Race Report - Buffalo Trails Triathlon

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. Big Hiney Hill"

Friday night, Meredith and I made the trip down to the Ohio/Kentucky border for the Buffalo Trails Triathlon (and the 5K for her). After all the work I've done in the pool this winter, sign in pre-race was a little bit of a downer. Because of poor water quality, the swim had been cancelled. Instead, a half mile run was substituted. From previous years' results, I was sort of counting on the swim to pick up a couple minutes on my competition. The best I could do now was to go with the flow and do my best on race day.

We drove the course, both for the run and the bike, and realized that neither would be as easy as we had envisioned. We knew there were steps in the run course, but didn't know that we would be running on grass for half the 5K distance. The bike course had a lot more roll to it than it looked like from tracing the course online, and a couple patches of gravel. And "Big Hiney Hill", the defining feature of the bike course, was indeed imposing in person. It curves up over the Ohio river valley wall up to the farms on top, and thanks to the curve you can't see where it ends until you're almost there.

Since Maysville is a pretty small town, there was no Olive Garden there, so we had to go local for some pasta. The place we found was... well... let's say it was geared to an "older" crowd. The pasta was pretty bland, and the garlic bread may not have actually contained any garlic. I suppose there are worse things to eat pre-race than bland pasta.

On race morning, we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and had a pretty short drive down to transition. Since this race was so small (49 competitors), setting up in transition was a breeze. The host hotel was even open for bathrooms and water fountains - nice change of pace from the usual start line facilities! Meredith's race didn't start until after mine, so I was first to toe the line, and a little after 8, we were off!

Per coach's instructions, I tried to take the first half mile run easy, and not burn myself out. I seemed to be the only one doing that, as everyone else sprinted away. I wound up not last into T1, but not too far from it. No big deal - really, how much time can you gain in half a mile? (Answer: The overall winner gained 1:06) Not really worth flooring it for that amount of time, unless you're trying to win the thing. And I ended up going faster than intended anyway. :)

Run 1 - 3:32 (7:04/mi)

Going from run to bike is really a lot easier than swim to bike. For one, there's no wetsuit!

T1 - 0:47

After a little bit of iffy pavement on the way out of town, the bike course starts out with some long gradual roll along the Ohio river valley. Coach gave me the goal on the bike to pass 10 people, and I had hoped to average somewhere around 20 mph for the course (though that was before actually seeing the course). And in the first 8 miles, I had already passed my 10 people! Another bonus of taking that first run slow - you get to pick off a lot of people who went out too fast. :) My legs felt pretty good coming out of town, and I was excited about what the day might hold.

Around 9 miles in is "Big Hiney Hill". I was glad we had driven the course, because you come down a little bit of a hill, make a sharp left, and then you CLIMB! There's no time to be downshifting, but because I was prepared, I got in my small ring coming down the previous hill. Even so, my gears were grinding a bit as I got down to my smallest gear at the base of the hill. I loved that the organizers had painted messages onto the road all along the hill. At the base was "Welcome to Big Hiney Hill", and shortly into it was "Who loves pain?"

Big Hiney Hill - 1 mile of fun!

I picked off rider number 11 near the base, and as I was passing number 12 on the hill, he asked me if we were almost to the top. I answered honestly that I wasn't sure (it was wooded and a steady curve, so who knew?), and then I noticed out the "Halfway up!" on the road. I don't think he was very happy about that. Eventually, it did end, and I cruised past a thirteenth rider at the top. There was one more guy in view at that point, but that's where he'd stay - too far away to catch, but never quite escaping my vision.

The top part of this course was very beautiful; it curved up and down through farms. Meredith and I had joked before that it was like the Tour De France - a 1 lane road winding up through fields, and I could almost see people out waving flags in my face. Other than a couple steep little rollers, I was able to stay in my big ring for the majority of this part. And then, what goes up must come down! The last major section is a steady wooded downhill, but not so steep that I ever felt out of control or that I couldn't pedal. I just held a nice steady cadence and enjoyed the ride. Finally, the course dumped you back on the first road along the river, and it was a nice smooth ride back into town. I was happy with my effort on the bike, and the legs still felt good!

Bike - 1:17:36 (19.4 mph)

Also an easy T2. I was happy to only see 2 bikes back on the rack, after being the last of 5 out in T1.

T2 - 0:42

I hadn't really thought about it on the bike, but there was really no breeze to be felt. And it was turning into a pretty warm day (Afterward, we saw a bank thermometer at 91) . When I first left transition, everything was feeling pretty good. However, in the first half mile, I started getting some stomach cramps. I had hoped to run under 8 minute miles, but I had to back off the pace a little to keep everything in working order. I had also planned to take a salt tab on the bike, but I think I dropped it, because it wasn't there when I had looked.

