One foot in front of the other.
Beast of Burden Winter 100 Miler
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Today was the New York Road Runners Manhattan Half-Marathon, part of the NYRR Half-Marathon Series presented by Continental Airlines. If you’ve 
been following my posts, you know that my goal time was 1:35:00. Well, I am happy and proud to say that I ran a PR of 1:35:19! My previous PR was set in the first half of the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon in a time of 1:44:38. That makes today’s half-marathon a PR for me by OVER NINE (9) MINUTES!!
First and foremost, I must give massive thanks to my support team. My coach, Jeff, who kicked me into gear in relatively little time. And also an enormous thank you to the one and only Laminator who paced me the entire way, keeping me going the entire time.
The race course was roughly two and a half loops of Central Park. For those that have run the full loop of Central Park before, you know that to call it a challenging course is somewhat of an understatement. This particular race began at roughly West 63rd Street on West Drive heading in a counter clockwise direction. This means that the runners got to feel the full fury of Cat Hill as well as Harlem Hill, and ALL the little bastard hills in between.
The goal for the race was to maintain a consistent effort for the entirety of the race. I honestly don’t have too much to say for the first half of the race. Cat and Harlem Hills seemed to cruise by, though the smaller hills just after them definitely reminded me to be humble. Lam maintained such a poised, relaxed posture that it really rubbed off on me, keeping me calm.
Once we got into the second loop, Cat Hill came up fairly quick. The weather held together nicely and was nice and cool, but by the second loop, I was definitely feeling hotter than I would have liked. I opened the zipper of my shirt (Sugoi Mid-Zero Zip) to let some air in and felt a lot better. At about mile seven, I took my Gu Roctane as I had planned. I felt decent through Cat Hill, but definitely felt the effort. The hills following the Cat though, ate their way into me. I noticed my breathing becoming much faster than I would have liked and at the same time, while my technique held together well, my stride turnover slowed considerably, thus making my legs work more than usual.
As we dropped down the hill in the Northeast corner of the park, by Lasker Pool, feelings of trepidation and a small touch of dread came over me knowing what lay ahead. As we hit Harlem Hill, I did my best to take deep, full breaths to get my heart rate as calm as possible. The first part of the hill was OK, but as we got to the small plateau-ish area before the next rise, I could feel my heart going into my zone 5 rate and my breathing speeding up accordingly.The next rise was pure agony and I have honestly never come so close to vomiting during a race. The next couple of miles, until we got to about mile 12, I honestly don’t remember much, except keeping my eyes on Lam and just moving forward.
Once we hit mile 12, Lam told me to count my strides to 100 to make it go by easier. I tried this, but my brain wasn’t working so well and I kept losing count after about 20 or so. I guess Lam noticed this and he began counting out loud so I could hear him and it really helped. As we entered the last half mile, he was pushing me to really go for it and, to be honest, I just didn’t have anything left. At some point, even though I refused to look at my watch, I knew I wasn’t going to go sub-1:35:00, but I just kept pushing as much as I could. As we crossed the finish line, I thought I was going to fall over but held on to Lam (Thanks!) and managed to keep myself upright.
I had a great race, and I made (for the most part) my goal time. I truly believe that, had this been a less difficult course, I could have gone much faster and not felt like I was dying late in the race. Lam was an absolutely amazing person to take me to the line and I cannot thank him enough.
Brunch afterward was fantastic, with so many new friends having a great meal together and a great time. Thanks to Michelle for handling the reservations for our get together! So many PR’s were set by so many friends, and all were celebrated, PR or no. What a fantastic race!
Racers Against Childhood Cancer
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Racers Against Childhood Cancer
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As is the case for many at Thanksgiving, my Thursday morning was met with a Turkey Trot. A Turkey Trot, for those not yet in the know, is a race of varying length on or around Thanksgiving. The race in which I, along with two of my brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and my wife were participating was the Dreamcatcher Classic Road Race in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The race had two distances to choose from; a five miler and a two miler, I chose to do the five.
When recovering from a marathon, conventional wisdom says to rest one day for every mile you’ve run. Since on Thursday I was only four days removed from the Philadelphia Marathon and had not reached the requisite 26.22 days of rest, I was rather curious to see how my recovered my legs would be.
If you’ve visited my site before, or you’ve listened to my podcast, it’s no secret that I am a rabid member of the Newton Running Tribe. I make no apologies for this and defend my choice of footwear at every turn. I never fancied myself a runner until I stepped into my first pair of Newtons. Since then, I have only gone farther, faster and stronger than I ever thought possible. This race report is a testament to what is one of the strongest arguments for “natural running’ (i.e. Newton running); recovery.
Race morning was perfect, in my opinion. It felt like it was in the mid-40’s with no wind to speak of. I had not really done any research for this race in terms of terrain, so I was clueless as to what kind of hills and such lay in store. The race was a mass start and not chip timed, so in an effort to get the most accurate time I could, I lined up as close to the starting line as I could. This is not a place where I usually find myself, but I figured why not?
The starting horn sounded and 1,200 of us were on our way. The front row was, as expected, the races “elites”. They pulled away pretty quickly and cleared out the space in front of me. I haven’t looked at the data from my Garmin yet, but I imagine I was at about 6:30/mile at the start. There were a few of us who fell into a stretched out pace line and who seemed to be running a similar race. As the race progressed, many people who had taken it out hard, simply fell off and ended up walking. The course was, in my opinion, good, if a little hilly. Some of the climbs definitely knocked me down a couple of notches, but I just seemed to have more in my legs.
When doing a last minute race plan in my head for this event, I readily assumed that I would go out pretty quick and sustain that for as long as I could and then lest my pace fade to something more comfortable. The problem with that plan was that I just kept going. Don’t get me wrong here, I felt every step. I took it out quick and pushed myself to do what I could. I guess I just expected my tank to run out at some point and it just didn’t. When the hills came, as I said before, I really felt it, BUT, rather than muscling through it with raw power, I reassessed my body position and technique. This kept my pace fairly consistent on the hills and kept my heart rate at an acceptable place.
I crossed the finish line with an official time of 32:55, which made my per mile pace 6:35 (my Garmin read 32:54 and 6:34 but who’s counting?). This was a PR by exactly FOUR minutes. That, to me, is insane. I finished 3rd in my division and 32nd overall.
But why was I able to do this? I believe that this was a perfect storm of proper training (MASSIVE hat tip to Jeff Kline, @coachprs) and the rapid recovery facilitated by natural running (forefoot/midfoot striking) by way of Newton. My legs, SHOULD have been dead from top to bottom. Instead I felt like I was just doing a fast tempo run.
It’s funny how many are calling “natural running” a fad or trend when, before forty years ago, it’s what we all did. Barefoot technique is what we did through millions of years of evolutionary history, so why did it all change when Mr. Bowerman decided to put a big-ass wedge of air-injected foam under our foot? Newton has been at the forefront of “natural running” since well before that term made it’s way into the vernacular of the running community. Look, I don’t work for Newton and they don’t ask me to write or say things like this, I do it because I want to. In my opinion, because of Newton and the natural running technique that they promote:
I AM A RUNNER.
Additional kudos to my bro-in-law C and mom-in-law K for running their first ever road race (the 2 miler). Also to my bro and sister-in-law A and K for making the early trip to run the 5 miler with the fam. Last but not least to my wife, Danielle, for finishing a 2 mile race while being 6 months pregnant!
