My New Toy and a Couple of workouts

Let's see, training started in earnest yesterday for Vineman 1/2 on July 3oth. I ran a small run on Tuesday. Yesterday I did a 3300 meter swim workout that was fairly tough. One-armed Willie and I swam in the same lane and he's been putting quite a bit of time in the pool getting ready for the Escape from Alcatraz race this weekend and Ironman Roth (Germany). Alcatraz has a legendary swim that starts on a boat off the coast of the old prison. You jump into some super cold shark infested water that has aweful currents and swim to shore. So when he and I were swimming in the same lane I noticed he had gotten quite a bit stronger. Normally, I can dump him in the swim when I want to, but he was holding his own and never more than half a body lenght behind. He has a HUGE kick when he swims.
Today I got out and ran 5.3 miles this morning. I got a new GPS toy that I wear on my wrist that allows me to take you with me on the run. When I get home, I upload the information into my computer and you can go online and watch a dot race on the actual course at the actual time and pace that I ran. It's really pretty neat. Go to http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=22976&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=818651&backgroundDatasourcePk.pkValue=11
Click on the Orange Button that says Dashboard that is on the bottom. You'll be able to watch the run almost like you are there.
Here's some info on the website
"Check this out! You can view this activity online at MotionBased. The Map Player is especially cool because a 'Dot' simulates the movement on a map (You just need to download the Adobe SVG Viewer)."
Another big swim tomorrow, then a small bike ride on Saturday, big (and early 4:30 am) 12mile run on Sunday, then a ride to the beach on Monday.
Should be a pretty easy weekend.

Run, swim and bike course profiles and pictures from AIT

(Click on pictures for larger version)
Run Course Profile ( bottom)

Swim Course

Bike Course Profile (top)

