Race Recaps

Took a buddy out for this race and had fun. It didn't go as planned. The weather was brutally hot, even for Florida. It felt like it was August even though it was November, 90*F and 100% Humidity. Our wave started at Noon, and we melted in the second mile. At the midway point I had a mis-hap on the warp wall to Colossus and ended up stepping dead legged into it and badly pulled a muscle in my calf. I was able to finish the race, but could not run or jump the rest of the way.

So right off the bat, things did not go as planned on this race.  Was not able to finish the race and I walked away with my first DNF in an Obstacle Race. We got behind the cutoff after the first lap, and  were not going to make it. I was able to get 13.1 in but did not go back out after transition.
There are lots of excuses I could give: the heat, the terrain... but in reality I just wasn't ready. I trained hard, but not properly. 

We will try again.

Had a great time at the SufferFest trail race. It was a 12K looped trail race, and you could do 1,2,3, or 4 laps. I did 2 laps and made fairly good time. I used it as the last long run befoer the Spartn 50K in Dallas. 

Today was the Ocho de Mayhem Trail Race. There were a Half Marathon, 14K, 7K, 5K and 1 Mile version of the race, and I ran the 14K. It was 2 laps of  a 4.2 mile loop. I finished the first lap in 1:11 and the 2nd lap in 1:13 (yay for consistency) for a total of 2:24 over the 8.2 miles. I was aiming for a 17:00/mile pace and finished with a 17:19 pace. So still some room for growth. This was a fairly small race and had about 100 participants total across all the distances. The 1/2 was the most popular distance, but I wasn't sure that I had a 1/2 in me right now, so I went with the 14K.  

The training continues as we march on towards October and the Dallas Spartan Ultra.

Had a great time with the More Heart Than Scars crew down in Sebring. With holiday commitments piling up as Christmas looms near, I didn't get to stay for the whole Trifecta Weekend and only do the Beast on Saturday. I drove down Friday afternoon, did the race on Saturday, and then drove home right from the race.

It was a very foggy start to the race, which was welcome as it helped keep the temps low. As I was meandering around the Festival Area looking for MHTS I noticed that a cow was on the race course near the A-Frame, it had apparently gotten loose and wandered into the wrong field, but a staff member in a Side by Side chased it off and I didn't think much more of it other than it was amusing. I found the crew as they were heading to the corral. I was supposed to start in the 9:30 wave, but was able to sneak in w/ the MHTS crew as the volunteer wasn't able to check everyone's band as 20-30 of us entered the corral at one time. 

So about a mile or a mile and a half into the course we are at the Hurdles Obstacle and we see another Side by Side and a Pickup Truck approaching us along the fence line. Between the vehicles and the fence was a HUGE brahma bull trotting right towards our group. As it got close, it sped up a bit and got in front of the truck and was coming right at us. There was one random racer in between me and the bull and he put his hands up and said "Whoa Bull!", but the bull either didn't hear him, or didn't speak English because he snorted and charged us. Luckily it was  a bluff and the bull turned back towards the fence and kept on going. It was almost exactly like this video that Inside.OCR had on their Instagram.

After the excitement of the T-Bone obstacle (or possibly the Hamburger obstacle), we continue on and get to the next memorable event. The Sole/Soul Sucking trudge through the swamp. It was reminiscent of slogging through the Everglades, watery, muddy, reedy and it just looked like a sea of grass. We usually keep a pretty slow pace with MHTS, somewhere around 30 mins per mile, but this swamp march which I am calling "Muck You" had us at 55 mins per mile. It was an hour to go one mile and my Heart Rate was up there the whole time. It was brutal and after about 30 mins I was just done with it. I don't mind swamp marches, but this was on a whole other level.

Once we finished the T-Bone and Muck You obstacles, it was a typical Spartan Beast, tons of trekking back and forth the cow fields, and obstacles, rinse and repeat. But still was great due to the company I had along the way.

On a personal note, I knew I had made a major mistake in my training when we went to get into the corral. Hopping over the 4' wall was a lot harder than it should have been, adn I immediately knew that I had completely forgot/ignored upper body training this block. I have been running a lot, and doing plenty of Squats (Front and Back), and Deadlifts, so my legs wer up for the day's tasks. I will not make the same mistake again. I am mixing in grip work, pull ups, dips, and other functional upper body moves.  That is one of the great things about OCR, you always have new things to learn from and ways to improve.