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This past Sunday, November 22, 2009 I ran the Philadelphia Marathon. My official finish time was 3:59:14. This is how I got there…
I arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday, the day before the race, at about 12:30 PM. Thanks to my friend Mike, I had a great place to stay. Upon arriving, I chatted with Mike for a bit and then headed off to the expo to browse the booths and pick up my race shwag. (Sidenote: When you’re at an expo or something similar, be aware of your surroundings and DON’T CLOG THE AISLES! I felt like I was walking through the Time’s square Subway station at Christmas! KEEP IT MOVING OR MOVE TO THE SIDE PEOPLE!). Picking up my race gear was a breeze and I was quickly on to browsing the incredibly frustrating traffic of the expo.
I wasn’t really in need of too much at the expo, and since I don’t see the point in paying $50 for a pair of running shorts (unless, as I said to Allan later, they have little gnomes inside that keep you cool) I just looked for what I needed. The things I was looking for were GU Roctane (Blueberry pomegranate (there is a reason for that flavor)) and a pair of cheap, throw away gloves. I found both in about five minutes, although wading through the people to and from each booth took about five times as long.
The reason for me being very specific about the flavor of the GU I was looking for is due to my ability to sweat epic amounts. GU makes something called GU Brew in which the Blueberry Pomegranate flavor has double the sodium of their normal GU Brew and more than just about any other product. It also tastes decent. I have been using a bit of that flavor of GU Brew to get used to the taste and such, so I decided to not change things in the flavor of GU I was choosing. Also, GU Roctane has more sodium than most other gels and WAY more amino acids.
After making my purchases and heading back through the throngs, I made my way back to Mike’s place. After a bit, I got in touch with Allan and he, Mike, Andrew (Allan’s partner) and myself went to grad a bite to eat. This meeting marks only the second time that Allan and I have met face to face, but I always feel like I am talking to an old friend, which really helped to take the edge off and pre-race nerves. After eating (Mike had to go catch a flight), Allan, Andrew and I talked for a while about running, nutrition and myriad things in between. We eventually parted ways for the evening, the plan being for me to walk to Allan’s hotel between 5:45 and 6 the next morning and we would walk from there to the start.
On race morning, I woke up at 4:15 AM. I know it seems early, but it gave me time to take a long shower and really wake up.
I was out the door at about 5:45 and en route to get Allan. As luck would have it, when I was only about a block away from Mike’s place, Allan called and asked if I could bring him a packet of Hornet Juice because he had forgotten his. I ran back and got one for him and was on my way again.
I have a tendency to go one of two ways pre-race. Either I am extremely focused and not very talkative at all or I am like Jim Carrey on crack, making jokes and not shutting up. As we walked, Allan pointed out that I was rather like the former, looking straight ahead and rather stoic.
Upon arriving at the start area, Allan and I found what seemed to be the fastest and cleanest bathroom line in all of racing and I quickly found myself changing out of my warm clothes and into my race wear. We also both downed our bottles of Hornet Juice (and also Chia for me).After turning in my gear bag to pick up at the finish line, Allan and I headed into our corral (Gray) and did our best to keep our minds occupied before the actual start.
My goal time for this race was 3:30:00. The plan was to go out at a 7:59 per mile pace for the first 22 miles. Thereafter, Jeff (Coach) had built in a 14 second fade per mile, giving me some breathing room at the end. I had a wristband with my 5K splits written on it to keep me on track. I did not write down mile splits because, at Jeff’s suggestion, I need small goals, but not too small (e.g. 5 K rather than mile by mile). Allan was aiming for a 3:45. The weather was perfect, with temps in what seemed to be the high(ish) 40’s.
I said to Allan, “Let’s do this” and we were off. The first four or five miles were kind of a blur. I was doing a lot of weaving in and out of the people traffic. This was probably largely due to the fact that the goal time I submitted when entering the race was 4:00:00, thus, I was plaed a bit farther back. Unfortunately, this caused my pace to be about thirty seconds per mile faster than I wanted to be.
When I got to the half, I was about 6 minutes ahead of my goal pace, so I took the opportunity to go pee (pardon the details). While standing in the bathroom (I must stop peeing in the middle of marathons, something bad always happens) I began to feel faint, so I put the lid down and sat down. Almost immediately, I needed to throw up (again, sorry for the details), so I did. Now, this was not the kind of, something I ate puking, rather, I do believe that this was some sort of nerve response. In any event, I got worried.
After regaining my composure,I came out of the bathroom and as luck would have it, the 3:30:00 pace group was right there and I jumped in and got back in the groove. At this point, I was right about dead-on my goal time. The pace group, it turns out, was running a much different race than I was. The pace kept dropping to about 7:15-40 per mile and I was still trying to hold 7:59’s. They were actually pushing the pace on some flat sections so they could “take it easy” on an upcoming hill. So, after hanging on for about two miles I dropped out the back of the pack and did my own thing. It was at this point that I felt like my heart rate was spiking. I checked and it kept going to and staying at about 160~170 bpm. This was not good for this point in the race.
I had to assess what my next step would be. I slowed my pace to see if things would regulate and they did not. So, I stopped and simply stood still until my HR got into the 120’s. As I headed out toward the town of Manayunk, I knew that I would eventually be seeing Allan once I turned around and could see the people on their way out. The stretch to Manayunk is a long one and the run from mile 18 to the turn around point at about mile 20 was interminable. ONce I made the turn around, I saw that Allan was only about 5 minutes behind me. Once again, at about mile 21.5, I needed to let my HR come back down and I decided to just wait for Allan.
It was so nice to have company. Not only that, but someone you know, someone you can talk to about lots of things, running or otherwise. The last few miles had some walk breaks (every single one of which pissed me off because my brain and body disagreed) and some good conversation.
When we hit the last mile, we of course bumped up the pace. It’s interesting what happens there. Your body is telling you to go to hell and your heart and mind are so excited your body almost doesn’t matter. Just before mile 26 my calves began to cramp (and oddly, my neck did also) but I did what I had to do to drive to the finish. Allan and I crossed together with a time of 3 hours 59 minutes and 14 seconds. It was awesome!
Nutrition: This actually seemed to be fine mostly. At every aid station, I drank Gatorade Endurance. Admittedly, I should have had two cups at each station instead of just one. I had my GU’s at mile 6 and then again at the half. Once I became concerned about my HR I forgot the other two I had. Oops.
Crowd Support: The crowds were fantastic. They lined probably half of the course and really were so nice and encouraging.
Race Organization: From my perspective, the race semed very well organized. The aid stations were very well staffed and had ample fluids. The volunteers were excellent and helpful. There was nothing overly complicated about the race (which I love) or getting around.
The Course: Overall, I enjoyed the course. I do think that the elevation chart is a bit deceptive. I was not prepared for some of the long rolling inclines (approx. 3100 ft. of elevation gain). But I would indeed do this race again.
My Race: I broke four hours. In nine months, I have gone from never having run a marathon to becoming an Ironman and running a sub-four hour marathon. I am pleased that I broke four hours. I am not pleased that I did not meet my goal. I will eventually crush 3:30:00.
Rest: Now it is time for rest. I have not rested since probably February. It is time now. Time to recharge and let my legs heal. Bring on the tryptophan.
Official Results for the 2009 Philadelphia Maraton
2009 New York City Marathon Results
Darren Rovell: Jackass, Part 1
Darren Rovell: Jackass, Retraction
Damon Runyon Yankee Stadium 5K
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Protest Over the Lakefront Marathon
2009 Ironman World Championship Results (YAY CROWIE!!)
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NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix Presented by Continental Airlines: Queens
Missing Swimmer’s Body Found In Lake Monona
Free Shipping On Sir and Lady Isaac Guidance Trainers!
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It is my opinion that events such as Ironman Wisconsin serves to teach us more in what we did NOT accomplish rather than what we accomplish. This is true, I think, for most things in life. If we truly strive to better ourselves in any discipline it is important to focus on correcting the missteps we have taken in the past.
I should note that I am not disappointed in myself or my accomplishment of becoming an Ironman. With these things in mind, I thought it important to go through and make some objective notes on what I will do differently in the future, and some things that I thought I got right this time.
