Chris and I completed the games II Adventure race put on my Central Ohio Adventure Racing and held at Caesars Creek State Park. It was an eight hour race and Chris and I were out on the course for about 7.5 hours. It was a very long day of running, paddling, mountain biking, and orienteering.
Our goal was to pretty much finish as a ranked team, meaning that we got the required number of checkpoints in each discipline. We were able to do that but looking back I think both Chris and I realize some of the mistakes we made and know we can do better in the future.
I will try to get some pics posted and some more detail added soon.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Big Shoulders Report
Well the race is over and Courtney and I are back in Ohio. We had a great time in Chicago but are glad to be back home with Riley and Jake.
The Race...
I ended up finishing 45th overall, 6th in my age group in a time of 1:05:36. Overall I was very happy with my performance. Going into the race I thought a time between 1:07 and 1:12 was doable so when I saw 1:05 I was very happy.
The race was a lot of fun. The water was awesome. Clear and somewhere between 70 and 73 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a little cool when you first got in but was nothing but comfortable the for the rest of the day.
Courtney and I got into Chicago around 3, found a place to park and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Allerton on Huron, very nice place and within easy walking distance to the race start. After settling in at the hotel we headed off to Ohio Street Beach where the race would take place. I wanted to get a quick swim in so I could get accustomed to the surroundings and not shocked when tomorrow rolled around. I did an easy 15 minutes in the lake and then we grabbed dinner on Navy Pier.
We got up around 5:20 on race morning which gave us enough time to get to the beach early and still allow for Courtney to stop at Starbucks :) I got registered, and Courtney found a good spot to watch the race. I stretched really well and drank Gatorade and water but did not get in the water and warm up. Maybe this was a mistake but I did not want to get in, get cold, and then have to warm back up again before the start.
I was scheduled to go off in the first wave at 8:00. At 7:55 we walked
out into the water and got setup for the start. The way the start
worked was that they had a person in a boat holding a rope and when the
horn sounded he raised the rope and everyone takes off. I worked my
way toward the front for the start right behind the guys from
Northwestern University Swim Team. I figured they would take off fast
and I could get go with them for a while.
Turns out the beginning of the race was pretty fast and I ended up swimming at a decent pace to get clear and then settled in. The first lap around the course was
pretty uneventful. I did force myself to take in the beautiful skyline
of Chicago and enjoy the view. I felt good the first lap but I didn't
really have any idea of how I was doing in terms of placing and time.
It would have been cool to have some sort of in-water timing system so
you could get a sense of splits and how many places you gained or
lost.
Once I started the second lap things got much more crowded. It
seemed like you were passing people all of the time which makes you feel
good nut also slows you down as you have to navigate through the crowds. I felt good throughout most of the second lap but I would tell I was fatiguing with about 500-600meters left in the race.
After the race Courtney and I hung around for a while and enjoyed the festivities. Then we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of our stay in the city. All in all it was a lot of fun and a race that I will definitely try to attend in the future.
Many thanks to Courtney for all of her support and to the guys at the pool(Dan, Kip and Chris) for keeping me in line.
Up next? The Central Ohio Adventure Race at Caesars Creek on September 26th!
The Race...
I ended up finishing 45th overall, 6th in my age group in a time of 1:05:36. Overall I was very happy with my performance. Going into the race I thought a time between 1:07 and 1:12 was doable so when I saw 1:05 I was very happy.
The race was a lot of fun. The water was awesome. Clear and somewhere between 70 and 73 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a little cool when you first got in but was nothing but comfortable the for the rest of the day.
Courtney and I got into Chicago around 3, found a place to park and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Allerton on Huron, very nice place and within easy walking distance to the race start. After settling in at the hotel we headed off to Ohio Street Beach where the race would take place. I wanted to get a quick swim in so I could get accustomed to the surroundings and not shocked when tomorrow rolled around. I did an easy 15 minutes in the lake and then we grabbed dinner on Navy Pier.
We got up around 5:20 on race morning which gave us enough time to get to the beach early and still allow for Courtney to stop at Starbucks :) I got registered, and Courtney found a good spot to watch the race. I stretched really well and drank Gatorade and water but did not get in the water and warm up. Maybe this was a mistake but I did not want to get in, get cold, and then have to warm back up again before the start.
I was scheduled to go off in the first wave at 8:00. At 7:55 we walked
out into the water and got setup for the start. The way the start
worked was that they had a person in a boat holding a rope and when the
horn sounded he raised the rope and everyone takes off. I worked my
way toward the front for the start right behind the guys from
Northwestern University Swim Team. I figured they would take off fast
and I could get go with them for a while.
