Tag: weather

Peoria Classic

We traveled to Peoria on Sunday for the Peoria Classic (formerly Proctor Classic) bike races. I did the cat 5 crit in Peoria in 2006 and 2008. Both times I was separated from the main field by a crash directly in front of me and I finished off the back all by myself. I didn’t have high expectations.

Four other Wild Card riders were in the cat 4 race this year, Luke, Jason, Nick, and Mike. At the start of the race they announced the names of the top five riders in the Illinois Cup series. Jason was 5th and Mike was 2nd. None of the other three riders were there so two guys from our team made their way to the starting line before everyone else. This meant everyone else in the race would be keeping an eye on us. I would have preferred to fly under the radar.

The race started and I somehow ended up leading the pack into the first turn, so I figured I’d get things started. I lead for most of the first lap before moving aside for the next guys in the line. I dropped back into the pack nearly at the back, where I stayed for most of the race.

The race was fast (26 mph average speed for 40 minutes) and there were eight turns per lap. Turning at high speed in tight packs is not my favorite thing, but I handled it much better in this race than in any previous crit… which is good. The first five turns were straightforward. After the sixth turn (into the headwind) of every lap I had to sprint to catch back up to the group, just in time for everyone to slow down before turn seven. On the finishing straightaway I had the opportunity to move up a few places and start the whole thing over again. My average heart rate was 171, right at my aerobic threshold. So I was definitely working hard.

With four laps to go I moved up a few too many places on the finishing straight and somehow went off the front. So, like the first lap, I lead the group for most of a lap, then pulled off and dropped back again. The race was super hot and by the end it was really taking a toll on me. I stayed with the pack the final few laps and into the finish. I had nothing left on the last lap to move up much. I finished near the back of the lead pack in 26th place out of 42 riders. Mike was 4th, Luke was 12th, Jason was 17th, Nick stopped just before the end after trying to help set Mike up for a strong finish.

I’m fairly happy with how the race went for me. I wasn’t expecting spectacular results, and I didn’t achieve spectacular results, but my steadily improving fitness gives me greater confidence for the next race (whatever that may be). I think a couple guys on the team were hoping for better results, but we did okay regardless. There will other races.

The many hills of San Francisco

Last week the whole family was out in San Francisco while I attended Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). This was my ninth WWDC (two in San Jose and seven in San Francisco), missing out only in 2006 when Apple held the conference in August (for some reason) the week after we moved to Nicaragua.

The conference was good, even if the ridiculously growing size does get a little more frustrating each year. The technical sessions are all covered by non-disclosure agreements, so I won’t discuss any of them (as if you cared).

The keynote (which some of you may remember I participated in back in 2005) was also good. Unfortunately, due to the size of the conference I keep showing up earlier and earlier to get in line for the keynote and I keep ending up farther and farther back in line. I showed up a little over three hours early this year. The line was nearly one mile long, and I barely squeaked into some of the back rows of the conference room filled with over 5,000 people. The new iPhone looks pretty awesome. In fact, William just bought me one for Father’s Day. Wasn’t that nice?

Will in the big city

While we were there I purposely didn’t adjust to the different time zone so I would continue wake up early to go for a ride on the Pocket Rocket each morning before the conference. The first morning I tackled Twin Peaks, which, at over 800 feet above sea level, is one of the highest points in the city. Shortly after the climb begins it kicks straight up to 17%, which was a tough first hill for someone who lives in Illinois. It stays steep for a good long three city blocks before leveling out to a more reasonable 11-12%. Of course, it was super foggy that particular morning, so I couldn’t see anything at the top. If I could have seen anything it would have looked like this (photo from last year).

Market Street

Anyway, I had to hurry straight back in order to stand in a really long line for hours. It was just eight miles with a total of 850 feet of climbing entirely in the third and fourth miles.

The next day I rode up one of the steepest hills I’ve found in the city (Kearny between Broadway and Vallejo, the road is closed to traffic). It’s somewhere in the ballpark of 25-30%. I had to lean really far forward to keep from tumbling over backward. Yes, that steep… but only for a block. After that was Telegraph Hill up to Coit Tower. This climb was used in the prologue of the Tour of California the first few years of the race.

Financial district

But that was just the first few miles. I followed the bay shoreline to the Golden Gate Bridge and rode across to the Marin Headlands. I intended to climb Hawk Hill, but the road was closed half way up so I took a detour to somewhere I’d never been before, which was amazing.