Swim
First Transition
Bike
Second Transition
Run
I have referenced the volunteers from Ironman Wisconsin several times and said “more on that later”. Well, now is later. I cannot possibly say enough about the amazing job done by the people staffing the course and the rest of the event. Not only were they incredibly efficient and knowledgeable, but they were so amazingly kind. When I was breaking down and getting into my own head emotionally, I met a woman on the course named Karen. Karen was a volunteer at one of the turns whose job it was to point the way. Karen is in a wheelchair. At a moment when my body was telling me know and my mind was issuing the same proclamation, Karen was there smiling ear to ear. She was telling me that I looked great and that I looked strong. She read my bib and said to me, “Brandon, you better come here and give me a high-five!”. I was overjoyed to oblige. Later when I passed her again with only about four miles left, I did the same.
The next morning, I went by the lost and found to check for my pump which I lost on the bike course (no dice). Karen was there, having been on the course until the last racer passed and probably well after. Her smile was just as bright, and her demeanor just as kind as ever. I told her thank you for being there the night before when I really needed it the most. To Karen, and to all the volunteers of the 2009 Ironman Wisconsin, thank you. You are all amazing.
Once again, I am not disappointed in myself, I am merely a student. I will be back to Wisconsin to defeat that course one day, and I will smile the whole time. Ironman Wisconsin will always be where I became an Ironman.
The water in Lake Monona was the same temperature that it had been the day before during the practice swim, pleasantly cool/warm. This made getting in the water not terribly unpleasant. This is a good thing because, if you were trying to get close to the first buoy as I was, thus giving yourself the best line, that meant that you would be treading water for about the next twenty to twenty-five minutes. There was quite a bit of bumping and errant legs and arms while we waited, to be sure, but it was soon ten minutes to start, which was the time for the professional start.
The pro’s were wearing pink caps for the women and silver caps for the men. This was a good thing to notice for me because it gave me bait. At exactly 6:50 AM, the pro’s started. It was all I could do not to go with them since my heart was about to beat out of my chest with excitement.
Then, promptly at 7:00 AM the cannon sounded and we were off!
Now, as I explained earlier, the position where I lined up is THE place to be if you’re a fast swimmer. That being said, the intensity in the scrum that follows a starting gun in that position is incredible. There are arms, hands, legs and feet all moving in different directions and all moving very fast and powerfully. One of the tricks to being successful in that environment is to not take anything personally. If you get a black eye, it’s just part of the game, and to be honest, not that uncommon.
So, when the cannon fired, all hell broke loose around me and I was a willing participant, throwing
more than my fair share of arms and legs. My strategy was to take it easy and let the pack work itself out around me while staying up with the faster swimmers. This worked well, and I was soon in more or less open water. I was told by an Ironman Wisconsin veteran that the buoys were spaced 100 meters apart (in case I wanted to watch my splits). This was a huge help when it came to sighting, which is the practice of quickly lifting your head up to see that you are on the right course to the next buoy. Swimmers that had fast starts began to fall off of the leading group, and eventually I was able to stop worrying so much about being run into.
During training, I calculated my warm-up distance to be about 1,800 meters. This was the point at which my shoulders had flushed all the built up lactate and would let go. It was at that point where I could really go on autopilot. This point came right about where it should have, at about 1,500 meters. I should also note the added challenge of the sun. The sun rose in such a way that when we got to the first turn buoy, it was in our eyes. It continued to be in our eyes through the second turn and did not subside until we made the third turn, which was either the home turn or the prelude to the second loop, depending on which lap you were on.
About half way through the second loop, I began to pass slower swimmers. They really didn’t present much of an issue and I got through them easily. A really awesome point came when, just after the second turn in the second loop, I saw a couple of pink caps and a couple of silver caps. These were the professionals that had started ten minutes ahead of the rest of us. It was a small victory, but a morale boosting victory nonetheless.
The swim was fairly uneventful and felt good, though I was being a bit conservative. I came out of the water in a time of 54:46. This breaks down to 1:27/100 m (7 seconds slower than my workout pace, annoying) and put me at fourth place in my division and thirtieth overall.
Swim Exit Helix
Upon exiting the lake, racers were directed to run up one of the helices (plural for helix, I had to look it up too) to get to the transition area. It was pretty amazing running up the helix through the throngs of people that lined the entire thing. This included Danielle and Kevin, whom I almost missed because my brain was a little scrambled and there were so many cheering people! I also had one of the professional women running in front of me, so that gave me a focal point. I was a little dizzy from running up the helix too, so I needed to focus on something.
When I got to the wetsuit strippers, I must admit, it was kind of fun to flop and get de-frocked! I ran into the transition bag room and my bag was already in the hand of a volunteer waiting for me. I grabbed it and headed into the men’s transition room (separate rooms because there tends to be nudity) where I was greeted by another volunteer who dumped out my bag and handed me everything I needed as I asked for it. Simply amazing. I got a little scattered during transition and I believe that next time, I will take more time and sacrifice the few seconds so that I can think things through a bit more.
Bike Transition Area
As racers ran out of transition, there was a row of volunteers, about twenty-five strong, bedecked with latex gloves covered with sunscreen. I ran over to them and suddenly, there were about eight hands coating every exposed part of my body. Kind of surreal, but helpful! I then began the run to my bike along the top of the parking attached to Monona Terrace. Another mistake I made was to put on my cycling shoes in the transition room rather than waiting until I got to my bike. This left me running to my bike on my toes, which is fine, but I would have preferred to be in socks. Again, the volunteers had my bike in my hand when I got to my row, ready and waiting for me!
Then I was on my bike and on my way! Riding down the helix at the opposite end from the swim
Bike Course
exit was cool, but it was a non-aggressive area and any aggressive riding would get you a two minute penalty. The bike course, was basically out of town for (roughly) sixteen miles, followed by two loops of a forty mile course and then the same sixteen miles back into town.
About 2.5 miles into the ride, I was cruising along nicely and feeling good. All of a sudden, my rear wheel hit something in the road and I almost lost control. I immediately knew that I had a flat, and pulled over to change it. Now, as I said earlier, I was riding with Zipp “deep-dish” wheels (clinchers). These wheels require a valve extender, which I had never used before. Fortunately, knowing I would be using these wheels, I watched a detailed video on Zipp’s website showing how to install the valve extenders.
It so happened that I stopped right by some volunteers who immediately made sure I was ok and then told me that they had a floor pump, which would make things far easier than my small hand pump. They also checked the road to clear whatever debris I had hit. I must say that, even though I was very angry and I am sure, cursing up a storm, the volunteers were nothing but helpful. It took me about three minutes to get the tire changed and ready to pump. By that point, the bike tech volunteer was on the scene in case I needed any technical help. She offered to put my wheel back on for me so I could avoid getting my hands greasy on the chain. This is where things began to go not-so-well.
As I got back on the bike and headed off, I wasn’t doing much shifting because I was on a flat portion of the course. However, as soon as I had to shift, my rear derailleur went crazy! Before I go on, I want to be clear that I in no way blame the bike tech who helped me. I think something just simply got bumped out of whack when the tire got changed. So, as I rode the derailleur was skipping gears and jumping back and forth on gears, and I didn’t have my best climbing gear at all. I was forced to stop probably five times to try to fix it by fine tuning. Eventually, after about fifty miles, it was reasonably fine.
The bike course at Ironman Wisconsin is hard. I say that not necessarily because it’s of any steep climbs or anything, but because it simply does not let up. From the time you hit the loop, and a bit before for that matter, the hills begin. there are a few hills that are substantial, and even a couple of great downhills (especially one at Garfoot Road where they have to place hay bales for crashes). There are ninety degree turns at the bottom of downhills that immediately go uphill, and hard turns at the top of climbs that keep climbing. The road conditions are not so fantastic. There is one stretch in particular that does it’s best to beat you to death for about three miles.
