Music City Triathlon

So today I raced my second triathlon and 1st at the Olympic Distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run). I picked this race back in February when I decided to do triathlons. I knew it was a distance that would challenge me but that I could do. I was right. By far it is the hardest race I've ever done. I think had it not been 99-102 degrees it wouldn't have been quite so bad. So anyway it went a little something like this.

I got up at 4:45 and did my usual pre-race bagel and banana. Then prepared all my bottles with a mix of Base Performance Amino and Accelerade. I packed all my gear the night before so I wouldn't have to worry about it this morning. After I loaded my bike I took off to Nashville. I got to the parking lot at 6 am and I'm pretty sure it was already 85 degrees. I knew weeks ago this would be a hot painful race and mother nature didn't fail to disappoint.

So the race started at 7:30 but we had to wait almost an hour to swim because the sprint racers went in front of the Olympic distance racers. So I hung out with my mom for a while before finally getting in line for my race. With about 5 minutes before my start I put my goggles on. SNAP! The strap broke. I had to run back to my bike where my bag was to get another pair. Sounds easy right? Transition was about 500 yards from where we were standing. Nothing like a sprint to get your heart rate up. So now I'm back in line with another pair of goggles. That is why I keep three pairs with me.

SWIM 1.5k or .92 of a mile

The swim was a time trial start with 6 swimmers getting in the water at at time then being sent off every 2 or 3 seconds. Oh and we swam in the Cumberland river. Hopefully I don't get sick because when I swim I have water in my mouth pretty much the whole time and that is one nasty river. Swim was actually pretty fun. It was my first open water race and all my practice at the lake paid off. The first part of the swim was against the current which was no fun. It was kind of like a water treadmill. We were bunched up for a while so I kept feeling peoples feet and had somebody all over mine. I'm pretty sure I elbowed somebody in the head as well haha. Sighting the buoys and swimming straight were pretty easy. As a strong swimmer I find it fairly easy to keep a straight line. Others I know struggle and zig zag all over the place. I noticed this when we crossed the river. Because of the current if you didn't aim a little upstream you would get pushed down stream and have to work harder to get around the buoy. I held a pretty straight line which I was happy with. The next long stretch of swim was down stream. I remember noticing the buildings in downtown and thinking I never thought I would actually be in this river. Anyway we made one more turn and had to swim back up stream to get to our exit. I believe my time was 29:07. Now I had to run up hill and back over to transition. This seemed to take about a minute just to get to the bike.

BIKE 40K or 24.9 miles

Once I got my bike it was another 150 yards to the exit where you mount the bike. I jogged this pretty controlled. Once I got to the mounting line it was a simple step on my left shoe, swing my right leg over and off I went. My shoes are already on the pedals so the tricky part is getting my feet in them while moving. 1oo yards later and with one foot already in the shoe I lost a bottle because of a bump. You get penalized for leaving anything on the course so I had to make a quick U turn to go get it. A nice volunteer was kind enough to put the top back on it and put it back into the bottle holder that sticks out behind my seat. Bad thing was the bottle was now empty. I had planned on having 64 ounces of drink with me...now I only had 32! No worries, I've learned to make race day enjoyable you have to have a plan and be flexible when that plan needs to be changed. The bike course was a 12 mile loop that we had to do twice. It was a fun course for sure. Unfortunately my fun on the bike equaled my pain and suffering on the run...I'll explain. So the course only had 3 hills that were some what difficult. The rest was pretty much flat and down hill. There were several sections where I was hitting 30-34 mph which feels so fun. I lost count but probably passed about 50 or more on the bike course. I found a group of guys that seemed to be biking about my pace and just tried to stay with them. We were passing some folks like they were not even moving. I felt good the whole ride. My drink situation didn't hurt me. It was definitely getting very hot out there, I had one bottle of water just to pour on myself occasionally which helped me stay somewhat "cool". I kept wondering if I was biking too hard but I was having too much fun at those speeds to care. My legs didn't really feel taxed until I got to the last hill. I knew then, at mile 23 that I had probably taken to much out of my legs and the run would be tough. I ran the run course a few weeks ago with my friend Kelly so I knew with tired legs i was in for a suckfest!! The transition from bike to run was pretty smooth. Nothing to it really. You take your feet out of your shoes and pedal on top of your shoes for the last 200 yards then swing your right leg back over the bike and stand off to the left side of the bike. When you get to the line you hop off and keep running along side the bike back to your spot on the rack, off with the helmet and on with the visor, shoes and race belt with race number.