Official Race Times From Auburn

Here are the official Race times from the race


Place Name Age
35 Chris Patterson 35

SWIM
RANK TIME
50 34:20.9

BIKE
RANK TIME
39 3:33:31.5

RUN
RANK TIME PACE
34 2:09:32 9:53

TOTAL TIME
6:17:25.3
End of the race photo

Auburn Race Report

(Photo of my car with Doug's Hancycle on top and our bikes on the back)
We woke up in the morning at 4:50 and packed up for the 30 minute ride up to Auburn. I ate my can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup for my pre-race meal. An Ironman buddy of mine taught me that trick. Chicken Noodle soup is so loaded with sodium that it helps keep you from cramping. So I ate my soup and drank an XS sports drink for breakfast. . Joe and I drove up to the finish area which would also act as T2 for the race (transition area 2 from bike to run). We made a game day decision to drive down to the start. The race director had recommended riding down to the start as a warm up ride, but I couldn’t understand how a 6 mile downhill ride at 60 degrees outside would warm me up. So we decided to drive down (right decision I might add). On the way down we almost hit a deer. Joe saw her early enough to alert me. She missed my car and ran between me and the BMW behind us.
Got down to T1( transition from swim to bike) and got our rack spots. We got our swim caps and watched everyone go through their various routines to get ready. There is a tremendous amount of nervous energy at the beginning of every race I’ve done and it’s become somewhat entertaining to me to watch how people deal with it. Some talk incessantly, some go into a cocoon, some run. It’s really entertaining to watch. I got into the water for a warm up swim and everything felt good. Then back up onto the boat launch ramp to wait my turn. 2 waves of swimmers would go out before me. Men’s sprint distance racers and women’s sprint distance racers. Then it would be men 39 and under along with elites. My buddy Joe did the sprint distance race and did a great job. I was especially impressed with him; because this was his first open water swim and he hadn’t really been doing any swim training since last year. Open water swims are really scary when you first start because you can’t just stop and put your feet on the bottom or swim over to a wall to rest. You have to keep going or drown. He did great.
Off Joe went then the ladies, then our turn into the water. We had a deep water start, which I really liked. Our heat had about 150 people in it, but not too much kicking and shoving at the start. Usually, a mass start like that has all sorts of unintentional punching, kicking and swimming over or being swum over. This one was uneventful for the most part. I quickly found some fairly clear water to swim in and got into a rhythm. It was a great swim course. The valley on both sides of you and swimming to a point on the mountain made it easy to swim in a straight line. In fact, for the first time ever in an open water swim, I held a pretty straight line. Out of the water in 34 minutes, which put a big smile on my face and up to T1. Things went smoothly in transition. Out onto the bike course where we would climb for the first 6 miles before the ground finally got level.
Brad Kearn’s (the event organizer) creates legendary bike and run courses in his races and this one was no exception. This bike course had everything. Super steep climbs, to long sustained grades and very technical white knuckle descents. My mantra for the day was “make money when you can” which meant. Whenever the road turned flat or downhill, instead of soft pedaling or coasting, I would force myself into the aero position and pedal. I would do the same on the downhills in the run. Things went well on the bike, not necessarily a stellar performance, but I felt good for most of it. It was a beautiful course along windy small roads that went back into the mountains to nowhere. It was open to traffic but we hardly saw any cars and the volunteers did a great job of letting you know about where to go and when there were upcoming things to look out for. At around mile 30 I saw the flashing lights of a motorcycle cop coming at me, closely followed by the race leader. All you can do at that point is shake your head and marvel at how strong the pros are. I started feeling the twinges of a quad cramp in my right quad around mile 30 so that started my salt tablet regimen. I popped two tablet then and 2 about 20 minutes later and changed bike position to use more of my hamstrings on the climbs. That meant no more standing up out of the saddle on the climbs, because when I would try to do that it would get dangerously close to a full on cramp. Good news though, the left leg was feeling fine. I drank my first bottle of XS sports drink loaded with carbo pro (about 450 calories) within the first hour and a half and tried to stick to 2 gels (chocolate flavored) per hour. In total I ate 6 gels. At every aid station I took on a fresh bottle of water from the volunteers, including the aid station around mile 40 which had cold bottles (that was a treat). There was a hill called “LeMonde Walked” hill at mile 50 that had me a little worried. It was a 12% grade for .4 mile. In fact, I caught myself soft pedaling a couple of times on the way to that hill. Somehow though, it didn’t turn out to be that bad because at mile 54 I was still looking for it. It turned out to be just another hill in a very hilly course. Mile 56 and I’m feeling good. Into T2 where Joe was waiting by my gear, to tell me things were going to be good and help me find my shoes. I felt fine, until I stepped into my running shoes. In the process of pushing my feet into the shoes, first my right quad, then my left cramped. This has happened in every race I’ve done. I think I am going to get some of the quick lace adjusters so that I don’t have to work so hard to get the shoes on next race. Joe asked if I needed salt, I said “No, I’ve got some in my run belt” and off I went. Grabbed some cold water in the aid station and headed down the hill on the run.
The run was beautiful. It was a lot of single track running up and down hills. Down hills were a little technical and tricky because you use your quads a lot to control yourself going down and mine were crampy. It wasn’t horrible, but in the early miles each uphill was a delicate dance to keep the quads from going into full cramp mode. I ate some more salt and started working on another bottle of XS sports drink and Carbo Pro. I had unexpectedly lost one of those 450 calorie concoctions off the bike at around mile 40 after only drinking about ¼ of it. That made me a little worried, but so far I wasn’t having any energy problems that I could perceive. In fact, on whole for the day, my nutrition worked out great. I never got hungry, and when the energy level did dip a bit, I had a gel or bottle to bring it back up. My only real issue was with the electrolyte balance and the slight cramping.
The race director has told us, the night before, that there were only 2 hills on the run course. One was from mile 5.7 to mile 7 and climbed 440 feet called the “Dam Wall” because it was part of a Dam and the other was between mile 10 and 11.5 that climbed a similar distance. The course was two loops that went through the finish line once right about mile 7. At the bottom of the Dam Wall there was an aid station. I walked through the aid station so that I could grab two cups of water and drink them without spilling too much. At the end of the aid station was a guy with sponges soaked in ice water. Did I mention it was hot? It was definitely warm out there and with brush waist level high in many parts. The brush held in the humidity and kept it even warmer in those areas. So when the guy asked if I wanted Ice cold water squeezed down my back, I was more than happy to let him. Wow! I turned to the racer next to me and said “I now know what heaven is going to be like” He just looked at me and said “I definitely know what hell feels like” and off we headed up the Dam Wall. Shortly into that climb, I made a decision to walk quickly. It was almost as fast as I was able to run it anyhow and I could better control my heart rate. And I was back to my mantra of “make money when you can” and the Dam wall was not it. Got to the top of the wall and headed through the celebration at the finish line. Stopping never entered my mind, but I did think “it sure would be nice if my Joe would run through this second loop with me.” He was there cheering me on, but was not going to be running with me. Back down the hill for loop number two. Cramping was pretty much gone by now and it was just a matter of measuring my effort so that I could do well throughout the remainder of the race. I felt really good in some spots and was able to stretch it out. At the bottom of the hill were ice cold bottles of water. Into the mouth and over the head, turn around and head back up hill for the final brutal climb of the day. Back up a minute, at mile 9 there was an aid station with a girl in a bikini top with a big sign that said “Happy Thoughts”. She had a cow bell around her neck and was quite the cheerleader. She was also the one giving ice sponge baths. Reassurance of what heaven will be like with that squeeze of water down the back. Just a side note, if you ever go out to one of these races, don’t underestimate the power of a positive word to the competitors as they go by. It makes a big difference. We are battling all sorts of negative thoughts in our heads and a simple “good job” or “you look great” goes a long way.
Ran and walked up the last big climb of the day. Cheerleader girl had put some sign in the bushes on the way up “finish strong” and “triathletes are hot” are two that I remember. At the top of the hill were the final miles. Brad had said they would follow a water canal and were completely covered in shade from the trees. He was right. At mile 11 I stretched out my legs a little on the run and when I saw the mile 12 sign, I made a decision to finish strong like the sign said. At that point, my mind says “I can handle anything that comes my way in the next 1.1 miles”. So I started running and passing people. I felt really good. Around the last corner and hear the announcer say my name. Finish strong and look good as you do where the thoughts in my head then. I glance at the clock and it says 6 hours 16 minutes. I don’t have the official time right now but that is close enough to what I have on my watch. I wanted to finish in around 6 hours, so I was a bit off my pace, but for the severity of the course, I am more than pleased with the results. The guy at the finish line has some great words of praise, takes my timing chip and hands me a finisher t-shirt. I go over to the food table grab a Cytomax drink, two of the best strawberries I’ve had in my life and half a banana. Amazingly everything feels pretty good on my body. Doug and his brother Drew are there to congratulate me. What a day.
All in all I am really pleased with the results of the race and would do the course again. Brad runs a great event that lives up to the finisher t-shirt slogan that says “still the world’s toughest half”.
I am typing this up as we drive back to Etiwanda. I felt fine when I woke up this morning. A little stiff and sore, but nothing like the day after my 1st haf-ironman race last year.
A Special thanks to our hosts up in Sacramento Drew and Heidi. They were awesome. We had everything we needed, including a great barbecue Saturday night. They dealt with the selfish nature of race preparation up to and including touring us around the course the day before. We got to celebrate Drew’s 52nd birthday on Saturday night with a big ice-cream cake.
Thanks for following along. Next race is July 30th. I’ll keep the postings coming.
Some photos from the race are below.