Until next time, You can do it, keep at it, and remember, that you're a legend.

This was a quick turn around trip for this race. I left FL on Friday morning around 9:30am and drove the 8 1/2 - 9 hours up to Petersburg Virginia. Had enough time to check in, unpack and go grab some food. I tried out Trapezium Brewery and had some decent wings and a pretty good Brown Ale called The American Brown. Got up the next morning packed up, checked out and went to the race for my 9:30 start time. I had chose the unlimited laps option and was planning on doing two laps. But the weather was overcast and pretty cool and getting colder, so when I finished the first lap it was in the upper 40's and dropping and I was soaking wet, so I decided to call it a day. I had a great time on course, the obstacles were for the most part easier than Savage or Spartan, but still enough of a challenge to have fun. I still can't do warped walls, and my body weight to strength ratio is off for most rigs and monkey bars, but I completed most obstacles and most importantly had fun. It was a nice get away for just a little bit and the only snag to the weekend really was the drive back to FL after the race, my hips and quads didn't like sitting that long after a run.
Now its time to really focus on Central FL Spartan Beast in about 7 weeks in early/mid December. I missed last year's race at the new venue and am looking forward to getting there this year.

This was my 2nd attempt at an Off Road Sprint Triathlon, both by Motus Offroad Sports. And this was my 2nd DNF ever. I've raced dozens of OCR races, street 5Ks and even Half Marathons, and at least finished, but mountain biking is just a skill I do not have yet. I went in last year not knowing what to expect and thoroughly got my butt kicked. I went in this year thinking that the different venue was easier so I didn't take it as seriously as I should have and got my butt kicked again. Not as bad this time, but kicked non the less. I was able to finish the bike this time, which is an improvement from last year. But I did not finish in time to make the cut off for the run. In fact, as I was rehydrating and catching my breath during T2 the next slowest person came in and finished the race. That's right, someone in their late 50's, about 6'3" and 250+ lbs who just had a heart attack two years ago finished his run before I could get out the gate of T2, and he was 2nd to last overall. This race is a huge slice of humble pie, a gut check, a kick in the ass, and a blow to the ego all in one. I spent the 8+ hour drive back from Mississippi to Florida asking myself, what am I even doing out here. Why am I still trying something that I am obviously out classed for, and especially without proper training? I didn't take it seriously, and it showed on the course. That is one place that you can't hide. If you truly give it your all, the course will expose and show you what you are lacking. This time it was seriousness, stamina/endurance, biking skills, and overall fitness and dedication. I can't really expect anything less than what I got after what I put into the training for this. All I did was continue to build a running base, not speed work, no intervals, no swim training, not bike training. Just some jogging and misplaced over confidence. By lunch time tomorrow it will be the end of my 48 hour window I give myself to have a pity party, so I can sulk another hour or two until bedtime, but by tomorrow  morning it is time to regroup, rededicate, and get back to it.

This was my 3rd Gate River Run, having ran it in 2019 and in 2021. I missed 2020 due to the broken foot. Overall I give this race a B- for my part. The race itself is a solid A. There are bands periodically along the route, people who live on the route come out and cheer you on. Some provide goodies, like chicken nuggets, Jello Shots, or shots of Fireball. You get to run through some areas with gorgeous houses, and then finish the loop by goin up the Hart Bridge which is lovingly called "The Green Monster".

The reason for my B- Grade of my own effort is that I started off too fast and ended up crashing about 2/3 of the way in. I know that I have a tendency to go out hot, and knew after my first mile that I was going too fast. But I guess the flow of the crowd (it is a huge race with 12-15,000 participants) and the adrenaline kept me going. I was hoping to finish the 9.3ish miles in 2:30:00, or roughly a 14:28 pace, and came in at a 13:25 for the first mile which I ran non-stop. During the 2nd mile I started using the Galloway method and went into a 60/30 second Run/Walk cycle when I hit the first (smaller, but still kind of big) bridge around 1 1/4-1/2 miles in and settled into a pace I thought I could manage, 14:25 for mile 2. I stayed pretty consistent and close to my goal pace through mile 5 (clocking in a 14:19, 14:47, and 14:39 respectively). 