RUN 10K or 6.2 miles

I emptied the rest of my water bottle on top of my head before taking off. The jog out of transition and onto the run course told me all I needed to know. This would be the hardest run I had ever completed. The run course was a 3 mile loop that we had to do twice. On the loop we had to climb the pedestrian bridge, climb 1st avenue, and climb 3rd avenue. If you are familiar with Nashville you know those are some steep long climbs. I made it almost a mile before I had to walk. I don't know what my run pace was because my legs were so tired, but at this point it had to be about 100 degrees and I'm sure the heat index was close to 105. The heat was literally sucking the life out of me. They had water just about every mile but it just wasn't enough. I pretty much walked 2-3 times per mile. Probably the most depressing thing about the race. I CAN NOT STAND TO WALK!! But I was struggling even to walk it was so freakin hot out there. Near the end of the 1st loop I was actually contemplating not finishing. I don't think I can really give you an accurate description of how miserably hot it was. I tried over the past few weeks to prepare myself mentally for the heat but I still couldn't overcome it. My legs really didn't start turning over until about the 4th mile. I walked a lot less on the second loop but the damage was already done at that point. I had wanted to place in the beginners category but knew the chance for that was long gone. Now I just wanted to finish under 2:50. I got to the top of 3rd ave for the second time, hit the last water stop and made the best push I could with the 1.5 remaining. When I was about 500 yards from the line I used what I had left, which was too much. I was in a full on sprint and heard a friend of mine yelling "you better dig". 10 yds to go and I hear "NUMBER 726 Chris Hanson from Smyrna Tennessee" it's kind of cool to hear that. I crossed the line, and pretty much pulled a Chuck Liddell, arms down and flexed and let out a scream. So glad I didn't quit...So glad i finished. By far it was the hardest thing I did. I thought my last Country Music 1/2 Marathon was the hardest but it got trumped big time today.

In the end I was the 4th beginner, could have placed if I could have just got myself to run more. I placed 9th out of 33 in the 25-29 age group. I guess that's not to bad for my second only. It definitely put the 1/2 Ironman distance in perspective. I was going to attempt one in a month but after today I know I'm not even close to ready. So I'll get back to work and tackle that distance next summer.

Next step for me is one more Tri either in August or September. A 1/2 Marathon in October and finally my first Marathon in December. Need to put a lot of work into my run. Hope you enjoyed the read. Thank you for all the support from those who texted, tweeted, or facebooked!!

a few thoughts

so it's been a while since i blogged. and since there are only 2 followers i'm guessing nobody minds haha. anyway...some updates. i have a race in 10 days. it's an Olympic distance race which means a 1.5k swim 40k bike 10k run. this will be a tough race since it's in downtown nashville and quite hilly. i know i can complete it, and i hope to contend for an age group place. i was happy with my sprint distance race a month ago but didn't really feel all that tested. same reason i went from running 5ks to 1/2 Marathons and soon full Marathons. i want to be tested at the toughest distances. and i want to actually be able to compete not merely finish. so anyway. training has been long and tough. waking up early to swim, training at lunch, and biking or running after work are quite draining. some days i'm not entirely sure how i manage to find the strength or desire to do it. it's kind of crazy if you think about it. we athletes put in hours and hours and miles upon miles just to go do a race in a fraction of the time committed to training. but i love to race and compete. i love the fill on a race morning. everybody is there for the same reason. to be surrounded by a community all with the same goal in mind...finish the race to be best of your ability.

triathlon has been the best thing for me to find. i have a very extreme personality and the training needed to do well suits me perfectly. i typically find things i like and latch on then go at them 100 mph!! doesn't work great for relationships but is perfect for sport. my friends are part of my motivation. just hearing people call me crazy for doing so much makes me want to do more. i'm only scratching the surface compared to the Half Ironman and Ironman athletes. i want to be at that level within the next two years. my ultimate goal is to qualify for the Kona Ironman. i have a long road to get there. i have to make a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run seem like normal distances. right now those all seem quite far. i could do the swim right now, i will do the run in December, and i hope to go on a 112 mile ride before the year is over. short term i want to do well at the olympic distance and prepare for the 1/2 Ironman next summer. i also have to avoid burnout. which i think i'm starting to feel. luckily after my race i will be taking some time off. have to hit the refresh button then come back for more. probably will race 1 or 2 more Tris this summer before switching my focus to my December marathon. anyway that's all i have for now. probably a little hard to follow cause i have a hard time focusing. hope you enjoy the read...feel free to comment or ask questions. perhaps suggestions of things to blog about.