Auburn International Race Report.

(Joe and I the day before the race pre-swimming the course)

Swim Start Mayhem

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day

Doug, Joe and I drove up last night in about 7 hours. It was a good ride and uneventful. In-n-out for double double cheeseburgers in Cattleman City ( I'm not sure where it is either). It was super hot on the drive up and hot here yesterday. Our hosts here in Sacramento, Drew and Heidi, are fabulous. Joe and I are sharing a room and Doug has his own room. Drew took the day off and showed me around the Auburn area. We ate all day today. Waffles with blueberries and bananas along with an egg for breakfast and Spaghetti factory spaghetti for lunch. We got over to the swim venue this morning and got to get in and swim around for a while. The water was great. Warm (probably in the high 60's low 70's), clear, and fresh. No saltwater, no waves and most importantly no sharks. After we got out of the water we went and drove some of the bike course. It is going to be as tough as advertised. The run may be a little bit tougher than I had expected. I'll let you know tomorrow afternoon.
Tonight, we checked in and got our race number and then came the rain. It rained for a couple of hours including during our pre race briefing. It was warm enough, but still no fun to stand out in while we heard about the race course from the director.
It looks like it should clear up before morning though.
I feel good. I feel like I've done everything right in preperation. I should have a good race tomorrow. I'll let you know.