I am usually a very salty sweater and as such, when I ride, my sweat often drips onto the lenses of my sunglasses. This is annoying because it blurs my vision and is generally gross. The day was also turning out to be much hotter than I had thought. I heard someone say that it was about 85 F in the sun. As I hit the loop, the sweat began to hit my lenses, and I recall being annoyed. However, after about an hour of that I could all of a sudden see more clearly. I believed that this was because I was settling into a rhythm. In fact, it was my body slowing my sweating to a crawl. This is not good. I think I began to notice this about three or so hours into the bike, right about the time we picked up “Special Foods” bags. The bag pickup is when I noticed that I had not packed ANY ELECTROLYTES OR SALT. There were none in myT1 bag, and none in my bike “Special Needs” bag. So, I went into maintenance mode. I tried getting down as much Gatorade Endurance as possible, to no avail. I could only take in about one bottle every twenty minutes. I was also trying to get down water, but again, my stomach simply didn’t have the room.
At about mile 80 the leg cramps began. It started in such a way that I could simply ride out of the saddle for a bit and they would stop, but after a point, no matter which way I situated myself, my legs simply would not stop cramping. So, rather than get angry, I did my best to remain calm, pulled to the side of the road and sat on the ground with my legs in a neutral position until the cramps subsided. You may be asking why I didn’t stretch, and believe me, I tried that. The problem was, when I tried to stretch my hamstrings, my quadriceps would cramp and when I tried to stretch my quadriceps, my hamstrings would go into knots. So, neutral was the only way to go.
A bit more about the course; as you ride into the town of Verona, and it’s outskirts, there is an amazing, festival-like atmosphere. It is something akin to Alpe d’Huez in the Le Tour de France. There are people lining the climb, cheering you on, patting you on the back and messages of encouragement written in chalk on the road. Upon arriving in Verona, the cheers are deafening as you ride through the barricaded crowds. Again, simply amazing.
The ironic part of my bike leg is that after I bonked (and yes, I did in fact bonk. HARD), I was riding quite well. I think this was due to the act that to avoid complete shutdown of my muscles, I had to be efficient. This paid big dividends in terms of pace. There were more stops scattered throughout the rest of my ride, but again, I stayed calm and did what I had to do.
When we finally made the turn back toward Madison, I was feeling so elated, that I seemed to be ok for the majority of the ride in. Again, riding up the helix this time, was just as amazing. So much cheering from overhead and upon arriving to the dismount line, your bike was taken from you and the crowds went nuts! My bike time was 6:29:47 with an average speed of 17.2 mph. I must say that I added at LEAST 30 minutes to my bike split with all the stopping I did. That said, I am pretty proud of my actual riding. Nutrition, not so much.
As I got into T2, I knew that I needed to take sometime. I had put a Pedialyte in my transition bag specifically to replace electrolytes. I also asked the transition room volunteers if they had any salt. They had electrolyte tablets, which I welcomed. I took my time and kind of just sat there for a few collecting myself. Then I began the marathon.
As I headed out on the run, I was well aware that for me, this was rapidly becoming a race of
attrition. A volunteer was kind enough to point out the insane amount of salt that was coating my jersey and told me to make sure I got some salt in me. About 3 miles into the run, I saw Tory from Newton Running, and it was a much needed boost, not so much in pace or anything, just in morale. Tory ran with me for about a quarter of a mile, asking if I was doing ok and telling me I looked like I was doing well. This meant so much to me.
I decided early on in the run, that I would not run any of the uphills and I stuck to that. This was especially helpful because at about mile 5, I began to overheat. So, when I got to aid stations, which were located every mile, I stopped if I needed to. I just told to volunteers manning the stations that would be sitting down for a few minutes and not to worry, I was fine. After I began taking small breaks, I did a bit of run walk alternating. This seemed to work out ok. however, at about mile ten, I began having a hard time urinating (pardon the gross details). I knew that all I could do was to keep taking in chips and gatorade at the aid stations.
Annie and Bubba
The way the run course is set up, the half way point is right beside the finish line. As I got into the downtown area, near the finish/halfway point, I saw Kevin and Danielle for the first time since that morning. It was awesome! I felt so elated and happy to see them, and one of my dogs, Bubba. A bit further and closer to the finish, I again saw Tory with Tim this time. Tory, once again, made my day by walking with me for a bit and offering words of encouragement. I distinctly remember telling her that I was sorry for having to walk in a shoe that is the epitome of a running shoe!
I continued on to the turn around. On the way back I waved to Tory and Tim and saw Danielle and Kevin again. They informed me that J was about a mile behind me. I figured he’d catch me pretty soon since I was walking a lot. Sure enough, he caught me at about mile 14 or so. He was also having a rough go of it on the run. I would like to take a second to thank J for walking with me and stopping with me and waiting for me. It meant so much to have a friend there to talk to and with whom to commiserate. I can tell him a thousand times and he’ll never know how much that meant.
J and I walked together from about mile 14 until about mile 20. He wanted to see what his legs could do, and I was happy to let him at it. I continued to walk, eventually passing by a woman who asked me how much further we had to go. I told her about 4 miles and kept going. However, I noticed a distinct note of exhaustion in her voice and I told her to come and walk with me. She did, her name was Julie and we walked and talked for about the next two miles. Her husband had finished about the time J had. This too was her first Ironman and she was, like me having a hard time. It was again, so nice to have company to talk to. With about 2 miles to go, we began running. With about a 3/4 of a mile to go, I asked Julie if she wouldn’t mind if I went ahead. She was happy to oblige.
That last bit of the race went by in a flash. I know if was adrenaline and endorphins, but I felt like new. I approached the finish and felt overcome with so many feelings that to begin to describe them here would add another page to this report. Then I heard the words I had been waiting to hear. “Brandon Wood, you are an Ironman!”
On the day before our race, Saturday, September 12, 2009, J and I had decided to take advantage of the Gatorade Practice Swim. The practice swim was essentially a free swim of the course in Lake Monona and began at 7:00 AM.
For J, this marked a big step. Up to this point, he had done a couple of open water swims sans wetsuit, a couple of pool swims with wetsuit, and of course the requisite pool training. This would be the first time he was in the murky water of a lake, the same lake in which he would be covering 2.4 miles the next day.
Ironman Wisconsin Swim Course
So that he could get the hang of things, I stayed with him and we took our time going once around the loop. J quickly got the hang of the nature of swimming in the lake, which was something considering you could barely see your hand outstretched in front of you. Being that this was J’s first organized triathlon, I did my best to put him through his paces to try and demonstrate what may occur on race day. With him swimming straight ahead, I swam all around him, hitting his arms and torso, pulling on his legs and pushing him off course. If you’ve never been in a triathlon with a mass start or even several people starting at once, this is incredibly useful so that when race day comes, you’re not shocked at what goes on. Suffice it to say that J did an amazing job of keeping his cool.
After going around the loop once with J, I wanted to finish the distance (2.4 miles) and do the loop again myself, this time at my own “easy” pace. This loop also went well. I took it nice and even, making sure to work on sighting because we were in the water at roughly the same time we would be there the next day and the sun was presenting some major challenges. My time for that loop was about 29 minutes. This was a reasonably acceptable time for a practice swim, especially considering the water temperature was about five to ten degrees warmer than I could have like, though still wetsuit legal.