Running in a heat index above 100...not smart!!

so yesterday i jumped back into my training. i have an easy week planned. not running any more than 3 miles at a time and no more than 15 miles at a time on the bike. next week i'll start back into my normal distances. this week is just to get the legs moving again and to test my knee out. i took two weeks off and it only seems to have minimal improvement. oh well i'm not gonna sit around and keep getting fat.

so anyway yesterday after stretching for about 30 or 40 minutes i took off for my 3 mile run. i had on running shorts and a white running tank. it was about 5:45 when i hit the road. i knew it was hot. i knew it was going to suck. i knew i would probably want to quit somewhere around the two mile mark...what do you know i was right!!

the first 300 yards felt good...but from then til i got back 3.02 miles later all it did was get hotter and hotter. my legs felt good but sluggish. this kind of bummed me out. after a long rest i figured they would be ready to go. not the case. i dropped into my normal pace and tested some faster paces. ultimately i was just trying to cruise at a 60% of max effort. for me this is about a 7:50 mile avg. however in the heat even this pace felt like a sprint. i guess that's why i typically do a lot of my racing in the winter. i would rather run cold then run hot.

so mile 1 goes by in 7:53 i believe. i'm hot but not to bad. usually on the green way where i run there are plenty of other runners and cyclist. today...just me. hmm i began to wonder if i was the only idiot who ignored the temps and everybody else was waiting for it to cool off a little. anyway i turned around at the 1.51 mile mark according to my trusty Garmin205. from here back to the house it's pretty much a steady incline with a head wind. and this is when things start to get foggy. at this point i'm getting very hot. i can feel my heart beat in my face and my head is pounding. i don't have water with me cause i don't bring any if i'm only running three. legs are still good, knee feels good, calves are staying cramp free. so it is just a mental game of overcoming the heat.

mile 2 goes by and i think it was in 15:40... 1 mile left to go..bring the suckage. no matter what my plans are, how bad i'm hurting, or even if you threaten my life. when i get to the last mile of any run or race i pick up the pace. even on easy runs where i don't want to push i still drop the hammer in the last mile. i can't control it. in this years Country Music 1/2 Marathon at mile 12 i serioulsy thought i was having a heart attack. my chest got tight my right arm ached and my neck had a sharp pain. i remember thinking..."what do you want to do? if we keep pushing we can PR but you might die. worth the risk?" yup i kept pushing and i made it across the line just 1 minute shy of my PR. so anyway i'm less than a mile from the house, my head is pounding, i can't catch my breath, my legs are only slightly burning. i'm pretty sure i'm getting delirious and my back decides to join the party. my sciatic nerve flares up and now i can't feel my right butt cheek, if you've ever run you know it's extremely important to have your glutes firing properly. so now i'm trying not to die in the heat and i'm trying to make my right leg run correctly despite the numbness in my butt and the pain in my L5 disc. "why didn't you just stop?" that's what a friend of mine asked me last night. haha it never occured to me to stop. call it ignorance or pride but if i'm only running 3 miles i'm not bringing water or stopping.

1/2 mile to go. can't really remember this part. its the steepest of the return incline to the house. i kept looking at my Garmin to make sure my pace wasnt fading. i believe i was inbetween 7:40-7:57 that last 1/2 mile, although i felt like i was power walking. i also can't seem to breath now, my heart feels ready to explode, again head now feels as if a horse has kicked it, back is on fire, butt is numb, legs are strained but plenty left in them, knee is doing just great. and all i'm telling myself is "just make it home Chris". which i did...3.02 miles in 23:49 avg 7:52/mile.

when i get to my drive way i feel about ready to pass out, i was very dizzy and extremely overheated. and i'm sweating so bad that my sweat is sweating. i head straight for the hose. i drenched myself and stood in the shade for about 5 minutes. then i head inside to the amazing coolness of my 70 degree house. all i want to do is get off my feet so i can get my back to calm down. so i lay my dripping wet self right down in the kitchen floor. of course now i have two dogs frantically licking my sweat off my legs, arms, face, and hair. you would think i was sweating out bacon or something.

anyway...overall it was a decent run. i didn't want that pace to feel so hard but i think it was the heat. if it had of been cooler that would probably have felt like the relaxed run that i was anticipating. i was definitely hydrated well and had taken my Base Amino blend before the run. so my body had everything it needed. i guess in this heat i'm gonna have to break my rule and take water even on short runs. i know for sure i will wait til at least 6 to run from here on out. if that had been an 8+ mile run i would have been in trouble. today i have an easy bike. even in the heat the bike is much easier. so i shouldn't have any overheating issues today. till next time.