Small swim

I jumped into the swim workout with every intention of taking it easy this morning. Instead, I got baited into doing the large workout and at a pretty intense effort at that. The blessing was that I had to bail out early for a meeting in La Mirada ( 2 hours away). So I cut the workout short and drove across town. The nerves officially kicked in yesterday for Saturday's race and as I sit here and type this, the butterflies in my stomach are moving about.
Tonight, I'll get most of my stuf packed so that we can make a clean escape tomorrow afternoon for the 6 hour+ plus drive to Sacramento. I'll do another entry with some pictures on the drive up.

Taper- defined

The best word on your schedule when you are training for a large race is "taper" and that is what I shall do this week.
Saturday I left the bike shop in LaVerne climbed (on the bike ) to Mt. Baldy Village at about 5200' then instead of bombing down the frontside, turned around and rode back to the sho the way we came. This route makes the day a lot harder because the climb out is sustained uphill for the first 8 miles then goes up and down for the next 12 miles. So on the way back you get some crazy speeds while descending then climb 8-10 tough climbs before your back to the top of GMR where you have and 8 mile white-knuckle ride down the hill. This was made tougher by the fact that the only person to join me was an amazing triathlete from the shop named Ryan. He's a really quiet guy who lets his legs do the talking. I've never pretended to be in his class. I tried to hold his wheel for a good portion of the climb, then after being dropped (with ease I might add) tried to limit my losses so as to look like a half way descent athlete. The human body is an amazing thing. See, the thing is, I know with a couple more years of training under my belt, I can get to that level, but where will he be when I get there? Total ride 50 miles and about 6000' of climbing.

I followed up the bike with a 1 hour run. I screwed up my nutrition so I was cramping in my quads from the 40 mile point of the ride, so I knew the run would be a gut check, especially since I was running solo. Almost every step of the run was a test in balance. Too much stress on the quads and they'd seize up, too little and I could count on hamstring cramps. So, I walked that line of running carefully so that each step just had a twinge in the quad muscles (front of the legs) but not enough to have them squeeze down on my legs. It's scary the first time it happens and sucks every time it happens, but it is something you learn to deal with if you're going to do endurance sports.
I think the factors that contributed were- not enough water at the sushi dinner the night before for my birthday, the first hot day of the season, and the compression shirt I was wearing under my cycling jersey acted more as a sweat suit than temperature regulator. Note to self, only wear that shirt when it is cool outside.
No run on Sunday because I hurt too much and had a crazy busy day with Mother's Day.
Back to the word taper- it means light exercise only for the week. My longest run will be less than 4 miles and I won't touch the bike (it's at the shop getting tuned up) until rce day. I will do a couple of light swims and will spend the whole week drinking water (see above) and eating LOTS of carbs and salting all of my food this week.
FYI, I'll be bringing my computer up to Auburn and will have updates throughout the days leading up to and after the race. I may also post again before we head up.

Workout that sent someone to the hospital

You know it's a good workout when someone goes to the hospital.
Here's what happened. 6 am swim workout with the new crazy coach. She puts up 3 levels of workout, beginner, moderate, advanced. Willie chooses advanced, so join him I must. Our buddy from Brazil, Fabio joined us too as well as one armed Trudy and some other. About 20 minutes into the workout crazy coach Jenny has one of the lifeguards bring over her Asthma inhaler. I see her puffing away. She tried to swim some more laps, but I saw her gasping at the end of the pool, I thought she may have just been catching her breath from this tough workout she put together. Next thing I know she's out of the pool and gone. Reports from the pool deck were that they took her to the hospital. It's a stones throw to the hospital since the swim center is for employees of the hospital. That's a good thing. I hope she's alright. I'll let you know on Monday.
Total swim distance 3200 meters or about 2 miles. All that before work.
Tonight we're going to sushi for my birthday (35). Yeah, I changed age groups. I get to race 35-39 now. Yesterday I had to run a 3:10 to qualify to run the Boston Marathon, today I have to run a 3:15 ( I will make an attempt at qualifying in St. George, Utah in October. I'd love to race Boston.). That's the great thing about aging. I actually think I am in the best shape of my life right now and hope that I keep improving as I get older. My older friends that I race with have proven it can be that way. One-armed Willie turns 45 this year and won the Catalina Marathon and can kick my butt running and biking any day of the week.