So, the run turned into a bit of damage control instead of the strong run I had envisioned. I made it to the turnaround, walked up the stairs, and had to walk a few more times over the last mile and a half. My heart rate just felt through the roof, and I couldn't keep it under control. So, I'd give myself a 10 second walk break to cool down, and then get back to the run. This seemed to work okay, though I wasn't setting any speed records.

When I got in sight of the finish line, I was happy to see that I'd crack 2 hours, which was sort of a goal pre-race. And when they posted the results, I was happier to see that I had placed in my age group!

The big finish. The guy ahead of me was a duathlete, so I had no real reason to try and chase him down. :)

Run 2 - 26:23 (8:39/mi)

Total - 1:49:03
22/49 Overall
2/2 Age Group

I had thought that I placed 3rd out of 5 in my age group, but now that the results are out, I'm actually listed as second in my age group of two total. I see that one of the guys registered as a clydesdale, but I'm not sure what happened to the others. Unfortunately, this race only gives out awards to a certain percentage of finishers for age groups, so only the first place guy got an award. Also unfortunate? The hot pink cotton t-shirts from this race. Not sure I'll be wearing that one anytime soon. Other than that (and obviously the swim), I thought this race was run very well. It was organized, the course was pretty well marked, and there were a lot of volunteers.

I'm really happy about the way I raced, and encouraged by the results. This race was intended as a tune-up for Coeur D'Alene, and I think it served its purpose well!

Pregame

We made it down to Kentucky, and are hanging out at the hotel after getting some pasta in our bellies.

There was bad news when we arrived: the swim has been cancelled due to bad water conditions. And with it went probably my best event. Just have to make the best of it.

We also had a chance to drive the course. The run has a fair amount of grassy terrain, and a couple flights of steps. The bike course looks a little tougher than anticipated. I knew there was one big hill (and it is big in person), but the rest has some pretty decent roll to it as well. There are even a couple of patches of gravel I'll have to ride through. At least I will know they're coming - glad we drove it.

As for goals, the change in race day have sort of thrown them for a loop. So I'll just leave it at:

1. Finish
2. Have fun
3. Do the best I can under whatever conditions race day brings.

And if all else fails, there's a $25 prize for the last finisher. :)

T-Minus 1 Month

...and it all comes down to this. Really, it's something less than a month because of the taper, but here we are.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Peak miles! There have been some really long workouts this month - multiple century rides, including one to 115 miles. Some long runs, some swims beyond IM distance, and one giant bike-run brick last weekend. It's taken some work to fit them all in, especially with Meredith's photo booth business booming and spending time helping with that. Somehow, I managed to get nearly all my workouts in, though a few got shaved down here and there when I just couldn't fit them in.

There was one run in there where I absolutely blew up. It was only a 50 minute run, but I crashed and burned pretty hard. Zone 3 was more like zone 1, and recovery was a slow walk. That was a pretty tough day mentally, but because it was sandwiched in between some pretty successful days, I have laid it aside as an anomaly. There have certainly been other days where I wasn't at my "best", but that one took the cake.

Biggest Success This Month:

It would definitely have to be time management and dedication to get in all those hours. It helped to know that I was in the last full build cycle of training. This week is race week (yay!), and after one more tough week, it'll be time to taper down for the big day!

How I Feel About Training:

Like it's all paying off. Minus a few bad days, I've felt consistently stronger as the month has gone along. I've gone over the full IM distance in both the bike and swim, which has given me some mental confidence in my ability to do a long race.

And on the other hand, I'm SO glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been tough to keep this intensity up, and I'm looking forward to some other activities once the race is through.

How I Feel About The Race:

Ready. I know it'll be tough, and there will be struggles, but I really think I can do this thing.

What's Next?

Racing this weekend at the Buffalo Trails Triathlon! It's just a sprint, since there aren't really any longer races in the area around this time of year. I wanted to get in at least one race where I could work out the pre-race jitters and do a practice run of transitions and such. (Like I'm not going to be nervous on June 21. Hah!)

1 Month Out Theme Song(s):

U2 seemed a little cliche. I can't decide.

The amount of time until the taper?



Some upbeat classical?



Or some more...serious...classical?

Open (Water) Season

It's not exactly what you'd call "swimming weather" yet here in Ohio, but this week I decided it was good enough to get out and get ready for this weekend's triathlon.  I had heard really good things about COTT, the local triathlon club, and so I headed down to their Monday open water swim.  Meredith even came along for a piece of the action; she did a short run from the "beach".