Saturday Morning Swim

so after a two week layoff for a knee injury that kept me from pretty much doing anything i decided to get back on the horse.

i got up early this morning around 6 and had a banana and drank some water mixed with Base Performance Amino blend. then i limbered up a little and put on my wetsuit. the lake is about 5 minutes from my house and it has a beach entry and no boat dock. therefore it is calm and quiet and so far no boaters play in the area...especially at 7 am.

so anyway i get to the lake walk down to the water as their is a couple of folks setting up for what looks like a big group picnic or something. i love the looks i get when walking towards the water with half my wetsuit on. its like they are trying to figure out if i'm gonna swim or scooba dive haha.

anyway i drop my bag and wade in to about thigh deep and finish putting my suit on. on with the goggles and cap and off i go for a warm up swim...

now what i haven't told you yet is i'm afraid of water i can't see in!! so the minute i put my face into lake water its a battle of wills in my mind. i have to literally tell my body to relax, tell my breathing to stay controlled, and tell myself to stay calm. i can panic if i don't. so anyway i swim out about 50 or 75 yards and then head back in. my shoulders feel tight from softball the night before and my back is a little sore as well. i make it back in stretch up a little and then stand there about chest deep and think about my workout

my plan was to swim for 30 minutes straight...now in a pool this isn't too terribly difficult. yes it's a long time but you get a mini break each time you turn around at the wall. in a lake it's non stop. today the water was nearly smooth as glass. so i drop underwater and push off. i swam about 75-100 yards out then turned right. i stay in a cove that seems to be about 500-800 ft wide. it is C shaped with big trees at each tip. i use the big trees to mark the line i want to swim on. since obviously in the lake there is no black line like there is in a pool. so you have to spot up ahead where you need to go, then swim blind for a while and spot again to make sure you are on course.

the first few minutes were tense...i typically get freaked out if i let my mind wander. i've seen to many horror movies so i picture things coming from underneath me as i'm looking down into the darkness. the first time i swam in the lake i about near hyperventilated, mostly cause the water was cold and very rough...it was the weekend after the flood so the water was really high.

so anyway i had about 4 or 5 moments where i had to calm myself mentally. twice i thought i heard something behind me...yes i know that's crazy...like a bass is sneaking up on me or something. it was just the noise my arms were making in the water. once i ran into a twig or something. and once or twice i thought about what would happen if i cramped up...nobody would be able to get to me and i would more than likely drown if the cramp was bad enough.

so 10 minutes in and i've gone down and back between the two points a few times now and i notice i'm about 300 yds from shore!! i had been drifting out all along haha. i also take inventory of my limbs. my shoulders are really aching and my back is killing me. i have a pinched nerve in my low back and the wetsuit makes my legs float higher than normal and pinches the nerve. so i decide to go back to the other end turn around and then at the halfway mark turn back to shore. when i made the turn to shore i picked the pace up a little. everytime i spotted though it looked like i hadn't gone anywhere. it seemed like the swim back in took forever.

i made it to shore with a total time of 18 minutes and some change. probably could have stayed out their for 30 but with my soreness and the fact that i was alone, i would rather be safe than sorry. when i'm not fighting the open water demons i really do enjoy my lake swims. my next race is in July in the Cumberland river right next to LP Field. should be fun and probably will freak me out since i'll be in the water with a ton of other swimmers getting kicked and elbowed haha. either way i'll have my game face on and will be ready to go. probably gonna hit the lake again in the morning and start back running and biking on monday!! hoorah!!

Zero Training Blues

so i pretty much never take time away from training besides the normal day off here and there. however in my last 1/2 marathon something on my knee cap popped in the second mile while going down a hill. i kept training all the way up until last weekend when i raced my first triathlon. i was in a lot of pain most of May and was not able to run as much as i usually do. so i decided to just get to the race and then take two weeks off to let the knee cap heal. this is the start of my second week off and i hate it!! i feel like crap everytime i eat cuz i haven't done anything. i'm dying to get back in the pool before work, and to ride or run after. unfortunately my knee doesn't seem to have improved all!!