At 10:30 AM, I, along with some twitter buddies and people from this site, had planned to meet at the Newton booth in the expo. So, I swung back by our hotel to pick up Danielle and drop off J. We then headed back to the expo where a few of us met. Among those there were @triboomer, @nickjantz, @kevsbrtny and @chrisdandeneau. It was a lot of fun hanging out and taking a few minutes to get some pointers on the course from those more experienced than I. Danielle and I
Even in a picture she looks fast!
also got to spend some more time talking to the Newton folks where we both met Newton Co-Founder and CEO Jerry Lee. We also got to hang out more with Tory and pick her brain about all things running and triathlon. One thing you must know about Tory is that even standing still beside you, she looks like she could kick your ass in any race, any day.
After the meetup we headed back to our hotel to get some food and to get our bikes and transition bags ready for drop off which took place that afternoon from 10 AM to 3 PM. A little explanation of the “bag” situation; when you check in, in your race materials you are given five plastic, drawstring bags. They are designated as follows:
Bike Gear Bag (T1)
Bike Special Foods Bag
Run Gear Bag (T2)
Run Special Foods Bag
Morning Clothes Bag
The gear bags are pretty self-explanatory, holding whatever you need for your transitions. As for the “Special Foods” bags; these were not necessarily for food, but rather for whatever you think you may need halfway through the bike and again, halfway through the run. For instance, in my bike bag, I had an extra tube, in case I got a flat and was down to one tube with me on the bike (better safe than sorry!). The other thing in my “Special Foods” bags included: (Both) Chia, Probar, Beta-Alanine, Pepto chewables (run) Shot Blocks, Pedialyte. If you look closely, you can see an enormous problem I ran into during the race. As for my bike, I did a close inspection and a short ride to double check everything. I also removed my Speedfil since I’d be taking it with me in the morning.
The “Special Foods” bags did not have to be dropped off until race morning, so the transition bag drop off was rather easy. Just go the proper room and put your bag in the area for your number. The bike drop off was just as easy, although I did forget a bag to cover my handlebars to keep them dry overnight. Thankfully, Tory (bless you Tory!) came through with a plastic bag!!
I then headed back to the hotel to relax and do nothing. This sort of worked. J and our two other friends who were racing, JR and Cass, were going to drop off their gear and then go drive the bike course, which was a VERY necessary activity for this particular course. I decided to go with them and asked them to give me a call when they got back. They returned at about 4:45 PM and we headed out to drive the course.
Ironman Wisconsin Bike Course
I won’t go into too much detail of the course here because I will talk more about it in the next segment of my report. Suffice it to say that this course is much more difficult than you’d think. It’s not that the hills are so steep or huge, it’s just that they don’t stop. The course is beautiful, to be sure. Lot’s of rolling cornfields and plenty of cattle that I’m sure turned more than one stomach on race day! The drive took about two hours, to do one loop or the two loop course.
Once we got back to the hotel, it was time for food and rest. Danielle and I headed out for some dinner where I got a big grilled chicken salad. The whole day I had been hydrating with a 2:1 water to Gatorade mix, and I was worried that I’d have to up twenty times during the night to use the bathroom. Luckily, I only had to go once, and with my alarm set, it was time for bed.
Part III coming soon!
On Thursday, September 10, 2009 Danielle, myself and our friend J (and our 2 dogs, Annie & Bubba) left the confines of the tiny island of Manhattan at about nine o’clock pm EST. The drive was a fairly simple and straight forward one; take the New Jersey Turnpike South to I-80 and then drive West for what seemed like an eternity. Once past Chicago, we would head gradually Northwest eventually arriving in Madison, Wisconsin.
We had our SUV set up so that all of the luggage was shoved into one corner of the back end of the car and piled to the ceiling. This left plenty of room for whoever was riding in the back to either lay down and sleep (fully stretched out) or ride sitting up in the back seat. With this layout we were able to alternate drivers and drive through the night arriving in Madison at about 1 PM.
Monona Terrace
Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel and decided to shower and relax for a few before heading down to Monona Terrace, which was the staging are for the whole event. When we did decide to go check in, we only got slightly lost on the way. Also, on the way, I got a call from Helen Manning, media relations director for Ironman. I contacted her several months ago to see if I could sing the National Anthem at the race start. She was calling now, to ask me to sing the anthem at the athlete dinner/briefing (about 4 hours from then!!). I said that I would have to call her back after I had a chance to warm up because, driving through the night, halfway across the country is not the greatest thing for my voice.
The first thing I did was drop off my bike with the guys from Race Day Wheels, so that my shiny new Zipps could be put on and my cassette swapped out. Just a little fyi, I was riding a Zipp 808 in the front and a Zipp 1080 in the back (clinchers).
After dropping off my bike we headed inside to wait in line for check in. The first step was to check in with USAT (U.S. Triathlon’s governing body). J had forgotten his USAT card, but fortunately they were set up to be able to look up the USAT numbers of people that had forgotten. This part was pretty quick and painless and upon getting stamped we were instructed to double-check our bib number and head to the next stop to pick up all the legal mumbo-jumbo that goes along with participating in an event where you’re pushing your body (i.e. waivers).
Getting waivers was also pretty fast and painless, and we then went into the big line to get weighed and pickup all of our race stuff (numbers, chips, caps, etc.). For one reason or another, J’s info was nowhere near filled out on his forms and he was ushered to the “solutions” line, where they fixed the issue. We were checked in and on our way.
In the expo area, I headed right over to the Newton booth (are you surprised?) to meet some of the people I have been in touch with but have never actually met in person! The first person I said “hi” to was the guru of all things customer service, Tory Oakland! We only spoke briefly because I had to get back to warm up and go pick up my bike and I would also be at the expo the next day for a Twitter/Brandon’s Marathon/Facebook meetup for which the Newton booth was the meeting place.
J and I headed to grab my bike and had some extra time so we walked around and found some food (a really delicious sandwich place called Milio’s). As we were waiting for the bike to be done after eating, we were met by @nickjantz who I knew was racing and was planning on being at the meetup the next day. We got the chance to hang out for a few until my bike was ready and to trade results and basically be tri-geeks for a bit.
After a short-ish wait, we grabbed my bike and headed back to the hotel for me to warm up (vocally) and to get ready for the athlete’s dinner. I decided after a short warm up that I would be fine to sing and called Helen back to let her know. After taking a couple minutes to sit down, I got dressed and headed out the door for the dinner.
I arrived at the dinner and met with Heather, another of the media relations people with Ironman who gave me a cool “V.I.P.” wristband. I should have seen where else it could’ve gotten me, but oh well! I wanted to wait until after the dinner to eat anything because I didn’t want anything to throw an extra wrench in the works. After waiting for about ten minutes, I headed to the stage with the color guard presenting the flag. Now, I am used to singing in front of a lot of people, but the flag always gets me and I was in front of about 4,000 people, many of whom would be sharing my pain two days later, so, I was a bit nervous. The Anthem went fine and, all things considered, I felt good about it.
We then sat through a presentation of about an hour or so. This was where they gave us a run down of rules and such. It was a very well produced presentation which included many cheers and a few tears. Soon enough, we were out and on our way back to the hotel.
I never did get anything to eat at the dinner, but my wife was all over it and got me some wings! So, I was full and ready for bed!
Stay tuned for Day 2!
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Newton Sir & Lady Isaac Review
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Heart Transplant Patient to Run Kona!!
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Forgot to put this on the show, but a HUGE shout out to Kate and all the luck and ass kicking in the world this weekend in the America’s Finest City Half-Marathon this weekend in San Diego!!
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Vineman Results (search for bib #40)
Brandon’s Marathon on The Running Front!!
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2010 New York City Tritahlon Registration
2009 New York City Triathlon Results (I’m bib #4517)
Central Park Underwear Run Video
The Resurrected Runner Running Book Library
Brandon’s Marathon Podcast Live!!
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Yesterday, Sunday July 26, 2009 was the New York City Triathlon.
