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Gateway Cross Cup

I need to pay more attention. The weekend before last I randomly decided to take a load of old cardboard to the University City recycling center at Heman park. As I passed the park (something I do maybe once a month) I saw a sign advertising an “international professional bike race” to be held at the park in a few days time. It didn’t add up. International? Professional? At a city park a mile and a half from my house? On a Wednesday? The instant I got home I looked it up on the internet, and sure enough, it was true. The Gateway Cross Cup was a new cyclocross race that attracted many of the top American professionals, and a few Europeans as well. It was a little weird to have a midweek race, but if that’s when the pros can make it I guess that’s when you have it. It was an all-day event with additional amateur races and a “5K” cross country run. I guess I had better take the afternoon off.

For the uninitiated, cyclocross is a type of bicycle racing that takes place on grass/dirt/mud/sand/snow on a closed loop course. The course is narrow. There are many sharp turns. There are barriers and steps placed in the course that force the riders to dismount their bikes, run over the obstacles, then remount and continue. This race had a flyover, basically a wooden bridge where the course crosses over itself to make a figure eight. Riders run up steps on one side, then down a very steep ramp on the other side. Then later the course goes beneath the bridge. I was aware this sort of obstacle existed, but I had never seen one in person (much less raced on one).

Cat 4 Race

I showed up about an hour before the first race (cat 4), enough time to take a few warmup laps. It was very helpful to familiarize myself with the course. Not doing so sufficiently was one of my two major problems in every previous cyclocross race I’ve done. The other was getting off to a poor start (due to the frequent sharp turns it’s sometimes difficult to pass people), which I also rectified here. Since I was one of the few people to preregister online I ended up with a starting position in the front row. After the long paved straightaway at the start I hit the first turn into the grass around 8^th place. And I moved up from there. I was in 5^th after the first lap, then 4^th. With one lap to go I was in 3^rd, with two guys nipping at my heals. They both passed me mid-lap, and I passed one back by the end to finish in 4^th out of 34 (just barely off the podium). It was by far my best cyclocross race ever.

“5K” Cross Country Race

I took it easy for a couple hours before the “5K” cross country run. I keep putting “5K” in quotes because the actual race distance was quite a bit farther. I found while warming up the loop was 2.05 miles, so two loops would be 4.1 miles (a full mile farther than advertised). Oh well. I didn’t see very many other runners there (I was literally the only one who preregistered for the race, which is how I ended up with number 1). Right before the start I saw three guys wearing college jerseys. Shit.

It turns out they weren’t the ones I should have been worrying about. From the start some guy shot out to the lead and before too long I could no longer see him. I ran in the chase pack with the college jersey guys (who I later found out had all graduated a few years ago and were no longer in their prime) until they slowly faded one by one. I finished 2^nd, but it hurt. It was a (long) hard race on a (long) hard course that came after an earlier hard race.

That makes four consecutive races with top-four finishes, and seven total races in the month of September.

UCI Pro Race

I caught bits and pieces of the other amateur bike races between eating dinner and going home to fetch my camera. The pro race was pretty awesome to watch. I’ve been reading these guys’ names in results on CyclingNews.com for years so watching them race past me was somewhat surreal. One other really cool bit was watching a friend of mine (and multi-time state cyclocross champion) from Champaign, Jason Rassi, who saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and registered to race against the top pros.

Women’s winner Teal Stetson-Lee emerges from beneath the flyover

Men’s winner Jeremy Powers

Current US Pro champion Todd Wells

Former world championship silver medalist Jonathan Page bunny hopping the barriers

Rowdy fans cheering riders running up the flyover

On top of the flyover

Down the flyover

Up the steps

Men’s single speed race winner Craig Etheridge runs up the steps in slow motion

Jason working hard

Jason finished 17^th

It was a heck of an event to watch. The top pros are so strong and so skillful at this difficult discipline, I was in total awe.

Litchfield TriathLou

Two weeks ago I was just coming off some good bike races, some good running races, and feeling a bit unstoppable. I decided I was going to race a triathlon a week later, despite not having been swimming in over two years (since before Will was born), and not even having assembled my time trial bike since we moved to St. Louis over a year ago. Oh, and I had an awful cold. What was the worst that could happen?

I signed up for a membership at the nearby WUSTL pool and went swimming four times that week. I didn’t put in much distance (the race would only be 400 meters). I did just enough to reacquaint myself with the water, but not enough to be make myself sore. Frankly, I was shocked at how (reasonably) well I did. I assembled my TT bike and did a few (very) short rides on it. I got my first flat on my tubular race wheels, which was a pain in the butt to fix only a couple days before the race. But everything (sort of) came together.