Stroller run and great swim workout

Yesterday, I got home from work and took both kids out for a 4 mile run in the jogging stroller. Isabella taunts me to "go faster Daddy" the whole run. I may start leaving her at home :) It is fun running with them because Bella talks the whole time and Diego just looks around with wonder at everything. I enjoy it and think about the days when they are old enough that we go on runs together and talk about important happenings in their life. I hope that we have that type of relationship.
This morning I got up and went to the pool. Willie had told me that a lady named Jen was running workouts from the deck and I was excited to join in on that. Sure enough she was there and there were about 8 of us doing her workout. I'm not sure who she is and why I should listen to her, but I did. It was fun to suffer through a workout with a bunch of others working through the same thing. It made the sometimes boring sport of swimming, not so boring. And telling and listening to lies in the hot tub afterward was good too.

Confidence Building Weekend

This weekend was a great one.
Saturday's workout was 5 hours 51 minutes and was the same climb we did up to Mount Baldy Village a couple of weeks ago. I rode with Coach Tony again and if I had one of those wise relatives who put me on their knee and gave me advice as I grew up they would have said, "Never poke a stick in a hornet's nest". Coach Tony is one of the quietist people you would ever meet, but he is a fierce competitor. On the ride out to the start of the climb, I took the opportunity to test out my legs on a short climb on Baseline right by Webb Schools. I hit that hill really hard, and when I got to the top, Tony had answered my attack by quietly going past me right before the summit. I knew I was in for a tough day, but I noticed something else. My heart rate was way higher than it should have been and I wasn't recovering right. My resting heart rate had been 75 that morning, which is an indicator that I was still sick from that stomach virus I had been dealing with all week. It should be 62-64 for me. On the climb up GMR it really showed itself. 2 unknown guys joined us on the ride for a little challenge up the hill and when the pace picked up, I could not play. I did get to watch Tony hand out a butt whoopin' first from the road below. It was pretty impressive. When he attacked, they tried, but alas could not answer the pace. I was hoping they had been demoralized by his attack and tried to work my way back into the fight from a long way back. I would find out at the summit that once he had destroyed them, their next battle was to not let me catch them. I got close, but when we got to the top, I was still the last one there.
The remaining climb up to Baldy Village was just a stupid sufferfest for me. The good thing was that I knew it was from the sickness and could measure my pathetic showing against a great showing two weeks ago on the same road, so it didn't effect my attitude too much.
60 miles and 5000'+ of climbing, then we get back to Tony's house and go for a 6 mile run. We ran about 8 minute mile pace on the run and I was starting to feel better. When I got back to my house and ate, I found out that my stomach virus was still alive and well though. I was hoping all the exercise had killed it.
Sunday, I got up feeling better. RHR (resting heart rate) 64. Laced up the shoes and headed out for a 12 mile run. 1 hour 50 minutes. It was a really good run. The body worked well. Hopefully all this sickness is behind me.
2 weeks until the Auburn International 1/2 IM race. I'm feeling pretty confident about it right now.

Morning Run and Official TImes for Sunday

4 1/2 mile run this morning. It was easier getting out of bed this morning, but I have some sort of stomach virus that is causing all sorts of pain in my stomach and some significant dehydration, so my average heart rate was 166 for a run that I would rate as moderate pace on a perceived effort scale. Hopefully I can get this stomach pain to go away.
WB Timing posted the official times for Sunday's race and I'm even happier.

MALE 30-34
5th in Age Group
30th overall
915 Bib number
CHRIS
PATTERSON
34 age
0:19:54 5k time
0:33:12 Bike Time including transition
0:06:33 Swim time, including transition/ run to the pool/ swim and run out of the pool (no it did not take me 6 minutes to swim 125 meters)
0:59:39 Overall time

Wanted: Swim Stroke- Reward offered

I'm not sure when it left and where it went, but the swim stroke that left me on Sunday, has yet to return. If you happen to see one lying around, please email me the location so I can run by and pick it up.
I got in the pool today for what was supposed to be a 1 mile quick swim at lunch. Instead, I found out that I have lost the ability to swim well. The whole, shortened workout was a struggle. Sometimes when my stroke leaves me, I just bag the workout early and come back another day and today was no exception. Perhaps it'll return on Friday when I get back into the pool.