It was in Mile 6 that I started to feel the effects of going out too fast. I could feel that a fatigue wall was coming, so I tried to head it off w/ taking some nutrition at roughly the 1:30 mark. Knowing that the 100-150 calories should hold me over for 45ish minutes and my 2:15 goal. But it might have been too little too late.  My intervals started dropping to a 60/60 cycle as I just needed that extra little bit of time to recover. Then in mile 7 the wheels fell off. Thank God, it was a very overcast morning with fog, and then very low clouds for the morning and most of the race. But in Mile 7 the sun finally broke through, and  the temperature went up about 10 degrees from roughly 65F to 75F. This doesn't sound too bad, but when you take into account that this is Florida that usually sits around 95 to 100% humidity, a 10 degree jump can feel like 20 or 30. Mile 7 started off in one of the neighborhoods and was fairly shady, but not far into it we went out onto one of the main roadways and the sun was brutal. The last 2/3's of mile 7 and the first 1/3 of mile 8 were on the big bridge, and there was no shade to be had until near the top when you got to the trusses.

I was spent by the time I got to the bridge and ended up walking up the whole thing. I was able to rally a bit on the way down, and re-stared my 60/30 intervals. But the tank was pretty dry so when I got to the bottom and it flattened out, it pretty quickly went back to 60/60 (and maybe a 60/90 or two). The last .4 mile was still out in the sun and along the Jaguars' Stadium.  I did my best to finish strong, but the effort was not what it could have been.

The worst part of the day was the walk back to the car from the finish line. It was about a 3/4 mile walk, and I had to stop twice to sit down. I was hot, exhausted, and slightly dizzy. All I could think about was getting back to the car and cranking up the AC. I chugged two bottle of water along the way. When I finally got to the car,  I just sat there with the AC on full blast for 10 to 15 minutes. Traffic was bad leaving, so I wasn't going anywhere anyhow. So I just cooled myself off and chilled out for a bit.

TL:DR;
Went out too hot, crashed on the last 1/3 of the race, almost got heat exhaustion. Had a great time.

Fantastic Race! New Orleans is a great city to visit. This week is the beginning of Mardi Gras, so the festivities were getting going. It's not too busy like it will be in a few weeks on Fat Tuesday, but still had plenty to do.

The race itself used to be ran downtown and through the French Quarter, but this year they moved it out to the University of New Orleans on the Northeast side of the city along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Great views of the lake, and it was a cold, clear, and breezy day. The race started at 7:40am, and those of us in the back had to  wait a while as they only let 10 runners start every 3 seconds due to COVID restrictions. So, my actual start time was 8:08am. It was 37F during warm up/stretching before the race, and got up to about 50F when I finished.

Results were really good for the race itself. My goal was to try to hold a steady 16:30 min/mi for the whole race and pick it up a little bit near the end to get a 3:30:00 time. I tried really hard to not go out too fast and burn out, but even when I tried to slow it down my first few miles were quite fast. I was under 15 the first mile, and in the low 15s for the next two miles, and had a great 5K time. Even with the fast start I felt good and strong for the first half of the race, but around mile 6.5 my arms felt like they were locking into the L position that I had them in, and I could sense my hips were next. So I went off plan slightly and started interval running at a 60 second run/30 second walk schema. I felt good and strong at this pattern until mile 10 and then went into minute on minute off pattern.  There were a bit more hills during the last 2 or 3 miles, and by hills I mean overpasses and levies that are about the same height as a typical overpass. So not too big for most people, but for us Floridians they were HUGE and I then needed the extra time walking. But even with the intervals and the hills, I was still able to keep the pace well under my 16:30 goal. A 16:30 pace would put me at 3:36:00 and I was hoping to kick at the end and hit 3:30:00.  But with the fast start, and the intervals keeping the last half's pace up, I was able to finish at 3:27:20 and beat my goal by 2 minutes and 40 seconds at a 15:43 pace!

Overall I am thrilled with the weekend. The city was fantastic, the venue was OK to good, and my results were awesome. Very happy with it all.

I tried my first Tough Mudder on October 16th, 2021.