Marin

Marin

Beach

Tuesday’s ride had 2200 feet of climbing in 26 miles.

Wednesday I took a break because I felt a little twinge in my calf after Tuesday’s ride and I didn’t want to risk making it worse. Fortunately the twinge only lasted a day and by Thursday morning I was back at it. I hit Twin Peaks again, this time better prepared for the steepness. Instead of turning around there I continued on through Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, past the Cliff House, the Legion of Honor, the Presidio (along the bike course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003), across the bridge to the Marin headlands, and partway up Hawk Hill before turning around and heading home. Just for kicks I rode up Russian Hill and Nob Hill on the way back through town. Russian Hill on Hyde street is 23% for a few city blocks–too steep to sit, too steep to stop (you wouldn’t be able to start back up).

City

Grade

Thursday’s ride was 2800 feet of climbing in 27 miles.

Friday I tackled Mt. Tamalpais for the Nth time. Last year I rode Mt. Diablo instead, so I was happy to be back on familiar ground. After cool weather all week it was super hot on Friday. This made the mountain that much more difficult. I doubt I made my fastest ascent of the mountain that day, but I steadily knocked out each of the 10 miles from bottom to top.

Mt. Tam may not be as high as Mt. Diablo, but it sure is a lot more scenic, offering a lot more wooded areas, as well as ocean views.

Mt Tam

Mt Tam

Mt Tam

Mt Tam view

Mt Tam view

San Francisco from the top of Mt. Tam

Bridge and Mt Tam

Here’s the opposite view: Mt. Tam from San Francisco

Friday’s ride was 4114 feet of climbing (2500 on Mt. Tam) in 50 miles.

Saturday I skipped a ride in favor of lots of walking and hiking with the family. Here’s William and me hiking the coastal trail, which was part of the run course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003.

Two sweaty guys hiking the Coastal Trail

We all had a great trip. Check out William’s blog for lots more family photos.

The O’Fallon Grand Prix No-Drop Group Ride

“Enough of this Sunday stroll. Let’s hurt a little.”

-Barry The Cannibal Muzzin (American Flyers)

Saturday was the Illinois state championship cycling road race. A decent group of riders from my Wild Card Cycling team headed down to O’Fallon for the race. The hot weather and rolling hills should have provided a very challenging race. I wanted to do what I could to help my teammates out before dropping off the pace by the end.

We had five Wild Cards from Champaign in the cat 4 race (Jason, Tom, Luke, Scott, and me), along with one Wild Card from St. Louis (Mike). The races started a bit late, at which point the weather was already becoming a bit unbearable. The temperature was in the low 90’s and the humidity was high. Fortunately the skies were still overcast at this point, though the sun would come out later.

Mark & Nick

Mark and Nick rode the cat 3 race

I made a point to start near the front, after starting too far back in my last three races. The speed was moderately easy the first part of the race. Nobody pushed the pace, nobody broke away. The course had an awful lot of turns (I’m not sure there was more than one mile straight the entire 22.5 mile loop), which caused some accordion effect at the back of the group. Later in the first loop a few people tried to push the pace (mostly my teammate Luke) but nothing stuck. At one point I almost shouted out “Enough of this Sunday stroll. Let’s hurt a little.” but I didn’t think anyone would get the American Flyers reference.

Scott put in a pretty good attack at the start of the second and final loop. I thought this would finally heat up the race, but it was not to be. The other teams chased him down and sat on his wheel the same as they had been doing to Luke the whole race. Scott and Luke alternated near the front trying to push the pace, but nobody else and any interest in working… but they also had no interest in letting Luke or Scott go.

Scott & Luke

Luke and Scott both spent a lot of time at the front when nobody wanted to work with them

Mid-way through the second lap Jason got a flat tire. He was probably our best chance for a win. The hills hadn’t made as much of a difference in the race as I had hoped. First, they were all big ring climbs, not steep enough or long enough. Second, with narrow roads and slow riders in front, we climbed… the… hills… so… slow… and then slowed down even more once we reached the top. I don’t think anyone dropped off the back.

At one point I passed a few guys on the right and, without trying, somehow ended up off the front of the slow-moving group. Whatever. Let’s push the pace a little. I ramped it up to 25-26 mph and pulled for a mile or so to try to string the group out a little. I flicked my elbow for the next guy to pull through. Nothing. I pulled a little longer. Nothing. I slowed down. They slowed down with me. I slowed down more. They slowed down more. I stopped pedaling. Nobody passed me. By the time I was coasting at 16 mph someone eventually reluctantly passed me and I dropped back in a few places.

