with each stroke, so I burned extra energy and gained nothing from the effort.

EVENT #7: 50 yard Freestyle
I swam this event in 29.48 seconds, which is 0.50 seconds slower than my best time. Shannan complimented me on my dive; but again, I wasn’t throwing my arms forward enough to grab the water. I also found myself taking breaths when I didn’t even need them. I should plan my breaths ahead of time for the 50 free, just as I do for the 50 fly.

EVENT #10: 200 yard Individual Medley **personal best**
I swam this event in 2:52.30, beating my old personal best by 1.69 seconds. I felt my speed in the pool. My butterfly segment felt smooth and effortless; I was not especially winded when I started the backstroke. Backstroke went well until the wall where I had a sloppy transition to breaststroke. Breaststroke felt good and strong. I don’t remember much about my freestyle segment, but looking at my splits, this is where I faltered, relative to my age group competitors. I came in 4th out of 4 men in my age group. At the end of the butterfly I was ahead of Nick, the eventual 2nd place finisher. At the end of the backstroke, Nick had shot ahead, but I was on pace with Gary, the eventual 3rd place finisher. At the end of the breaststroke, I was still within 3 seconds of Gary. But my freestyle split was 42.83; Gary’s was 34.31 (Nick’s was 34.94 and Ben’s was 36.94). I slowed down at the end much more than my competitors. Despite this being a personal best for me, I can still make a lot of improvement next year.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
EVENT #13: 200 yard Freestyle Relay
Just as on Saturday, I swam in a relay with my teammates. All of us swam freestyle, though, and I was in the third position. My team never practices relays and the only time I ever do one is at champs. I am therefore a little wary of the dive, since I have to dive over the teammate who is finishing his segment as I am beginning mine. I can say that today’s dive may have been my best ever. I was in the air for a long time and traveled really far before hitting the water. Then I pressed the gas pedal. My turn was excellent and I my arm stroke was fully extended. My split time was 32.23 seconds, which is far from my fastest 50 free. Perhaps the dive wasn’t as awesome as I thought; or maybe it was my breathing. I again found myself turning my head for a breath even though I did not feel the need to breathe.

EVENT #14: 100 yard Individual Medley
I swam this event in 1:13.97, which is only 0.21 seconds off my personal best. I don’t have any specific recollections about this swim. I swam it as fast as I could, and my quadriceps were burning a little after I got out of the pool. In fact, I felt nauseated for the next few minutes. This is not a pleasant sensation, but it indicates I pushed myself beyond my aerobic limit. Anaerobic metabolism takes over at that point, and I ate a package of fruit snacks to recover from the energy deficit.

EVENT #16: 50 yard Butterfly
At this point I had already proven to myself that my butterfly stroke was back (in the previous week, I had worked with my coach to fine-tune my butterfly because it had become choppy). So with confidence, I swam this event in 32.52 seconds, which is 0.20 seconds off my best time. Oh so close! But I was sick, and had I been well I surely would have set a new record.

EVENT #17: 100 yard Backstroke
Now I was worried; I had only 6 minutes to rest between the 50 Fly and the 100 Back. It was just enough. I jumped in the water with Shannan right there rooting for me. I felt good. But then the buzzer went off a little sooner than I expected and I didn’t have a good start. I ignored the stumble and sliced through the water. I started to feel tired at the 75-yard mark, but something really strange happened then. I was looking at the ceiling and I saw a wire strung over my head and parallel with my lane. I completely focused on that wire and tuned everything else out. I pondered what the wire was for, and I pretended that it was where the TV camera would be if I were swimming in the Olympics. I did not want to let down this pretend TV audience so I swam harder. I felt my legs quicken and I lurched forward toward the touch pad. I felt tired, but in concentrating on the ceiling feature I was able to ignore it. In reality, my splits show I slowed down from 39.11 seconds during the first 50 yards to 41.04 seconds during the second 50 yards. But it felt like I was going 100 miles per hour at the very end. I finished the event in 1:20.15 seconds, 0.23 seconds slower than my best time.