i'm starting back monday regardless though. i have another race, olympic distance, on July 25th and that will only give me 6 weeks to prepare. i should come out of these two weeks pretty fresh and i don't expect to have lost to much of my cardio. next week will be a light week just to get the legs back up and running, then i'll build back up. my race is in a river so i need several more practice sessions in open water to get comfortable. the bike is 24.9 miles which is no big deal, as long as i don't crush it i should be good to run. the run is a 10k, 6.2 miles. that is a easy distance for me as a stand alone but will be a little more difficult after swimming nearly a mile and biking 24.9. i can't wait though. the course will be much more challenging than the sprint course i did in McMinnville. i know the run is in downtown Nashville and those hills are no joke at all, even on fresh legs. it will be a fun race and i'm sure i will have to push through some mental walls to finish but i don't go into a race i don't plan to finish strongly.

my July race will be my gauge to see if i want to attempt a half iron distance of 70.3 miles in September. that breaks down to 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. i know i can do all three distances as stand alones, so putting them together will no doubt suck terribly!! sometimes i wonder why i put myself through this torture. then i remember the feeling i get after every workout and after crossing every finish line. the feeling that you took what the course threw at you and you mastered it. you took all the quit your body and mind gave you and you ignored it and pressed on. it truely is an amazing feeling to take the freakish distances and treat them like they are just another part of ordinary life. i remember when an 8 mile run seemed long and 15 mile ride seemed crazy. now i don't consider it a long run unless its over 12 and its not a long bike until i've gone at least 2 hours.

so for now heres to one more lazy week of zero training...next week it's back to the grind and some more interesting blogs on my thoughts while training. my mind wanders a lot when i train. you would think that i would think about what i'm doing...i don't haha.

Drama

first let me start with this disclaimer...i have a hurt knee right now so i am not training otherwise i would be blogging about my training...so you are stuck with rants and useless thoughts.

anyway what's the deal with drama? seriously the word is not in the bible, or at least i don't ever think i've seen it. but i think it should have been. i hate drama but it seems to follow me. i often wonder if drama follows all of us. most everybody i know would agree with my dislike for "D"!! Are we as humans really that complicated that we make even the smallest things overly complicated?

without getting into too much detail...why can't two people just be together? why are there always rules and stipulations and labels? do you like me? yes. i like you. ok so lets see where this goes. simple enough but it never happens that way. seems like outsiders always want to put their two cents in and next thing you know you're so turned around you don't know whether you are coming or going. you can't have a simple convo without analyzing every word and phrase. should i say this, should i say that. is that to much, to little, what will they think if i say that or do this. good grief! where did these rules come from that muddy up even the simplest of relationships?!?!?

i just wish things could be simple. why do we all play games? hardly anybody says what they mean anymore. we all hide behind our mask and secretly love to see each other hurt, fail, or just be generally miserable...just to make us feel better about our own lives. most love gossip and most talk about their own friends behind there backs. when people ask how you are doing in passing they don't actually care or want a response. i guess that's why the bible says let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. somehow we have gotten away from that. we hide behind social media and portray our lives through status updates and tweets. i'm even guilty of this. i put up status's all the time when i'm hurting. of course i do it in a way that everybody knows something is wrong but has not the slightest clue about what. why can't i or anybody else just post "i'm pissed because so n so is causing "D" in my life" ??? i guess that wouldn't be politically correct right? we sure can't allow that to happen.

so in closing...if i can even say i made any sense. i just wish things were simple. if you're pissed at me...then say it. if you don't like something i've done...tell me. but i know that won't happen. i know people will continue to go behind my back and yours...talking and running there mouth with "did you hear" or "did you see their status" or "omg i can't believe the pics they posted" but the next time they see you it will be all smiles and high fives. funny how we are like that. we live for Drama but hate it so much...

Grooming

so it's friday morning and this is what's on my mind....

last night i let a friend groom me. meaning trim my neck line and eyebrows. now the neckline is a no brainer every guy with short hair has his neckline trimmed. but the eyebrows?? i don't have the greatest eyebrows as it is but after having an eyebrow ring a few years ago and letting my xwife wax my eyebrows they became even worse. now they grow out of control and look like vampire eyebrows most of the time. so i'm always torn. do i continue grooming them to look presentable or let them go rogue and natural. eyebrow trimming for a guy falls in the same category for me as mani/pedi's for a guy...GAY!!

just doesn't seem manly. but then if the chicas like well groomed eyebrows do i suck it up and do it anyway?? i wonder how many men out there actually get there eyebrows waxed regularly...hmm.