Art

Art and Shea (not pictured) rode the cat 5 race

The last 10 miles of the race were 10 of the most frustrating miles I’ve ever ridden. We were going 16-17 mph. The whole group was still together. The group was all bunched up and nobody had any room to move up. I don’t know who the hell was blocking the entire race or what the hell they were thinking, but I was pissed. 2000 meters to go, 18 mph. 1000 meters to go, under 20 mph. The last hill should have split the group, but again we took it incredibly slowly. I had no room to move. I had to stop pedaling several times to avoid running into slower riders.

800 meters from the finish line the race started. This final stretch was closed to traffic and the road was five lanes wide. 40 relatively fresh riders now decided to sprint to the finish. It was pandemonium. People were weaving all over the place. 500 meters from the finish I sat up and soft pedaled. I had no interest in dying for some shitty race.

We waited three hours (for a chip-timed bike race!) for the results to be posted, only to find out Luke & Tom (and about 10 other people) had been disqualified for crossing over the centerline of the road at some point during the race. Now, I’m sure they did cross over the center line. I certainly did a few times. Everyone in the race did a few times. The DQed riders can’t really complain that they didn’t break the rules, they did. I’m completely baffled at how a dozen riders were DQed and the many, may others who broke the same rule weren’t DQed.

So, the good news is I had a decent training ride and got a chance to improve my group riding skills. I handled the heat surprisingly well. The hills were a non-issue despite no hill training. The bad news is that the race was frustratingly slow. I got caught in the middle of a 40 person bunch sprint, which was scary as hell. Jason got a flat. Luke & Tom got DQed. I’m not upset that I didn’t win–I should have had no chance to win. I was far from the best rider in that race. I shouldn’t even have finished with the lead pack. The race should have been a lot harder. More riders should have been dropped. That wasn’t really even a race. It was more of a group ride that ended with a sprint finish.

Danville Memorial Day 5K

Pondering

I ran my 3rd Danville Memorial Day 5K this morning. The race went well for me despite the hot and humid weather. I think I’m finally starting to acclimatize. Melissa was kind enough to let me borrow her girly watch when I discovered I’d left mine at home. I recorded my mile splits, but I tried something different (for me) by not actually looking at them and instead running solely on how I feel. It worked reasonably well.

#1 fan

My #1 fan

The pack started fast and I dropped into 12th place or so after ¼ mile. I moved up to 9th by ½ mile. I moved up to 4th by 1 mile. My split was 5:33, a bit fast. The 2nd mile was mostly into a headwind and I really worked hard to maintain my pace.

Easy come

Whoa, we’re half way there

Easy go

Whoa, living on a prayer

Spectators

Grandma Barb keeps an eye out for Will’s daddy

My next split was 5:55, a bit closer to what I expected. Amazingly, I still felt good at this point. That never happens. I continued to push the pace into the 3rd mile, but just a short distance later we hit a long wide open section with no shade and I absolutely baked in the sun.

Home stretch

The heat hurt me more the last mile than the running did. My 3rd mile split was also 5:55. One runner passed me around the 3 mile mark. I finished in 17:56 (I think, the results seem to be a bit off at the moment), 5th overall, 1st in my age group… identical results to last year.

This expression sums it up pretty well

This sums it up pretty well

Angelic

Will was enthralled

Award

It was a good race. Many thanks to Melissa, Will, and my parents for coming out to cheer me on. Also, thanks to my dad for taking the race photos.

Urbana Grand Prix

Starting line

The weekend of racing concluded on Sunday with the Urbana Grand Prix, another criterium, this time in downtown Urbana. The course was shorter than Saturday’s course and it was actually modified at the last minute to include a 180˚ turn (the course was shaped like the letter “b”). This would be tricky to navigate.

Frenchy in the 180˚

Mark rounds the 180˚ turn in the cat 3 race

Slow motion video of 180˚ turn in cat 3 race

Another situation to deal with was the heat. It was unseasonably hot at 80˚ on Saturday, while on Sunday it was even hotter at 90˚. With two hard races in my legs the day before, this race had disaster written all over it.