The lake where the open water swims take place is large enough to have a 1.2 mile triangle that most of the people were swimming that day.  I was scheduled for 2000 meters in the pool, so that was perfect!  The water was chilly at the start, but manageable.  And it got chillier as I swam into the shade of the cliff...that I wasn't really supposed to be next to.  Right turn.  Swim for a while.  Left turn.  Okay, sighting needs work.  Good to know.

On the long stretch on the back side of the triangle, I noticed the water get rapidly shallower.  I looked up above the water, and there was another cliff wall about two yards from my face.  Sighting DEFINITELY needs work.

For being the first time out this year, though, I felt really good.  One shoulder was a bit tired from the wetsuit sleeves, but overall it was a strong swim.  It wouldn't have been any trouble to do another loop, which was a great feeling!

Caution - May make wide left turns.

Coming in to shore!

Sun salutation, swim-style.

Explosions and Inspiration

Training is an absolute frenzy right now! Every day feels like a huge step toward this race, and I feel more and more physically ready for the demands I'll be putting on my body. At the same time, I'm realizing more and more details that I need to figure out.

How far apart are the water stops?

Do I need my rear bottle cage?

How many tubes should I carry?

Do I want a separate outfit for the run?

Am I wearing a watch? What about my Garmin?

But I know that I'll have time to settle all these issues. Heck, it might give me something to do when I finally start tapering. (I do get to taper, right? Right?)

On Wednesday, I had what has to be the toughest swim to this point. 4200 meters (that's 2.6 miles, if you're scoring at home), with the majority of it in a descending interval set. It was all based off of my latest swim test: I had 400s a little above my average pace, 300s a little less above it, 200s at my test pace, and then a final 100 of all-out-everything-you've-got effort.

One thing I've learned about Ironman training, at least for your first time, is that very little of it is at max effort. Lots of aerobic, zone 2, sustain a comfortably uncomfortable pace work. But I haven't hit the track, I haven't been sprinting on the bike, and other than swim tests, most of my long swim sets have been at a moderate pace. Not this one. This was a gut-wrencher. And it didn't help that in my IM-addled state, I didn't remember my swim pace time correctly. I was thinking 1:32/100m. And I thought, "Well, instead of doing math in my head for 1:32s, let's just round it to 1:30".

My swim test pace was 1:35/100m.

So now I've just inadvertently made my goal 20 seconds faster per 400. My first 400 came in at 6:55. That's a 1:43 pace, within what I really should have been doing, but too slow for my poor math. So I doubled my efforts for the rest, and brought them all in between 6:42 and 6:46.

Now I was feeling better! (Though a bit tired, those seemed hard! Go figure.)

On to the 300s. Should be shooting for 5:00 flat, but wrote it down as 4:45. And I hit 4:46!

Once.

Then it was 4:57. Then 5:05. Uh-oh. Now I'm supposed to step it up again? I must have been feeling bad, because I couldn't even manage to hit the stopwatch correctly for the first 200, and then the second one was 3:25. Pop! There went my arms. Kerpow! And my legs.

One last 100, and I did manage to bring it in in a 1:35. I'm pretty sure that was 35 seconds for the first 50, and 1:00 for the remainder. I remember making the last turn and not quite knowing if I could even make it back to the other end. :) But other than a little cool down, I was done! A blow up, yes, but another big step in pushing myself and growing.

That wasn't the only explosion this week. After the mishap during last weekend's ride, I had to replace Charlie Brown's tires and tubes. It wasn't fast, but I got the front tire changed, inflated, and set aside. Then, while I worked on the rear tire, POW! The front one exploded, just sitting there! I hadn't even put it on the bike yet! I did realize after the fact that the new tires have a much lower max pressure, so I'm thinking maybe I overinflated this one. Still, a disturbing trend.

And finally, a bit of inspiration. I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love this video. I watch it multiple times per week, and enjoy it more than any IMCDA videos I've found of actual racing. Maybe it just captures the feel of the whole event the best.



Thanks for reading this far, have a great weekend! I'll be off for my longest bike ride of the whole training plan on Sunday - 7 hours!

Second "Century"

Sunday morning, I set out for my second century ride. While the first one was about surviving 100 miles, this one had more purpose. That's a nice way of saying "This one will push me to my limit". Four of the six hours were to be intervals where I'd have to push hard to get my heart rate up.