It was a hilly and challenging 7 mile course. I finished the 7.0 miles in about 3 1/2 hours. I felt pretty fit for the course except for the hills. I had to walk the hills, which most seemed to be 3 to 4 stories high and as steep as or steeper than stairs. My Garmin counted just under 1,000 feet of elevation gain over the course.

After short walks after the hills that totally gassed me, I was able to get back to running (albeit slowly). I did OK on the obstacles. Still have work to do on monkey bars and overhead things. I did great on all the hurdles, hay bales, crawls etc. , but have more weight to loose before I can be good at monkey bars, warped walls and the like.

On a positive note, I crushed the Mudderhorn obstacle. It is a huge A-Frame Cargo net, that is 4 section high (a Spartan A-Frame is 2 sections). When you're on that 3rd section you think, "Damn, this is way up there!". But unlike a Spartan A-Frame, this has a section at the bottom of the beginning like Stairway to Sparta, where you have to get up a wall to get to the net. There were 2 segments to the wall. I got a boost on the 1st segment. Then was worried that I wouldn't be able to get up the 2nd segment because you are already 6 feet up and can't get another boost. But I was able to jump up to get a grip 3 or 4 rungs up the cargo net and was able to swing my leg up high enough to roll myself onto the top of the segment and then start climbing up the net. 

All in all, It was a good venue, good race, I did well, and had fun. 

Results: Did Not Finish

(First, rough draft of how it went, just getting thought down)

I went into this race thinking I had done enough to be able to complete this challenge. I was dead wrong. I'm going to try to recap and go over the weekend, but I don't want this to be viewed as an excuse. I failed, and I want to look back at all the things and try to learn from them. Things started to go off the tracks on Friday morning when I started to load up the car. I put my luggage and drinks in the car, and strapped on the bike carrier. I then went and got my bike to load up, and it had a flat front tire. I was hoping to be on the road by 9am for my 8 hour drive, but now I had to go by the bike shop to get it fixed, and they open at 9. Luckily I was the first one in line and was taken care of really quick. 15 minutes later, my tire is fixed, I have an extra tube, and a CO2 cartridge in case of a flat on the course. Normally 15 minutes wouldn't bother me, but I went away thankful for the guys at the bike shop, but now upset because my budget was blown.

Then about 3 hours into the drive, I get a flat tire on my car. Now I am starting to get really annoyed at myself because I knew that this car didn't come with a spare tire. In the tire well there is an electric compressor and a can of sealant. You are supposed to hook the sealant can up to the compressor, and the hose from the can to your tire. The compressor then pumps up your tire with air and sealant to get you on the road again enough to limp to a tire shop. This should work in theory. It never does in reality. The last time I got a flat it was from damage to the sidewall and I had to leave my car on the side of the road and take the tire to a shop. I told myself then that I should get a spare on my own, but never followed up on it. So now, I'm stuck on the side of the road about half way between Tifton and Albany Georgia, and have to wait 2 1/2 hours for a service truck. Now I'm almost 3 hours behind schedule and the budget is even more out the window.

So, by the time I get to hotel, I'm exhausted, mentally and physically from an almost 11 hour drive, and it's pretty much almost bedtime. Again, I'm not saying all this as an excuse. I'm just getting it down on paper (or whatever the blog equivalent is to paper), so that I can reassess my race and what can I do to be better next time.

Race day, is now here. I get up early and start getting my stuff ready.  I go to put on my Tri-suit, and the next issue pops up. It is a one piece suit that zips in the front from  the waist up to the neck. Except for some reason, there is no zipper on my suit now, even though there was one the day before when I packed it. I have the suit on, but it can't zip up, so I'm standing there looking like some 1980's wrestler in a spandex ringlet. This won't do.  So, I'm on to Plan B, which is to wear my gym short and shirt that I was going to put on over the Tri-suit after the swim. Then when I get done w/ the swim I would change shirts and just ride w/ the wet shorts. Now I'm at the venue and I get checked in, setup my Transition Area and start stretching out. I'm working on clearing my mind and only focusing on the task at hand.  It is very foggy at the reservoir and supposed to be a cloudy day w/ scattered rain. Standing at the top of the boat ramp that was our entrance/exit to the swim, I could see two large orange buoys and believe that is the turn around. I say to myself, that doesn't look too bad, and I get a small sense of sorely needed confidence. Then the fog lifts a little bit and can now see two yellow buoys out further and realize the orange ones are kind of like lane markers half way out. So my newfound confidence is now gone.