Race morning began with me waking up at the ungodly hour of 3:45am. I had been very careful to make sure everything was already packed and ready to go for the morning, so that all I had to do, was eat breakfast, get dressed and go. This included having different bottles labeled and ready to go in the refrigerator. They were as follows:
So, I gathered my bottles and myself, I headed out the door and down to 72nd St. on the 1 Train. As soon as I got out of the subway it began to rain. Fortunately, I brought an umbrella for just such an event! Myself and a ton of other people were making our way to the transition area on the West Side Greenway at about 76th & 78th Streets, depending on which transition are you were assigned (I was in the Red transition area).
The day before when I dropped off my bike at transition, I had secured a garbage bag over my handlebars. I did this because whether rain or just dew, I did not want to have my grip any more slippery than I knew it would be with water from myself and the copious amounts of sweat that I knew were coming. The rain that had welcomed us to transition that morning quickly stopped, and I got about the business of setting up my transition.
About the transition rack situation: In this transition are, as with most triathlons, this is the type of rack used. In this event, each racer was designated a space which was indicated by a sticker with your race number on it (my race number was 4517). The idea is to hang your bike on the rack by the nose of your saddle (seat), so that each bike was facing in the opposite direction than that of it’s neighbor. It appeared that each bike was being given about 9 inches (+ or -) which does not sound like a lot, but it’s pretty standard and works just fine if the bikes are alternating sides properly. In my transition space however, because I was close to the end of the rack where the supports are located, whomever had placed the stickers had gotten lazy and had not planned ahead. This resulted in my transition area and that of the bikes on either side of me, being crammed into an area about 18 inches TOTAL!! Now, my handlebars are about 18 inches wide, just to give you some perspective! It was ridiculous, and should have been checked over by race organizers and/or transition managers, and I know for a fact that my area was not the only place this happened.
I digress.
The transition area closed at 5:45am and the first wave of professional men were scheduled to start at 5:50am. Due to weather, this time was pushed back about 25 minutes. I still left the transition are at 5:45 and headed in the general direction of the swim start with my wetsuit slung over my shoulder and my bag for the finish line (change of clothes and Ipod and such) in hand. Keep in mind that because the swim for the NYC Triathlon is a straight shot down the Hudson River, the walk from transition to swim start is right at a mile.
I got to the swim start with a TON of time to spare, so I just sat down and stretched a bit and mentally ran through my race. After a while I decided to drop my finish line bag at the trucks that would be transporting them for us. Then I went to do a quick crowd scan for my wife before getting in line in my wave. Danielle did end up finding me with our friend Allie which was awesome to get a last minute good luck!
I started the swim in the water as far to the outside (closer to the middle of the river) as I could, knowing that was where the current was strongest. The start came and we were off! I can’t really say too much about strategy for the swim, because I tend to just rely on raw speed and technique to get it done. I can say that I aimed to stay toward the outside portion of the course to take full advantage of the current. For the record, I don’t think ANYONE should count on current being a help. If you can’t do the distance in a pool, you should not be doing it in open water, it’s not safe, period!
I was first out of the water in my wave and by the time I exited, had passed a lot of swimmers from the five waves in front of me as well. My total time was 14 minutes 53 seconds. This is when the fun started. After coming out of the water, each runner had to then run/walk about 300~400m to the transition area. This had the effect of making the T1 times look very slow, mine was 4:48.
I got all geared up and ready for the bike and then went! I saw Danielle and Allie at the beginning of the bike and it was so great to hear my name being yelled! The bike course ran North on the West Side Highway out of Manhattan and onto the Mosholu Parkway where it made a u-turn at Gunhill Road, then came back the same way it went out, passed the transition area, made another u-turn at W. 57th St. and came back North and into transition. It was awesome having the West Side Highway completely open and not having to worry about vehicular traffic! The course itself, did not present and crazily steep hills, but it was most definitely a hilly course, that did have me coming out of athe saddle a few times.
My biggest problem on the bike were people not watching their surroundings. In the MANDATORY briefing that we all had at packet pick-up, the race organizers were VERY clear about riding to your right at all times, unless you were passing someone. Many, many, many people did not heed this advice. Drafting was illegal in this race (the practice of riding right behind someone to take advantage of them breaking the air for you), but because of the amount of people riding on the left full time, it was impossible not to draft without pulling across the cones separating outbound and inbound racers. I was constantly yelling, and I do mean yelling, “On your left!” just so I could be safe and to keep people riding on the left would not get wrapped up in less observant racers than myself.
The bike as a whole, felt really great, and I felt strong throughout. My total time on the bike was 1:10:24 with an average speed of 21.2 mph.
I got into transition and was out pretty quickly, not feeling rushed in a time of 1:44. Not super fast or anything, but I got everything I needed done, so it’s all good. On the bike course, there were no water or aid stations, and so I relied on my hydration on my bike and my chia. Once the run began, however, there was water and Cytomax right away. It was nice to be able to dump some cold H2O down my back and get something with some flavor in it in my mouth. As I came up W. 72nd St. and headed toward Central Park, I was amazed by the crowds that formed a solid wall of humanity for the entirety of that part of the course, which once again, included Danielle and Allie!!
After entering the park, there were about five miles left in the run/race. I was feeling very comfortable in my stride, not too fast and only a bit slower than I wanted to be. At about 3 miles into the run, my stomach started to rebel against the liquid that I was all of a sudden cramming into it. I felt a tiny bit uncomfortably nauseous off and on for the remainder of the race. Not enough to really effect me, but just enough to make me notice.
I finished the run in a time of 51:34 which make for a 8:19 per mile pace. This is about a minute per mile slower than my general 10k time, but it is faster than I felt like I was going.
My total time for the race was 2:23:20 which put me in 42nd place out of the 443 people in my division (Men 30-34). For my first Olympic distance triathlon, I felt great! I feel like I really like this distance and can’t wait to do another!! Please listen to Brandon’s Marathon Podcast, Episdoe 51 for even more info and impression of the race!!
My Results:
New York City Triathlon Result Page
NYRR Achilles Hope & Possibility 5 Miler
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Yesterday was the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5 miler in Central Park. The famous, Ari and I had arranged to meet at the registration tent prior to the race and to run the event together. Achilles Track Club, for those who may not know, is an organization who holds as it’s mission statement: “Our mission is to enable people with all types of disabilities to participate in mainstream athletics, promote personal achievement, enhance self esteem, and lower barriers.”. I am no stranger to Achilles and have been there to cheer on many of their athletes before this event and have also been passed by one of their Iraq War veterans in a race!
Now, to say that I was “re-inspired” by this event is not entirely true. I think that, to be “re” anything, one needs to have lost their initial drive. I have not. However, as I stated in my article last week entitled, “Time”, I have been struggling with the amount of my life my training must take up, but lacking the time to allow it to do so. This weekend, I found myself renewed. On Saturday, I went on a 5.5 mile run in the morning, then headed out to rehearsal. Following rehearsal, I headed home and went on a 30 mile ride down the West Side Greenway (my first time on that route in a while). Knowing that I had an event the next morning, I looked forward to that soreness that makes you feel alive, like your body is working again.
The next morning, I went to the event in Central Park. First, walking through the parking area in front of Tavern on the Green, the amount of high-tech wheelchair gear was amazing! The amount of high end wheelsets on those chairs could almost surpass the wheelsets on überbikes at a triathlon. As I walked toward the registration tent and looked around, the people there, some with mental disabilities, some missing one or both legs or arms, I began to think. What if I wasn’t sore that morning because the part of me that should be sore was missing? Would I still be there? What if I couldn’t walk to the start, but had to use my arms? Would I still be there?