Chad

Chad

Alexei & Luke

Alexei & Luke

Fortunately, I had a few things in my favor. Despite the previous day’s efforts I felt somewhat fresh. Also, Sunday’s race was cat 4 instead of cat 3-4 like the previous day. I would not be up against many of the fastest riders from yesterday’s race. Also the field was smaller, so it wouldn’t be quite so crowded in the corners.

Despite my best effort to start a little farther up the field I ended up about 3/4 of the way back at the first turn and I gradually drifted backward from there. I wasn’t off the back yet, but I was dangling there pretty quickly. The first four turns each loop went fairly well, but the 180˚ was a killer. The group accelerated really hard out of that turn, and at the back this effort was even further exaggerated for me. I would slip off the back, chase for 2/3 lap, catch back on just before the 180˚, the slip of the back again.

I wasted a lot of energy this way, but I hadn’t completely popped yet. A dozen or so short laps into the race a guy crashed in front of me in the 180˚, forcing me to swing wide and nearly come to a stop. At that point I had no chance of catching back up, but I hammered on. I chased solo for a few laps, then I started working with another rider, then another. We would catch up to another dropped rider around the time someone from my group would slip off the back. I spent the rest of the race in a pack of 2-5 riders. I think I was taking longer pulls than the others, but I didn’t really mind. At that point I was in it for the workout and the race experience. I wasn’t going to finish high up in the standings.

Rob

Rob chasing alone

Rob & Erik

Rob chasing with Erik

Chase pack

Chase group. It’s kind of funny how my face never changes.

Before too long we got lapped by the field. Not too long after that we got lapped a second time by the lead breakaway of two riders, including my teammate Jason (2nd in the cat 4-5 race the previous day). He looked very strong. He pulled away from the other guy and went off on his own. It was the last lap before the rest of the field lapped us the second time, apparently the other Wild Card riders did a good job at disrupting the chase, bettering Jason’s chance of staying away. He won by a sizable margin. Three other Wild Card’s finished 4, 6, & 7. I ended up 21. Of the 10 or so criteriums I’ve raced, I only managed to finish with the lead group once. This type of racing does not suit me… but I feel a lot better about it now than I did one week ago.

Razzle Dazzle

Jason finished 1st in the cat 4 race

Later in the day was the cat 3 race, featuring Wild Cards Mark & Nick. Both were active in breakaways early on, but eventually fell off the pace and both dropped out.

Frenchy working hard

Mark

Nick out of the 180˚

Nick

Hot day

The heat was brutal

The cat 3 race had a photo finish, which I captured with the high speed camera. I guess this wasn’t a great angle because I still can’t tell who won. The judges awarded the victory to the rider nearest to my camera (in the orange).

Thanks to Melissa for the photos of the cat 4 race.

Humidity

I find running a marathon to be a lot like eating at Pizza Hut. Every so often I crave it. Midway through I realize what a terrible decision I made. I finish out of shear stubbornness. Afterwards I vow to never do it again.

The marathon is a harsh mistress. Of the six previous marathons I have completed I would say two were good, two were mediocre, two were awful, and all were painful. I hoped this year’s Illinois Marathon would be good. But we don’t always get what we want.

Last year I ran the Illinois Marathon and it didn’t exactly go according to plan. Six weeks later (and with a completely different outlook) I ran much better at the Rockford Marathon where I set my marathon PR of 3h09m. I then promptly spent most of the summer recovering from a knee injury. In August I reset and started over from scratch. I trained and raced well throughout the fall and winter, and by spring I was looking to run another marathon PR. My marathon training went very well. I was prepared.

Marathon Expo

The race day forecast called for rain (which didn’t particularly bother me) and relatively high temperatures (which did bother me). I awoke on race morning to wet roads, muggy air, overcast skies, and a temperature of 64˚F… which at 5:30 AM was already too hot for running a marathon.

When the race began at 7:30 AM the humidity was 93%. After one mile of easy running I was drenched with sweat. I looked at my watch at the one mile mark, expecting to see a heart rate in the low 140’s. It read 162. The good news was that my perceived exertion was pretty low. The bad news was that either my heart rate monitor wasn’t working or the extreme humidity was having the effect on me I knew in the back of my mind it would. I chose to believe my heart rate monitor was broken and I cruised on.

Aside from the massive sweating, the early miles were really very easy. I ran much of the way with the 3:10 pace group. I ate and drank reguarly. At no point was I running hard… I could comfortably breath through my nose the entire time (though I didn’t). The clouds disappeared, the sun came out, the temperature soared into the mid-to-upper-70’s. Now, not only was it ridiculously humid, the sun was beating me into submission. Around the halfway point I started to feel terrible. Really terrible.