First wave heads out, it consists of those doing the kayak/stand up paddle board version of the Tri. The get back, and then the next wave goes, which is every one doing the swim version of the Tri ages 44 and under. Then my wave gets to go, which is 45+. Even though I am 44, I'm in this group because my Race Age is 45 as that is how old I'll be on the last day of the year. I finish last in the swim, but am not deterred by that as I knew going in that even though I am a good swimmer, I am slow.  I finished the swim right on my predicted schedule. I was guessing it would take me 25-30 minutes and I finished right about 30. So in my mind, I'm right on track, and ready to move on to the next segment.

I hit T1 and take off my wet T-Shirt, throw it over the rail next to my bike. Towel off a bit, grab a dry shirt from my bag, and put on my socks and shoes. Again, not the fastest transition, but I'm in good spirits and more concerned about just finishing the race instead of worrying about split and transition times.

I'm now on the bike and head off into the woods. This is where things start to go South. Right off the bat the trail is much more technical that I was expecting. The first half a mile or so was narrow, rooty, and had plenty of twists and turns, but not too much elevation. Then we got near the damn and had a big drop that was pretty steep and gnarly. The fun part was coming up the other side. That was just as steep and gnarly, but took me five times as long to get through. This is when I started to know I was in trouble and probably bit off more than I could chew.  After that it was a bunch of small to medium sized up and downs. I was riding the breaks hard on the way down and ended up loosing all momentum at the bottom because each bottom was a small creek about 12-18" wide and had a bunch of cobble stones for the trail path across the creek. I was no where close to good enough to take those on at speed. So I stop the bike at each one, and walk up the hill because I couldn't get any momentum to start a ride going uphill.  This was the story for then next 3 1/3 to 4 miles. Bomb down hill riding the breaks and plodding up hill.
I get to the first water/aid station around mile 4 or 5 and there is one racer there who is tapping out. She said she wasn't sure why, but was very dizzy. I had already passed one guy who had a flat tire, and now this lady was calling it quits.  I am not feeling all that great, because I am way out classed by these hills. As I'm about to head out, I'm looking for the next trail head. There are two guys pointing the way. They tell me I'm about 1/4 of the way done, and my heart just drops. I didn't realize that was how far I had gotten. I thought that after an hour and a half on the bike I'd be around the half way point. I am then crushed even more when the guy says this is where it starts to get difficult. I was already dying from the technicality of the trail and the hills were killing me. Being from Florida I don't have a lot of access to hills to train on, and I am quickly coming to the realization that I didn't take this race as seriously as I should have.  I should have been doing a lot more bike work instead of the evenly focused on all three modalities training I did. But now knowing that I'm overall two hours in, and 1 1/2 hours on the bike, and I'm only about 4 or 5 miles into an 18 mile ride that is only going to get harder. This is where I broke mentally and was done. I was giving it all I had, and was getting killed on the easy portion of the trail. I lost all confidence in being able to finish the bike portion in less than 5 more hours. Then still have to go on the 3.5 mile run.

I am confident with my trail running (even if it is slow), and I was competent enough at the swim to be able to be in my predicted time zone. I was however, not remotely prepared for the mountain bike portion. I absolutely thought that my fitness would carry me through any training deficiencies my plan had.  Well, road miles are NOT trail miles when it comes to the bike. Heck, the "trails" that I did use for my training  were really only horse trails and dirt fire roads in the woods. No elevation, no technicality, no challenge. 

If I decide to go back to Duck River and have a "Revenge Race" to redeem myself to myself. I am going to focus way more on the bike. In fact, one thing I might do to make up for the lack of access to hills is to do all my training for the bike on the Assault Bike at the gym. With the resistance on high, that is the closest thing I can think of that simulates the difficulty of those hills.

I'll re-read this later, and try to make it more readable and coherent, but this is my first hash at getting it down in writing.  Now time to digest and reassess.

Every set back is a setup for bigger and greater things.