Good Morning Run

Here's a picture of me looking fast on Sunday. This is the sprint to the pool after the run and bike. This was a reverse order race. Meaning, we ran, then biked then swam. They do that because the swim is in a pool and sending a couple hundred people into a pool at the same time would be ugly.

Run this morning:
There's something about running early in the morning when it's dark and foggy out that's almost spiritual. That was this morning's run. I ran over to the park to meet some folks at 5:30. I got there at 5:33 and no one was there, so either they left right at 5:30 or slept in. So I took off on my own. 7 miles later I was back at the house feeling great. I'm going to meet up with everyone for a swim tomorrow morning.

1st race of the season

Here's my report from yesterday's PossAbilities Sprint Distance Triathlon.
The race started the night before with packing up 2 cars for th race. Since I had to leave early enough to arrive at the race both as a participant and advertising rep for my advertisers that had sponsored the race, Yvette decided she would bring the kids and my mom later in a separate car. So I packed my stuff for the race and Isabella's stuff for her race (which she decided not to do on race morning).
I woke up race morning at 4:15 ate my chicken noodle soup which has become my race day and large workout day breakfast because of the huge amount of sodium in it. I got this tip from an Ironman friend of mine who said it keeps you from cramping, and I agree, it does.
Left my house at 5 am and headed over to pick up Doug and his daughter Natalie. Doug did the bike portion of a triathlon relay and Natalie ran a 10k in just over an hour.
Everything went well in race prep. Special thanks to Dan and Ron at Foothill Cyclery (www.foothill-cyclery.com) for the loan of an awesome wheelset. Some day I may break down and invest the $1500 for that wheelset, but until I do, the race day loan form these guys is much appreciated.
I got in a good warm up run and waited for the horn to sound.
Horn blast and we're off. Within the first couple hundred meters of the run a friend of mine who owns King Leo Candy (www.kingleocandy.com) named Pierre (47 yes old) says, "Hey Chris is that you?" We chatted for a few seconds while we both still had the ability to talk before we got too winded. I had a great 5k run. I knew Pierre was right behind me the whole time and there was some 10 year old kid right in front of me that should be on the TV show That's Incredible, because he was half my height and had almost an identical length stride. Who over he is, he has a future in sports if he decides to stick with it because I came in top 30 on the run and he was right in front of me.
Quickly through transition and out onto the bike. I picked up a couple of spots in transition ( I saw the 10 year old out on the course much later) and almost immediately picked up a couple of spots out on the course. Pierre was still behind me but since the course looped and I could see him, I knew he was close. Each loop included a 1/4 mile climb of a pretty good hill. On the second loop we started passing through lapped traffic. I got slowed up a couple of times because the slower folks didn't know to stay right. On the second climb of the hill, I feel Pierre grab the back of my seat to help me up the hill a bit. His kind way of saying "I'll be going by you now" without saying a word. I raced the rest of the bike trying to keep him in sight and not get passed by anyone else. I had success in both of those. I'd love to know the bike split so I can figure out my average MPH, but I know we were moving pretty fast.
Dismount the bike and almost dump it going into transition when my legs turn to jelly on me. Rack the bike and start the long run to the pool. I jump into the pool and my arms won't work right. The swim is only 5 laps of the pool. My average workouts are 60-100 laps non-stop, so this should be a breeze. But the effects of redlinning my body for the last 50 or so minutes catch up and the swim is awful. I've got a guy breast stroking next to me that I can't seem to pass. I lost at least 2 places in the pool. Up out of the pool and sprint to the timing mat for a time of 1.01:39. That puts me 5th in my age group (30-34) and 30th overall amongst a pretty tough field that included about 10 pros. I felt really good about the race and my placing. Chatted with Pierre afterwards and if I had swam better, I might have caught him. He finished in 1:01:17. Good times.

Thanks to all of my friends and family who came out to race and cheer. In the middle of a race, I hear people shout my name but I rarely see anyone. This race I did manage to see a lot of you out there and it helps a lot. Thanks.

Next Race, May 20th- World's toughest Half Iron-man distance race. This will be a whole different type of racing. No redline heart rate hear, just a long day.