Rob at mile 11 of Illinois Marathon

I wasn’t dehydrated, I had been drinking frequently. I wasn’t lacking energy, I had been eating regularly. I wasn’t lacking fitness, my training went superbly and both my long and short runs had been right where they needed to be. I wasn’t tired, I stayed fairly disciplined in my 2-3 week taper prior to the race. I wasn’t running too fast, I was absolutely certain I could maintain the current 7:10-7:15 minute per mile pace for much longer than I had. I just felt terrible. The combination of the heat and humidity was simply more than I could handle.

I desperately wanted to quit. I’m still not exactly sure why I didn’t. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I guess I just don’t like seeing a DNF next to my name in the results. Of maybe 150 or so races I’ve done in my life I can only think of one I didn’t finish, and that was a triathlon where I got two flat tires on the bike.

I slowed down to around 8 minutes per mile, knowing the slower pace would be the only way I could finish. Then at mile 17 I just started walking. I needed to collect myself. About a quarter of a mile later I began running again, just a little over 8 minute per mile pace. I stopped at each aid station (one every mile or two) and walked through it while I drank vast quantities of water and gatorade. Then after I gulped down the liquids I ran on to the next aid station.

After the 20 mile mark, where most runners (including me) typically fade away, I actually started to come back to life. I had already hit rock bottom and I had nowhere else to go but up. I still walked through the aid stations, but I was able to run slightly faster between them. Finally, after reaching the top of the hill on Armory street, less than two miles from the finish, on streets I have covered dozens of times before, I picked it up. I ran the final miles around 7:30 pace. It was the first time in the race when I actually felt like I was running hard. It hurt.

I finished in 3h28m, even slower than last year when I thought I had a bad race. But whatever, I finished marathon #7. Looking at the results today I noticed the average finishing times seemed to be around 15-20 minutes slower than last year. Talking to and hearing from many other runners, I don’t think anyone had a good race. The conditions were just too poor.

Illinois Marathon 2009 v. 2010

Blue: 2009 finishing times, Red: 2010 finishing times

So now I’m sore all over, sunburned like crazy (I chose not to wear sunscreen due to the supposed likelihood of rain which somehow never materialized), and a bit disappointed. If this were last year I would vow to run another marathon to redeem myself. But this isn’t last year. And I’m not going to run another marathon to redeem myself. And I’m never going to eat at Pizza Hut again. Until I do.

Feel the burn

Many thanks to my parents for watching Will while both Melissa and I ran the marathon.

Dehydration, part two

Immediately after the finish of Hillsboro-Roubaix, when I felt like death warmed over, my only thoughts were “How in the hell am I going to run 20 miles tomorrow?” The Illinois Marathon is just three weeks away and this weekend was my last long training run before I begin to taper. Fortunately I recovered fairly well throughout the rest of the day and that night. When I woke up Sunday morning (after 10 hours of sleep) I didn’t feel completely terrible–almost like I could actually do the run.

I started running just after 8am. I definitely didn’t feel fresh, but I felt way better than I expected after the previous day in hell. The temperature was still cool (58F), but it didn’t feel cool to me. Just one mile in I was contemplating taking off my shirt. Ugh, here we go again. I had water with me and I drank regularly. I had chia gel (which is mostly water) with me and I ate regularly. It wasn’t enough.

I stopped back by home after nine miles to fill up my water bottle and drink a half liter of Gatorade. I went back out with a tank top, a new (dry) hat, and a soon-to-be-saturated wrist band to mop up some of the excess sweat. The temperature rose and I became more and more uncomfortable. What was I doing? I ran out of water at 14 miles, at the farthest point away from home.

I cut the run short… but not because of the dehydration. On top of the thirst I also experienced quite possibly the worst chaffing I’ve ever had while running. I don’t know how or why this happened, but I could do nothing about it. Every step was agony. One mile from home I drank for minutes at a water fountain on campus then I limped the rest of the way home. I felt refreshed. My legs actually felt no worse after 18 miles than they did at the start, which was one positive thing I can say about that run. The only other positive thing was that I covered most of the marathon course, including the one part I had never seen before. So now there can be no race-day surprises out on the course.