EVENT #19: 100 yard Butterfly **personal best**
I had only 12 minutes rest between my 100 Back and my 100 Fly. This is really rushing things, but I felt relaxed during this whole swim meet. Maybe I need to get sick more often, just to dampen my normal nervousness. I swam this event in 1:21.00 seconds, beating my old time by 0.24 seconds. I did fine for the first 50 yards, started to tire at yard 75, and then I fell apart in the last 25. I was breathing on every stroke—or at least trying to. My arms would not pull themselves over my head. I had a moment when I thought about quitting but by that time the wall was just about within reach so I took another couple “strokes” and got there. Despite my poor health and my lack of endurance for butterfly, I swam this faster than ever before. It was great to end my 3rd year on swim team with some success.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Master's Swim Meet
Date: 9 March 2014
Location: Edinboro, PA

It finally happened, and it's ok. I swam in a swim meet and set no new personal bests. Here is how it happened:

6:30AM I woke up in my hotel room in Youngstown, OH.
7:00AM I ate a pancake with a huge quantity of syrup, followed by a bowl of Frosted Flakes cereal.
9:00AM I was watching Shannan's daughter at a district swim meet and I felt the thrill of competition. "I will feel this way in a few hours when I swim," I said to myself. Meanwhile, my stomach was hurting from the pure sugar I consumed at breakfast.
9:45AM I get in my car and drive toward Edinboro, PA.
10:50AM I feel a great fatigue come over me. It may be the "crash" that inevitably follows a sugary meal, or it may be a tiredness that comes from a busy weekend and shift to daylight saving time (though my fit-bit tells me I slept for 7 hours and 6 minutes, which isn't that bad). Either way, I am drowsy enough to consider pulling into a rest stop. I reject the idea, and keep going.
11:20AM I start my warmup in the pool. I feel sluggish and there is a kink in my neck, but no big deal.
12:00PM I swim in Event #2, the 100-yard freestyle. My time is around a second slower than my personal best. "That's ok, I can't always out-perform myself," I say to myself. But there is darkness inside me. I don't feel optimistic about my next swims. In fact, I leave the pool and get a Pepsi from a vending machine. I chug it down as fast as I can and joke to myself that the bubbles of carbonation will help me float. I do not ingest caffeine daily. But I really wanted to boost my mood and my performance. I hoped it would affect me in time for my next swims.
12:30PM I swim in Event #5: 100 yard breaststroke and swim about 2 seconds slower than my personal best. I had a good dive and pull out, but I could tell when I got to the opposite wall that I was not covering a lot of distance with each stroke. I saw the wall coming up long, long before I actually reached it. Gees, where is my power?! After my swim I reason with myself again: "You rarely practice your breaststroke, so of course you didn't do as well today." That argument made sense. I need to practice my breastroke more.
12:40PM Event #6 was the 50 yard freestyle. I swim as fast as I can. I concentrated on taking long arm strokes and kicking hard. My calf muscle complained and I let up on the kicking a bit in order to avoid a cramp. I was actually pleased that my time was 29.5 seconds. That is still a second slower than my personal best, but coming in under 30 seconds meant I was still in the game.
1:00PM. I swim in my premier event, the 200 individual medley. By "premier" I mean this is the event that meant the most to me. I had a specific goal to reach for this event on this day. My goal was 2:52.50, which was already several seconds faster than my personal best, 2:53.99, set in January. I started the swim really well. My dive took me deep into the water and I stayed there a while as I dolphin-kicked. I finally surfaced around the middle of the pool length. I felt no anxiety, no breathlessness doing the 50 yard butterfly segment, and I was keeping up with the others in my heat. I did a nice fly-to-backstroke turn and maintained my momentum and position for the next 50 yards. I gently hit the wall (literally) at the end of my backstroke, and I heard my friend Dan go "oh!" (thanks Dan), but I headed right into my breastroke to show everyone I was fine. But it was here that I started to fall apart. I just couldn't find any power in my stroke, and I got slower and slower. My freestyle segment was fine and I floored it during the last 25 to try to recoup what time I had lost. But alas, I finished in 2:58, several seconds slower than my goal.
1:15PM It is time for me to leave. As I head down the stairs to the locker room, I realize my quadriceps are so weak that I have trouble keeping upright. This wasn't a great swim meet for me, but I am not discouraged. I look forward to championships next month!