These athletes were there because they are just that, athletes. No matter what, at the end of the day, they were not letting some small thing like being a double leg amputee stop them from going out and using what God gave them. The wheelchair start went off before the main pack, and it was incredible to see these athletes, some of whom were forced to go backward in their chairs, due to their condition, just smile the whole time.
As Ari and I got to about mile 4 (holding down about a 7:15/mile pace), the heat and humidity began to kick my ass a bit, I said to Ari, “I’d like to go on the record and say that I am officially no longer having fun.”. Once I got home and had the chance to reflect, it made me realize how thankful I was to have been able to toe the line with the athletes from Achilles. So, to each and every one of the member of Achilles Track Club, thank you! I would also like to say a special thank you to the veterans who were there running. You have given of yourself with an unconditional love for our country and I am eternally grateful. As long as I have breath, I will defend and honor the sacrifices you have made for our freedoms. Thank you.
Official Results:
Time 36:55
Pace 7:23/mile
Running with the Pack Episode 49 (with me!!)
2009 Patriot Triathlon Official Results
Rio de Jinero Marathon (GO RAPHAEL!!!)
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The Revenge of Shrekilocks
Yesterday, June 20, 2009 was the Patriot Triathlon in East Freetown, Massachusetts, produced by Sun Multisport Events. I was a member of the relay team, The Revenge of Shrekilocks, along with my brother-in-law, Adam (run leg) and his best friend, Harrison (bike leg).
The weather report for the day had been changing throughout the week, and the night before we got the good news that any rain would most likely hold off until around 3 pm. Team Shrekilocks met up at the race check in at 6pm on Friday at Cathedral Camp (race site), where we got some decent schwag and headed off to dinner. After a great, if not slow meal at The Pasta Bowl, we all headed back my sister-in-law’s parent’s house in nearby Mattapoisett.
My alarm was set for 5 am, and I popped right out of bed. I usually have a hard time sleeping before any race, but for whatever reason, I slept like a log. We were out the door by 5:50 am, and on our way to the race.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the wide open layout of the transition area. In race past, I have become accustomed to some rather cramped racks and such, but there was no less than 15 feet between rows of racks and often times more. We had plenty of time to set up being that our wave began at 7:30 am, and at about 7:15, we all headed over to the swim start in Long Pond.
Our wave included; relays, aquabike, clydesdale and athena racers, which numbered probably about 30 (give or take). It was an “in the water” start, which was great in my opinion because it allowed me to walk in to about waist deep so that I could start swimming right away rather than having to deal with any running/jumping into the water. I managed to get myself to the front of the wave (in my shiny, new Xterra Vortex 3 sleeveless wetsuit) and the start went off without a hitch.
There were some swimmer-looking guys that I was a bit concerned about, but I passed them pretty quickly. I got out of any pack and on my own out in front pretty quickly. Then, at about the half-way point, as I rounded a buoy, someone came up on my left. Now, at about this time, I had begun to pass people from the other waves and I thought that this was just someone else I was passing and had missed seeing. Then I noticed that I wasn’t gaining any ground on this person! I looked and saw that they had on the same cap color that I did, as well as…PINK GOGGLES!!! There was a chick keeping right up with me!! Now, not that I am incapable of having my ass hand to me by a woman, but I was just not expecting it from my wave! So, I decided to just pace with her and I believe she decided to do the same. We stayed side-by-side until the turn back in toward the beach. We came up on someone from an earlier wave, and she went to the inside, right next to the buoy and I wound up getting bounced way out to the right. I had to pause for a second and make sure I hadn’t been thrown too far off course (which I kind of had) and during that little pause, the other swimmer gained about a body length on me.
At some point, as we made our way back in toward the beach, she crossed behind me and began to go wide right. Again, I paused to make sure I was on course, which I was, and decided that she was veering way off. As I hit the beach, I didn’t look back and hauled some serious ass around the transition area to the swim entrance. One thing I thought was nice, was that the timing pad, which picks up your chip and thereby your swim time, was right by the water’s edge. This was nice because it gives you a more accurate idea of your swim time. I have been in races, where the timing mat was about 100+ yards from the water!!
As I ran through the pathway that was set up to funnel swimmers to the transition, I had to kind of cram myself around some people that were taking up a LOT of the path. I got to the transition, found my rack almost immediately and made the switch-off to Harrison. About the time Harrison was heading out, someone behind me asked if it was me who was first out of the water (for our wave). Turns out, it was the woman who had been pacing me. Her name was Tracy and she was so very nice. We got to speak for a long while and I gave/give her unlimited kudos on the swim that she turned in!!
My goal for the swim was to be the fastest swimmer in the race, a goal which I made to myself but didn’t share with anyone other than my team. I did not accomplish that goal. My swim time was 18:32 which was fourth fastest, the fastest time being 18:09. I must admit, I am a bit annoyed by this fact, but I can’t rewind time and push it now!! That being said, I do not believe that the swim was a true half-Ironman swim distance. Especially since the fastest swim time last year was 27:58. I mean, I would be happy if I went that distance in 18:32, but being realistic, I would also then have some sort of record!
After changing into dry clothes, I went down to the bike course to wait for Harrison to come around on the first loop of a two-loop course. Prior to the race he had been downplaying (in my opinion) what his pace would be. He called this “expectation management”. So, we expected him to show up at maybe about an hour and a half from the time he left. Instead he came riding by at an hour and twenty-three minutes!! His total time on the bike was 2:47:06 (58 miles, so more than a half-iron!!), with an average speed of 20.8 miles per hour (we’ll call it 21!). As a matter of fact, Harrison came running into the transition area so fast that he almost crumpled from his legs cramping, and at the same time had an insanely fast transition time of thirty-one seconds!!
Before his run leg, Adam, my brother-in-law, had to pee about 4 times inside of 30 minutes! I don’t blame him, seeing as before my swim, I went to pee and by the time I had walked directly from the porta-john to the swim start, I had to go again. Due to some significant humidity and heat, he decided to run in just his compression shirt rather than that, plus a tech-tee over top. He also made good use of my hat that was courtesy of Newton Running. We couldn’t see Adam at any point on the course, but we knew that he would be in at approximately one hour, forty-five minutes from his start. Sure enough, Adam’s run time was 1:45:00!! It took a minute for him to be able to talk (as it did for all of us!!), but when he did, he was very satisfied with his run (as were we all!!!).
Our total time was 4 hours, 52 minutes and 24 seconds (4:52:24). Now, while we were hanging around and gathering our belongings after the race, results began to go up. We saw that we had come in fourth place (not bad out of 11 teams!!) and decided to head out to grab some food. Later that night, I checked to see if official results had been posted. It turns out, due to a 4 minute penalty by the third place team, we had bee bumped into third place!!! We’re not sure if we get an award or anything, but we should!!
As for the event itself; it was very well run. The check in was smooth and all the staff had most of the answers to any questions, and if they didn’t, then they knew who to ask. The transition are was AMAZING!!, It was more wide open and comfortable than any I have ever been in. The water was perfect and the waves had just enough people to be competitive, but not crowded. Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend the Patriot Triathlon. We have even begun talking about plans to come back next year!!
If you would like to see the official results of the 2009 Patriot Triathlon Click here!!
As always, I will have a further race review on Brandon’s Marathon Podcast later this week, so be sure to check back on Tuesday!! And also, a HUGE shoutout to our cheerleaders; Danielle, Kate, Kathy, Christian and John!! Thank you all for making the EARLY trek to encourage us!!
Xterra Wetsuits (50% off until the end of June!!!!)
Patriot Triathlon (Go Shrekilocks!!!)
Dreamfar Triathlon Team (Thanks guys!!)
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NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix: Brooklyn Results
The Resurrected runner Library
The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel
Robert Downey, Jr. in Newton’s on the set of Iron Man 2
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I just got home from completing the NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Brooklyn. This was my first official “half” and I think that despite my lack of training for this particular event, it went very well!