I spent the rest of the day eating and drinking everything in sight. My dad was nice enough to come over to help watch William while Melissa was running, because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. This was one of the more exhausting weekends I can remember, though my actual workouts weren’t that hard. The heat just got to me. I need to lock this down, otherwise this summer will be downright miserable.

Dehydration, part one

Saturday was my first bike race of the year. Hillsboro-Roubaix was my first bike race last year as well, and thanks to a knee injury following my two spring marathons it also happened to be my only bike race last year. Last year’s cat 4 race was 44 miles with a field size of 100 riders. This year’s cat 4 race was 58 miles with a field size of 125. I’ll start by saying this is too many people and too long a distance for a cat 4 road race.

Our Wild Card Cycling team had a really strong group of six riders in the cat 4 race. I’m a pretty decent rider (I finished 19th in this race last year) and our other five guys are way better than me. We liked our chances. We headed out onto the course for what I thought was going to be a short warmup ride. We ended up going 10 miles, which is much farther than I should have gone given that I was already nervous about the race distance.

Hillsboro

We all started the race in good position–perhaps too good. After the first uphill Luke rode off the front of the group without really trying (the speed was low). I suddenly found myself at the front of the 125 rider group not knowing whether to catch up to Luke (who certainly wasn’t planning to be alone at this point in the race) or slow down and let his gap grow. I slowed down. Nobody came around me. Luke’s lead continued to grow. I slowed down more. Nobody came around me. Finally, after several minutes, a small group surged past on my left super fast. I caught onto the tail end of this group which caught up with Luke just before a turn into a tailwind. We looked around and this group of around 15 riders contained all six Wild Cards. Game on. We pushed the speed even higher and opened up a sizable lead. This was only a couple miles into the race and it was just too early for that kind of move. After a couple miles of chasing the rest of the main field eventually caught up and we were one group.

This is where my race would begin to go wrong. It happened so gradually that I didn’t really notice. I moved from 15th to 20th to 30th to 50th to 80th. The pack was so big and the road was so narrow I couldn’t maintain my position and before I knew it I was at the back of the field. This is not where I wanted to be. In addition to the inherent danger of being directly behind scores of cyclists moving at high speed in tight formation, the back of the pack does a lot of yo-yoing. There’s an accordion effect. There were times when I felt like we were coming to a complete stop, then there were times when I was going flat out to hang on to the group. I knew I need to be eating frequently for such a long race, but there was no time to do it. At one free moment I tried to snarf down a Clif Bar. I got half of it in my mouth before I had to accelerate hard. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t swallow it. The half bar remained in my mouth for several miles before I could finally choke it down.

Making matters worse was my looming dehydration. My bike holds two water bottles. This is enough to get me through 30 miles. The race was twice that distance, this was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and I sweat more than any human being on the planet. I knew I had to conserve what I had, but it was costing me.

The race made its way through the countryside without much excitement. I knew my race would be over if I wasn’t closer to the front by the end of the first lap. The big hill and brick roads in town would definitely split the field. Seizing my only opportunity I found an opening on a straight flat road with a tailwind and flew past about 30-40 riders in one go. Entering town around 40th place or so really only prolonged my agony.

Sure enough the group split going up the big hill in town, and, like every other time I’ve ridden up this hill, I got stuck behind people going very slowly and basically had to stop on multiple occasions. By the time I turned the corner to go back down the hill the leaders were almost at the next corner, almost out of sight. This was bad. I flew down the hill onto the brick road, struggling to keep my bike upright. The group was completely shattered. There was a big group ahead, a big group behind, and I was in no-man’s-land with a couple dozen other stragglers. We remained separate heading back out of town, nobody was able to get organized. The leaders rode away and we could do nothing about it.

Hillsboro 2010

At this point my fate was sealed. I could neither get a good result nor offer any support to my stronger teammates. I don’t like seeing DNF next to my name in race results so I was determined to finish the race. It was a real struggle though. I baked in the sun the whole second lap. I was out of water, thirsty, tired, miserable. In retrospect, I would have been better off stopping. Eventually I came upon my teammate Alexei, who was changing a flat tire. I stopped to talk to him and we rode together for a few miles until cramps in my legs (a sure symptom of dehydration) slowed me down even further. I had more cramps on the first hill coming back into town. I actually had to stop and stretch for a minute because I was unable to rotate my pedals all the way around without cramping up. I made if halfway up the last hill when I pulled off to the side of the road long enough to watch the cat 1-2 riders blow past me up the hill on their final lap. Once at the top I basically coasted on to the finish line.