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: 23 February 2014
Location: Cranberry Township, Pa

Swim Meet at Cranberry YMCA
I swam 4 events and set 4 new personal bests. I feel very well accomplished and can’t wait to hit the pool tomorrow to build on this success.

Event #2: 100 Individual Medley
I lowered my personal best in this event by 0.93 seconds to 1:13.76. I started with a good dive and a strong butterfly. My butterfly-to-backstroke turn was especially good, as I did not surface for a while after the turn. Like usual, I was looking for the wall at the end of the backstroke segment and lost some momentum as I glided in. Breaststroke and freestyle segments seemed average. I was very pleased to have met and exceeded my goal for this race today, because I have been sick and skipped some training sessions this past week. In fact, my stomach felt a little weird going into this swim. Was this just a symptom of a body recovering from illness, or was it nervousness? Probably the latter because it went away after the swim. I cannot remember the last swim meet when I did NOT set a personal best, so having reached that benchmark so early in my day, I could relax a little.

Event #5: 100 Backstroke
I tried to stay relaxed for this event. In the past I have often sped through the first 50 yards, only to experience significant muscle fatigue during the second 50. So I purposely held back on the first 50. That’s a hard thing to do well, though, since if I go too slow…well, I would be going too slow. It seems like I did this perfectly today. My quadriceps were only slightly fatigued at the end of this swim, and I beat my previous personal best by 2.65 seconds to 1:19.92. Some of this improvement can also be attributed to a good (for me) start from the block with a streamlined glide and then a very good turn at the 25 yard mark (though Dan says I was still too close to the wall). I then overcompensated on the turn at the 75 yard mark, and nearly missed the wall completely. That’s a very awkward feeling; there is a moment when I am suspended under the water, bobbing upward but with hardly any forward motion.

Event #9: 200 Freestyle
Would my success hold up? Yes, it would. I swam this event in 2:33.10, cutting 5.01 seconds off my personal best. That’s more than a 5% improvement since December 1, 2013 when I last swam this event. I started with a too-deep dive but otherwise the swim felt strong and easy. I was paying close attention to my hand position under the water because Shannan had noticed something strange about that earlier in the meet. Whatever it was, it was less apparent during this swim, so in retrospect I am thankful she mentioned the potential problem. Several others at the meet said I swam well in this event (I had Lane 1, which was right in front of a row of spectators). I may have more ability to shave time off this swim in the near future; I was not tired enough after this swim, so I could have gone faster.

Event #10: 25 Breaststroke
I cut 0.12 seconds off my personal best, which isn’t all that much, but a win’s a win. I tried to make my dive shallower this time, since diving deep would cause me to waste some time trying to get to the surface. With breaststroke this is perhaps even more important because of the extended underwater glide. Anyway, I think my dive was good. I felt like I had good lower body propulsion but I may not have thrust my arms forward enough with each stroke. It is so tempting to increase the stroke rate while ignoring the value of increasing the distance traveled per stroke.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: 9 February 2014
Location: Franklin, Pa

AMYMSA Swim Meet in Franklin, Pa.
I had a great meet. I got three personal bests out of four swims. Most importantly, I am still on track for meeting my end-of-season goals. Let me set the stage: Last fall I had been swimming well enough at meets, but I was not improving to the degree that I was used to, nor what I knew I could accomplish. So in early January I worked with my coach to set some goals, with the realization that reaching those goals would require a commitment to pushing myself harder during practices. Today’s meet was my chance to test whether I was on track in the 50-yard butterfly event. My goal today was to set a personal best of 32.43 seconds, which would position me well to swim it in 31.5 seconds by the end of the season in April. Read on to see if I met today’s goal….