Hour 1: Warm-up. Little bit of a headwind, but not bad. My legs took a bit of warming up, probably because I had 3 hours of workouts the day before. :)

Hour 2: Start of the intervals. Uphill rollers for a lot of it, but by now my legs were with me, and I was having fun and moving! The wind wasn't bad at all through here, and I was banking a lot of time at a high (for me) speed. Starting to get excited about the day.

Hour 3: Through Mt. Vernon, and onto the bike trail. Lots of folks out, it was a beautiful day for a walk, ride, or anything! Made for a few times I had to slow down to get around people, but that's okay. I hit 50 miles, and still had some time to go before my turnaround! Got really excited, since 100 miles took me well over six hours last time. Pulled out the phone to call Meredith, but no service way out there in the countryside.

Hour 4: Turned around and headed back. Got stuck behind a pair of rollerbladers. I called out "on your left, please", but they didn't hear. Tried again a little closer, and the woman jumped from surprise and almost fell. The guy (who was the one blocking the left side of the trail) said, "Good thing she didn't fall." Well, yeah, good thing. It would have been your fault. :P Back through town, holding my water bottles in over some rough roads, and started the ride back home. Still holding a great average, somewhere around 17.5.

Hour 5: As I climbed out of Mt. Vernon, I noticed that I was finally having trouble holding my speed. I chalked it up to pushing hard on the intervals, and the fact that I was hitting the biggest uphill parts of the course, but it sure came on fast! Then, just before I made the turn to head back downhill for basically the remainder of the day, I heard it.

Pssst.

Pssssst.

PsstPsstPsstPsstPsst...

I pulled off the road, and sure enough, my rear tire was leaking air. Why does it always have to be the rear one? I found the spot and stuck my finger on it, which seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, it's hard to ride with your finger on your rear wheel, so I figured I better find another way. Before I lost all the air, I managed to limp another quarter mile to a landscaping company and staked out a spot on their lawn, right next to the fence where their animals were kept. I had a very interested crowd (two donkeys, a scary dog, and numerous goats) as I got my old tube out and put in the new one.

First annual meeting of my fan club!

Everything looked good, so I got out the CO2, pushed it down, and the new tire inflated and

BANG!

Oh. That's not good. (The animals didn't like it much either)

I'm no expert, but I think I may have found the issue.

Poor Charlie Brown. :(

That was my only spare, so it was time to call for a rescue. Fortunately, I was back in cell phone range at this point, so Meredith was able to come get me. Coach said maybe I didn't have the tire seated properly...I didn't realize one CO2 cartridge had enough pressure to pop a tube. Guess it's a lesson learned.

After all was said and done, I had done 74.16 miles in 4:19. That's about a 17.2 mph average, which is a big improvement over the 15.7 from my first century! I had looked a little earlier, and it was around 17.4 before the flat issues. Provided that it was, in fact, the flat that was slowing me down and my legs weren't blowing up on me, I think I could have held pretty close to that the rest of the way - most of it was downhill, and I usually cruise through that section. Frustrating to have the day end that way, but sometimes that's the way it goes.

Here's to taking what good we can from days like this, and surviving to train again another day! For me, that day will be Sunday, when I get to bump it up to a 7 hour ride!

Going Long

One thing that's been different in Ironman training is that I have not put in the number of miles I'm used to for marathon training. I think that's just a necessity, as there aren't enough hours in the day, nor could your body stand up to all that pounding PLUS two other sports.

Yesterday was my longest run so far. I had to run 18 miles, with a good portion of it at race pace, and then a couple miles faster than race pace! I mapped out a route, got my batman utility belt (okay, fuel belt), and took off.

The first mile was just around our neighborhood, which was a good thing, because I forgot my salt tabs. I was assigned to wear long sleeves (it was 65 and drizzly), so I knew I'd be sweating a lot and needed them. A quick stop back home, and then it was off again. I decided to just run one of my short bike routes, since there was a sidewalk most of the way and it wouldn't require any looping. Plus, it takes me by the high school where there's a water fountain for refills.

I got warmed up for a while, and then it was time to kick it into race pace gear. My legs were a little sluggish, but once I kept reminding myself to keep the turnover high, they settled into a good place. The last few miles of the out on this course are a long gradual uphill, so it took a little effort to keep it up, but once I turned around I was glad to get some downhill! I kept every mile in there between 9:15 and 9:45, which is my zone for race day on a "perfect" day.

But then I had to run below that pace, and my legs didn't want any of it. I managed to knock out the next two miles around 8:50, but I was putting in a lot of effort! Never saw my heart rate, but I'm sure it was sky high. When those miles finally ended, I walked a few steps to get the heart rate down and get in some water. And that was it for my legs. They cramped up and never let go for the rest of the run. So my cool down was more of a shuffle/walk combo.