The other guys on the team had done alright, but not as well as they had hoped. We had a couple of guys with pretty good chance of winning who ended up 6th and 11th. They raced well, but it just wasn’t our day.

I crossed the line completely alone in 70th place (which is actually far higher than I thought). I immediately chugged as much water and gatorade as I could find. I felt absolutely terrible–muscles twitching, head aching, disoriented, hungry, and a bit nauseous all at once. The race didn’t go at all how I planned. But that was just my Saturday…

March 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

March 2009 Photo of the Day

I’m still going with this, tough at times this month it was a real struggle (and I think the quality of photos reflects that). I was super-busy with work, and busy on top of that with marathon training, oh, and cycling season is here (first race next weekend).

Running

Finishing

March was a good month. My training quality has continued to improve, without much change to the quantity. I’m doing my runs a little bit faster without really feeling the extra effort. I ran a 5k race at 5:59 pace and I did a 20 mile training run at 7:30 pace. Aside from my weekly long runs and the race, I’ve done virtually all of my running wearing Vibram Fivefinger (barefoot-like) shoes and they’re feeling really good.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
Total 270.09 Mile 28 9.64607 Mile

Cycling

I'm seeing red

While my running steadily improved in March, my cycling made a huge leap. Notably, I rode over 100 miles two times in March 2010, after only riding that distance two times previously in my entire life.

March 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 42.75 Mile 8 5.34375 Mile
Pocket Rocket 3.6 Mile 1 3.6 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 462.48 Mile 9 51.3867 Mile
Total 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile

January – March 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 60.75 Mile 13 4.67308 Mile
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Pocket Rocket 31.27 Mile 2 15.635 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 682.83 Mile 24 28.4513 Mile
Total 815.75 Mile 50 16.315 Mile

January – March 2010 totals

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
Total 815.75 Mile 50 16.315 Mile

Walking

This little piggy

Despite the better weather I’ve continued walking on a regular basis. I don’t know, I just feel like it helps me in my long distance running.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
Total 114.81 Mile 35 3.28029 Mile

Camp

Wild Card Cycling’s training camp in southern Illinois was last weekend. I knew what I was getting into after the past two trips. I was a little concerned about my lack of miles this year, but I ended up riding a little better than I thought/feared I would.

Wednesday evening was our regular weekly fight ride. It was tough.

Thursday we left for camp, drove in the pouring rain, arrived in the pouring rain, unpacked in the pouring rain, and rode (you guessed it) in the pouring rain. It was slightly miserable, but not too bad. My legs were not fresh after Wednesday’s ride. I actually felt like crap for about 20 miles. The good news was that I didn’t feel any worse after the next 20. We rode from Giant City to the top of Bald Knob (the highest point in southern Illinois) and back. It was a very hilly 50 miles. Even though the speed wasn’t super-fast, it was still tough.

Friday the sun was shining, but it was cold when we left for the ride. We had some logistical problems and ended up riding in two separate groups after the two groups apparently couldn’t find each other at the predetermined ride start time. No matter, we still had a good ride (again) to the top of Bald Knob and back. After a few detours I ended the day with a (very hilly) 66 miles and a slight sunburn on my exposed left calf below my knee warmer.

Saturday the goal was 100 (very hilly) miles. My legs were toast at the start from the previous three days of riding. I started the ride with a comfortable 18 miles with just Martin. I ended the first 50 tagged on to the back of the fast group, which was too fast for me. I felt like crap and I was 50 miles from my cabin. I made a conscious decision to take it easy and things got better from there. I rode for a while with just Scott. Then we picked up a group who opted for a shorter loop. The last 18 miles I rode with just John S. At 90 miles I felt better than I had 50 miles earlier. That was the biggest surprise of the weekend, that despite never feeling great, I always ended the rides feeling as good as (if not better than) I did at the start. I guess it’s taking me a while to warm up. Anyway, I got an even worse sunburn on Saturday on my left calf below my knee warmer.

The sun be a harsh mistress

The light red line is from Friday, the dark red line is from Saturday.

Saturday night was dinner at Giant City, which was good times as usual.

Sunday morning it was pouring down rain so everyone ended up leaving early rather than do a dangerous set of hill repeats in the pouring rain. It was very good to get home to see Melissa & Will after a few days away. We made the most of the afternoon with a trip to the park.