I woke up at 4:45 am and drove to Lake Lou Yaeger near Litchfield, IL last Saturday morning. I hadn’t raced a triathlon in 28 months, and only raced once in the last three years. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to set up to ensure I didn’t miss anything (like leaving a cleat cover on my bike shoes).

The air temperature was cool, in the high 50’s. The water temperature was much warmer, but still a bit chilly. I debated for days about whether or not to wear my wetsuit during the swim. It would have kept me warmer, and I would have swam faster (thanks to the added buoyancy) but I opted against it at the last minute. My wetsuit is potentially tricky and time consuming to remove and I didn’t want to take the chance of something going wrong with my very limited practice.

The swim was hard. Even though it was short it was still long compared to the 0 meters I’ve been swimming until the week before the race. There was another guy who was swimming the exact same speed who kept bumping into me, though I suppose it could have been me who was bumping into him. I exited the water with the 6^th fastest swim of the 96 competitors in the sprint-distance race. Not bad.

I had a quick first transition, passing two people in the transition area. Then I got off to a good start on the bike, passing two additional riders who were fumbling to mount their bikes. This was pretty good evidence to support the stereotype that triathletes generally don’t have the best bike handling skills.

The first half of the bike I couldn’t see anybody ahead of me or behind me. I was actually in 2^nd place at the time, but I didn’t know this yet. I did know there was at least one person ahead of me, because I saw them riding away while I was in the transition area. I didn’t know how many others there were. Just before the turnaround at the halfway point a rider passed me, but he wasn’t going much faster. I stayed near him for a while. It was pretty clear, given his aero shoe covers, that he was on a relay team, so I didn’t worry too much about it. In fact we leapfrogged each other for most of the second half of the bike leg.

My second transition didn’t go quite as smoothly as the first. I tried to change shoes while balancing on one leg (like a flamingo), but my hypoxic body wasn’t cooperating and I lost my balance a few times. I eventually got my shoes on and ran out. The timing chip on my left leg was a little too tight as I noticed pretty quickly my left foot was a little numb and tingly. This went away pretty quickly and I was able to pick up my pace quite a bit at that point. I missed the first mile split, but I was 5:58 and 5:59 for the next two miles. I easily passed the relay runner who started just before me. I made up over a minute on the first place guy during the run, but his lead was unassailable by that point. So I finished 2^nd overall.

Photo courtesy of Racemaker Productions

My swim was as good as I could have hoped, given my lack of training. My bike leg was the 2^nd fastest, but it should have been a bit faster (and with more training on my TT bike it will be). My run was by far the fastest, with only one other runner covering the 3.1-ish mile course within three minutes of my time. So the race went well. Presumably next year I’ll have more swim and TT bike training and I’ll be able to do even better.

Forest Park Cross Country Festival

I screwed myself again, or so I thought. The week before I ran the Macklind Mile in July I did a really hard speed workout, you know, to prepare for the race. Instead what happened is that my muscles were sore the rest of the week, including on race day.

Having just completed three days of bike racing during Gateway Cup I decided to take it easy last week and only run once. But it was a doozy. You see, the heat just broke and we’ve had a few 60˚F mornings–approaching ideal running weather. I took advantage of this to knock around five minutes off my fastest time for my 10-mile Forest Park loop. Once again, this left my muscles sore the rest of the week, including race day. But I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, so I was going to run no matter how awful I felt.

The Forest Park Cross Country Festival is mainly a high school event, but they have an “open” race for non-high-schoolers. The race is 4km (around 2.5 miles), so it’s short and fast. The 2km grass loop has two small hills. I told myself what I tell myself before every race: start slow then build from there. The bizarre thing is that I actually did it this time, and I think it was due to my soreness.

Dozens of runners passed me in the first couple hundred meters. After a half mile I started to pick up the pace a bit. Then around three quarters of a mile I really picked up the pace. I passed the first mile in 5:41–fast, but not killing myself. But I was still accelerating at this point, passing runner after runner. I ran the entire second loop by myself, with the next closest runner unattainably far ahead. I passed the second mile also in 5:41–even splits, perfect.

I finished about 30 seconds faster than last year (when I was in very good shape), and I did it with sore legs (which were now incredibly sore). When they posted the results I was shocked to see that I actually came in 4^th place overall (after finishing 25^th last year). Okay, the competition wasn’t quite as good as last year, but still, a good result is a good result. It was especially helpful as a morale booster after Monday’s awful bike race.

Maybe I should run more races on sore legs… or maybe not. Melissa was sick of hearing me complain about my pains and she suggested I might be doing to much athletic activity. I responded that I only did one workout last week… well, and four races.