Event #2: 100 Individual Medley
My time was 1:14.69, which lowered my personal best by about half a second. My swim was not without flaws, since my back-breast turn was sloppy. But otherwise, this swim felt effortless to the point where I had to remind myself to swim faster. My backstroke felt particularly fast today. My stroke rate is often slower than my competitors due to my long arms, but I was easily keeping up with them. I elected to use the strength of each stroke propel me rather than quicken my turnover rate (this is a quality over quantity argument; I went with a stronger stroke rather than a faster stroke). My back-breast turn was poor because I initiated the turn too soon and found myself a bit on my stomach before reaching the wall. I would have been disqualified for that if anyone cared. My breaststroke segment felt good and I concentrated on a more rapid stroke rate in combination with good forward thrust of the arms. I saw no one in front of me during the breaststroke so I thought maybe all my competitors were behind me. I continued to think I was leading my heat during the freestyle segment. But at the end of the race I saw that fellow age-grouper Gary was on my left and had beat me by a second. I did not see him because I breathe on my right. We had a good chat after the race.

Event #4: 50 Butterfly
My time was 32.32, so yes, I beat my goal and set a new personal best. I had a fairly shallow dive and came to the surface a little sooner than I like. Also, I glided too much into the far wall; I should have taken another stroke to keep my momentum. But I was at least a body length ahead of everyone else in the pool and I can’t tell you how exciting that is. I knew this was going to turn out to be a great swim. After I got out of the pool, a particularly fast swimmer named Jim came over to me and gave me much encouragement. He said I had a powerful arm pull that carried me through the water (you will always be my friend if you compliment my upper body strength, which personally, I think is lacking). He said I could easily bring my time below 30 seconds with a couple changes to my swim. First, I should keep my head down. This advice surprised me, since I never really thought about my head position when I am not taking a breath (I only took 3 breaths in 50 yards). Second, my shoulder blades should pinch in the back as I bring my arms out of the water on the recovery. He didn’t say why this would be an improvement, but now that I think about it, I think this is just another way for me to thrust my chest forward, which is what my coach has been trying to get me to do.

Event #5: 100 Backstroke
I have this event on my list of things I like but it is far from my best event. My time was 1:22.57, which lowered my personal best by exactly 0.04 seconds. I did not expect to break this record because most recently I swam the event in 1:27.25. But in the water I felt really good. The roof rafters and flags were really passing me fast overhead. My turns were really quite good, too, which is a big improvement from last fall. I kicked like crazy to get me to the finish.

Event #8: 50 Backstroke
My personal best in this event is 36.54. I swam it today in 36.84. It took me a long time to recover from the 100 Back. My heart rate took a while to slow down and my quadriceps were hurting so bad that I walked with a limp. But somehow, at just the right moment, everything settled down and I jumped in the pool to start my 50 back. I still felt fast and my turn at the wall was pretty good. However, I misjudged where the wall was at the finish, so I turned on my side way too early…coasting, reaching, and eventually finding the touchpad with the grace and speed of a manatee. Before I was out of the water, John K. raised his voice and told me my finish sucked. Yep, that was true. He and I have a great relationship, so while this might have sounded harsh to people who don’t know us, I felt the love inside his rebuke. He wanted me to do well and I didn’t. Or at least, I didn’t do as well as I could have…because 36.84 was only 0.30 seconds off my best, and I would have beaten my time by a lot if I didn’t mess up the finish. Later, I was talking with Victor and he said I should work on my streamlining at the start: “Let your dive carry you farther before starting your stroke.” Then I watched an 80 year-old woman do exactly that. If she did it, I should do it. I should definitely start watching old ladies in the pool! (but seriously, thanks for the advice Victor).