In brief; the race began in Prospect Park doing about two full loops of the park and then moved to Ocean Parkway. It continued down Ocean until hitting Coney Island and Surf and then the boardwalk. The course in the park was not bad although there were a couple of sizeable hills, which somehow seemed like no trouble at all since I was running with some friends. Once the course exited the park it was (with the exception of a brief down and then up around the freeway) pretty flat and I fould plenty of trees along the side to escape the sun, which was a factor.
Please check back on Tuesday for Brandon’s Marathon Podcast: Episode 43 where I will give a much more detailed race report and interview my wife, Danielle who also ran and did a great job!
Our official times were:
Danielle: 2:22:13
Brandon: 1:51:36
Runner’s World: Running at Altitude
NYRRHalf-Marathon Grand-Prix: Brooklyn
Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon (Go Phil!!)
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NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Brooklyn
Cleveland Marathon (Go Dave, Go!!)
Geist Half-Marathon (Go Joe, Go!!)
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After a stop at a port-a-potty, I headed inside the host hotel to find Dailyrunner who picked up my bib and chip the day before. I dropped off my bag and headed outside to the start area. An announcement was made that there was going to be a 15 minute delay in the start of the race. I took the time to seek out Julie, author of the blog Raceslikeagirl, who was running the half marathon. We chatted for a bit and then I went back to find the 3:50 pacer.
The race finally started a little bit before 8:00. The NJ Marathon is a double loop course with the start and finish on the promenade adjacent to the beach. The loop is mainly through neighboring residential areas. The beginning miles went by pretty quickly. I had no problem hanging with the 3:50 pacer and, at the time, thought I’d be able to finish the race with him. I stuck to my plan, hydrating starting at mile 4 and taking a gel every 6 miles. My wife and daughter didn’t make the trip down with me so it was nice seeing EN, a friend from Nike Speed, just before the half. Hearing his words of encouragement pumped me up. We finished the first half in 1:54:17, right on pace according the my pacer. Soon after we started the second loop, which by the way did not play any Jedi mind tricks with me, the rain started to pick up. For a while it was still refreshing but around mile 20 it started to get heavier and really started to bug me. Soon after that I run through a few puddles and my shoes started to feel like a ton of bricks At mile 21, my left knee started to hurt. I think it had something to do with the uneven road surfaces and twisting in ways the human body is not meant to twist in order to avoid puddles. At first it was bearable but at mile mile 23 I had to take a 2 minute walk break. I hated taking a walk break with only 5k to go but I was really hurting. The walk break did the trick, I got a second wind when we made the final turn towards the finish. EN was there with less than a mile to give me one final push finish. I finished strong and crossed the line in 3:52:54 (8:54 pace). Unfortunately, I did not run a negative split. My second half split was 1:58:37. Considering the problems I was having with my knee and shoes, I’ll take it. I got my finishers hat, medal, and refreshments and made a beeline for the bag check where a dry and warm set of clothes awaited.
3:52:54 is a PR for me besting my 3:55:08 I set at the Marine Corps Marathon in October 2008. Every race has it’s own challenges and surprises. With the NJ Marathon it was the weather. Setting a PR in less than perfect conditions is definitely cause for celebration.
Lastly, congrats to Dailyrunner on achieving a BQ after almost 5 years of trying. Check out his race report on his blog (linked above).
Getting ready for the race was difficult for me, since I had a rehearsal until 10:00p in San Diego the night before my race. That meant that I didn’t leave San Diego until 10:30 and had to drive to my hotel in Costa Mesa (only 90 miles). So I checked in at midnight and was laying out my stuff (shoes, Wrightsocks… great investment by the way, Nike running shorts and sports bra)for the race and getting settled until like 12:20a. Luckily I had all my Hammergels and stuff packed in my belt before I went to work on Saturday. I got up 5:00 and was in the hotel lobby at 5:30a for the shuttle to the start. I was a little anxious that morning, and really tired as it was my first day off in 2 weeks, but I good and alert which is what I hoped was going to help keep me going.
Sunday morning was a little grey and overcast and in the mid 50s which was nice. I wish it would have stayed that way, but alas it warmed to the mid 60s and sunny by the end of the race which was a little warmer than I would have liked, but it’s southern California what can you do?
The race was scheduled to start at 6:30a and we officially started it almost 6:40a, I think. Those 10 minutes between when we were supposed to start and the gun were the most anxiety filled of my life! I was all ready to go and then standing and waiting in a pack of thousands of people nerves started to get to me. But after the national anthem and 2 passes of a helicopter to take pictures we were off. The full and half marathoners all started together which meant that the energy was great because there were just SO MANY people.
I placed myself right at the back of the first corral, since I thought I would be finishing in the front half of the 4th hour and when we got going excitement took over and I was going like a bat out of hell. First mistake. The first 5 felt great. It was mostly downhill (sweet) and I was booking it and feeling really solid. I ended up without even pushing just ahead of the 3:40 pace group. Then my shins decided to give me trouble. I have been working on a raked stage for the last weeks and I have shin splints so I knew that I was probably going to have trouble with them, but I was sort of hoping that it would hold off and bug me later. That was the first time I dropped my pace, but I kept going. Stopping wasn’t an option. It was keep running or keep running. As I kept running I managed to get myself through the pain and started feeling good again.
There was a large chunk of this race that was on bike trails through a nature reserve, which was beautiful, but man was it lonely. I much preferred being out on the road where there is someone at least every little bit screaming and clapping for you to keep going. These trails, which were paved (mostly, I’ll get to that) weren’t really even and were solid rolling hills. I trained in southern California and south eastern Virginia… I’m not good with hills. Right around mile 9 (I think… I was solidly in a haze by that point) there was a hill, and not a small one and I actually said out loud “You have got to be kidding me.” It was short, but steep enough for my legs to say screw you.
At mile 12 the half marathon course broke off and we marathoners were left on our own for the remainder of the race. I started feeling solid again at that point. I had dropped my pace but knew that if I didn’t then I wouldn’t cross the finish line. We ran through South Coast Plaza, yes they really took us through a mall parking lot, and it crowded with people screaming and cheering which was exactly what I needed. We then went through another set of bike trails, my least favorite of which was UNPAVED and UPHILL. I wanted to cry. This was at mile 22 ish, maybe 23. I hadn’t run on sand or dirt EVER… I mean EVER. I wasn’t prepared at all for that and my body was not a fan. By that point I think I was running almost all on heart anyway, so a shock like that was killer. But I just kept going.
As I closed in on the finish line I knew I had to just keep going but thankfully the crowds picked up again and the street was pretty well lined in people. The finish line was in the Orange County Fairgrounds so we were winding through the parking lot to scream and cheers. That was when I found what little I had left and ran with everything I had for the last straight to the finish line.
Then I teared up. I had done it. In 7 months of training I had gone from not running at all to running a marathon. A MARATHON. It still amazes me that I did it. I had never been happier or prouder of myself. My friend Christine was waiting at the finish line cheering and laughing. I think knowing she was there was what gave me the last push to get to the end.
My official time was 4:16:23. I was 484th overall 151 in women and 13th in my age group. I’m thrilled. I now have a PR for my next marathon.
Unfortunately I still don’t have a running picture where I don’t look pained, but I’ll send one anyway. Maybe the official pictures will be better
I would have never thought that I could do this. But here I am, a marathoner and hunting for my next race. Brandon you pushed me to do this when I doubted myself. Thanks man!
Megh
Thanks so much for visiting my site! My name is Brandon Wood and I am an opera singer living and trying to make it in New York City. This site and podcast follow my adventures on the way to competing in and training for all kinds of endurance events, especially triathlon and running. Click the "About Me" tab for more info!