August 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

A couple good races, and lots of good training. I feel better acclimated to the heat than ever before. There’s lots of races coming up this fall I’m looking forward to.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
April	31.12 Mile	6	5.18667 Mile
May	71.9569 Mile	10	7.19569 Mile
June	85.87 Mile	11	7.80636 Mile
July	49.47 Mile	7	7.06714 Mile
August	116.34 Mile	13	8.94923 Mile
Total	473.407 Mile	67	7.06577 Mile

Running 2011 8

Cycling

I had my best ever performance in a cat 4 crit, along with lots of good practice races at Carondelet park. I’m looking forward to Gateway cup (which is a big deal around here), a series of four races this weekend, starting tonight.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	41.1 Mile	9	4.56667 Mile
Pocket Rocket	87.31 Mile	6	14.5517 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	289.98 Mile	10	28.998 Mile
Total	418.39 Mile	25	16.7356 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
April	36.25 Mile	7	5.17857 Mile
May	272.94 Mile	25	10.9176 Mile
June	344.02 Mile	26	13.2315 Mile
July	306.77 Mile	12	25.5642 Mile
August	418.39 Mile	25	16.7356 Mile
Total	1416.69 Mile	100	14.1669 Mile

Cycling 2011 8

Walking

I really do enjoy walking, but now that I’m healthy enough to run and bike more it’s really not a tough decision to spend my time doing those instead of walking.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
April	84.3 Mile	26	3.24231 Mile
May	64. Mile	19	3.36842 Mile
June	57.3 Mile	17	3.37059 Mile
July	14.5 Mile	7	2.07143 Mile
August	31.7 Mile	9	3.52222 Mile
Total	439.7 Mile	132	3.33106 Mile

Walking 2011 8

DHS Alumni Cross Country Race

The 2011 DHS alumni cross country race turned out to be nearly identical to the 2010 DHS alumni cross country race. The course is a little bit tougher than a typical XC course, thanks to the addition of a long technical single track trail. There was a small handful of DACC/DHS/SHS runners ahead of me. I finished in 11:47 for the two mile course, just a few seconds faster than last year. I was once again the first alumni finisher, once again finishing a few seconds ahead of Jared Anderson, with Todd Orvis once again a few seconds further back. The major difference was this year I wore a hat.

2011 halfway

2010 halfway

2011 finish

2010 finish

The race was a lot of fun. The whole extended family (parents, grandparents, aunt, cousins) came out to watch. I saw plenty of familiar faces, including my (now retired) high school coach who I probably haven’t seen since I graduated. Once again I went to the Custard Cup after the race, where I once again ran into Jared. And my grandparents.

Gravois Kiwanis 5K Cross Country Race

The Danville High School alumni race last August rekindled my passion for cross country racing. Cross country races take place on grass, and while they’re usually more challenging that road races, they’re usually not quite as tough as trail races. They’re a happy medium of speed and technical challenge.

After moving to STL I ran a big cross country race, where I got trounced by the big city competition. Then a few weeks later ran a much, much, much smaller race. Then cross country season (fall) ended, I got injured, I recovered, I got in shape again, and fall is fast approaching. I found a cross country 5K down by the river last weekend and I figured it would be good to get a race under my belt before this year’s DHS alumni event.

I didn’t know what to expect given my two previous STL cross country races had 117 and 9 participants, respectively. I showed up an hour before the race started and there were like 8 cars in the parking lot, so I quickly determined it would be closer to the latter. Many XC courses consist of loops run multiple times, but this course was one continuous 5K path. I decided to run the entire course as a warmup. I didn’t want any surprises during the race. There was a risk this would leave me tired for the race, but it seemed unlikely. The older I get the longer it takes me to warmup and on most of my 7-10 mile runs lately I’ve been at my best during the middle few miles.

Participants trickled in and by the time the race started there were 45 runners. Only two or three others looked potentially fast, but looks can be deceiving. Right from the gun a guy about 10 years my elder took the lead and I stayed on his shoulder for the first mile. I quickly noticed I was struggling to keep up with him on the downhills, but I had to hold myself back on the uphills. He started to slow around the mile mark, by which point we had a huge lead on the rest of the field). The next uphill we reached I passed him, trying to make it convincing. I built up a 20 second lead pretty quickly, which stretched to 45 seconds by the finish (though I later learned he had to stop and tie his shoelaces, D’oh!).

So I won, following up good performances at two bike races earlier in the week. Speaking of bike racing, this is the first foot race I’ve run using bike racing tactics, which is still weird when I think about it. I didn’t go all out from start to finish, as I typically do. I followed other people’s moves, played the waiting game, attacked at the right moment, then soloed to the finish line. I don’t think I’ll have many chances to do that, particularly in bigger races with stronger competition.

The awards were Christmas tree ornaments, which was unique.

That makes it two races I’ve won since high school, both 5Ks, one road, one cross country. It was a fun race on a good course. I would have liked to have run faster, but I wasn’t mentally prepared to do that all by myself at the front. My next two cross country races will have tough competition, so I’m hoping I can run a bit faster in those.