Turns out the beginning of the race was pretty fast and I ended up swimming at a decent pace to get clear and then settled in. The first lap around the course was
pretty uneventful. I did force myself to take in the beautiful skyline
of Chicago and enjoy the view. I felt good the first lap but I didn't
really have any idea of how I was doing in terms of placing and time.
It would have been cool to have some sort of in-water timing system so
you could get a sense of splits and how many places you gained or
lost.
Once I started the second lap things got much more crowded. It
seemed like you were passing people all of the time which makes you feel
good nut also slows you down as you have to navigate through the crowds. I felt good throughout most of the second lap but I would tell I was fatiguing with about 500-600meters left in the race.
After the race Courtney and I hung around for a while and enjoyed the festivities. Then we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of our stay in the city. All in all it was a lot of fun and a race that I will definitely try to attend in the future.
Many thanks to Courtney for all of her support and to the guys at the pool(Dan, Kip and Chris) for keeping me in line.
Up next? The Central Ohio Adventure Race at Caesars Creek on September 26th!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
9/10/2009
Finished my last swim in a pool before Big Shoulders. I swam a very relaxed 1800 with a couple of broken 100's.
I felt ok, not great, bit ok. My shoulder is still a bit tight so I am hoping it will come around by Saturday.
That's all for now. I will provide an in depth review after the race.
I felt ok, not great, bit ok. My shoulder is still a bit tight so I am hoping it will come around by Saturday.
That's all for now. I will provide an in depth review after the race.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
9/9/2009
3 days till Big Shoulders. Did an easy 2600 this morning. Planning on another easy day tomorrow and then Court and I are off to Chicago.
Psych Sheets have been posted for the race, take a look.
Psych Sheets have been posted for the race, take a look.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Big Shoulders History
Here is a link from the Big Shoulders website. It provides some interesting history of the race.
9/8/2009
Kettering Rec is closed this week for its yearly cleaning so I am stuck swimming at a different pool this week. I did a fairly easy 4000 this morning and felt decent. Shoulder is a little sore but I attribute that more to a couple of days off than overuse. Now I have just a couple of short days leading up to the race.
4 days till Big Shoulders!
4 days till Big Shoulders!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday, September 5th
I had a great workout this morning! This was my last real intense workout before Big Shoulders. I didn't do anything super long but wanted to make the efforts very challenging. We ended up doing the following:
400 Swim
300 Kick
300 Pull
2x2000 with every fourth 100 being hard. I ended up going 23:47 and 24:16 for each 2000. I was fairly happy with these times although I would have liked the second one to be a little faster.
Going to spend the rest of today kicking back and recovering. Later.
400 Swim
300 Kick
300 Pull
2x2000 with every fourth 100 being hard. I ended up going 23:47 and 24:16 for each 2000. I was fairly happy with these times although I would have liked the second one to be a little faster.
Going to spend the rest of today kicking back and recovering. Later.
Friday, September 4, 2009
9/4/2009
After yesterday’s fairly hard workout I backed things down today and did an easy 3500. Tomorrow will be my last long and intense workout before Big Shoulders.
Chris: You picked the wrong day to skip!
Chris: You picked the wrong day to skip!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Thursday, 9/3/2009
9 days till Big Shoulders. Only a couple of big days left and then bring on the rest!
I put in a solid 5200 this morning. My shoulder and back still don’t feel great but I was able to put in a strong effort today. I iced my shoulder down real well last night and took some aspirin before swimming so that seemed to help.
I ended up doing 5x1000. The first was a warm up with some pull and kick involved. After that, we did the last four freestyle on 13:00. I tried to keep things under control and not blow myself up. I ended up going 11:58, 12:15, 12:20, 12:15. On the second and third 1000s, Chris pulled me around for the first 500, which I much appreciated.
Later.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Big Shoulders Countdown
Not long before Big Shoulders now. 12 days and counting! I have been finishing up a decent build for the race and starting to get excited. I don't feel as strong as I did last year before 25K Nationals but Big Shoulders is only 5K so hopefully I will have enough to get through it. I swam a test set of 6x500 on 6:30 and held between 5:52 and 5:58 which I was happy with and is giving me some confidence heading into the race.
I have been hearing a lot of murmurs lately about how could the water temperature in Lake Michigan could be for the race. Last temperature reading that I heard was mid 60's http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/michigan/m54.html but apparently the temperature can fluctuate 5-10 degrees within a day or two so there is no reason to worry about what I don't have any control over.
Well that's all for now, I will check in again before the race.
I have been hearing a lot of murmurs lately about how could the water temperature in Lake Michigan could be for the race. Last temperature reading that I heard was mid 60's http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/michigan/m54.html but apparently the temperature can fluctuate 5-10 degrees within a day or two so there is no reason to worry about what I don't have any control over.
Well that's all for now, I will check in again before the race.
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