When I finally got home, I wasn't feeling very well. My legs were tight, my stomach didn't feel good, and I was TIRED! And after sitting to stretch for a bit, I had to hop in my assigned ice bath!


Let me tell you, that was loads of fun. The picture is about 7 minutes into the 10 minute bath, so there was a lot more ice when it started! I'm promised that it will help with recovery though, and the science behind it seems reasonable. Today, I'm still sore...just telling myself I would have been more sore!

All in all, it wasn't easy, but it was a confidence builder that I got through it. Good to see you again, long run!

T-Minus 2 Months

Well, I've been a little short on time lately to post.  Wonder why?  :)  Today, I went out for a ride and my rear water bottle cage snapped off.  Um...Profile Designs?  This is two that have broken in the past 12 months!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Time management.  The miles are piling up, and so are the hours.  Even though the weekdays are reasonable, by the time I'm home from work, train, shower, and get ready for anything else, it's usually 7 or 8 o'clock.  My knee has been feeling gradually better, which I think has been helped by raising my bike seat a bit.  Still not perfect, but not getting worse!

Biggest Success This Month:

My first century ride was a big step toward having confidence in my biking for the race.  What's 12 more miles after going 100?  The course will be much tougher than the 100 I did, but adrenaline has got to make up for that somewhat, right?

The other big success was my latest swim test.  In a 10x100m test, I averaged 1:35/100m.  That's a gain of 9 seconds per 100 over my last test in November!  I also threw in a 1:26 for the first 100, which is a new PR!

How I Feel About Training:

I'm pretty confident in where I stand at this point.  There's still work to do, but I think I can get there, and with the end in sight, motivation is a little easier to come by.

How I Feel About The Race:

Like it might be real, and I might actually have to run it.  (Who knew?)

What's Next?

One last full month of training.  Not sure what's in there, but I can only assume a LOT of stuff.  :)

2 Months Out Theme Song:

In honor of my wife Meredith's performance in the Boston Marathon and my upcoming Ironman, I think this one is appropriate.  She's supported me through all this training, and I really appreciate it.

Century Ride Pics

Loved this sign. I started a little bit outside Columbus proper, so I had actually only gone about 44 miles at the time.

This train was in a park just before my turnaround. I thought about climbing up on it for a picture, but didn't know the rules. On the way back, I saw kids all over it. Dang it.

Time to head home!

The sunglasses may have seen their last ride.

Fuzzy victory!

Century Ride!

When coach told me Saturday night that I needed to get in a 6 hour ride next week, I realized I didn't have many options. We'll be in Boston for the marathon, and I certainly won't have a bike there. I can't do 6 hours on a weekday unless I want to be on the trainer forever (no thanks), and so that left one option. That five hour ride on Sunday? Just grew an hour.

Sunday morning, I was up to an alarm, and checked the weather. 30 degrees. Guess I'm waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit before setting out. I busied myself with getting things ready. 3 gels, 4 luna bars (the manliest of energy bars), a baggie of salt tablets, an aerobottle of water, and three gatorade bottles. I'm lucky enough to have family living on the way out to the countryside now, so I stashed some extra gatorade on their porch. And when ten o'clock rolled around, it was finally above 40 degrees, and time to ride!

First problem of the day - I went to put on my sunglasses, and the bridge cracked! Guess the cheap-o ones don't last forever, especially when they're mainly used while jammed under a bike helmet! A quick dose of superglue appeared to take care of the issue. Okay, NOW it's time to ride.

The plan was to head northeast from home, out to Mount Vernon, and then pick up a reportedly nice bike trail for the rest of the distance. I've been averaging around 16 mph on my long rides, which made me think. 5 x 16 = 96. Why would I ride 96, when I could ride 100? So I planned to turn around at mile 50, wherever on the trail I was.



The first piece of the ride, out to my sister-in-law's house, was pretty uneventful save for the wind. It was, of course, out of the northeast. And every single road for the first 50 miles was either north...or east. Those first 20 miles are a slight uphill, and almost exclusively through open farmland, so my average was suffering as I plowed into the wind. Eventually, I got to their house, refilled my bottles, and got ready to climb.

Next up was the road I went down during my last long 3:45 outdoor ride. It's not like any one part of this ride is especially tough. It's nothing compared to so many of the rides I read about. But every little rolling hill is followed by one a little higher, and a little higher. It's a lot of shifting, and not many downhills long enough to catch a breath. Mile 27 or so was about the first time I got to stand up and stretch out the legs while I coasted for a bit. The good news? One particular intersection has a big steep hill right after a stop sign. But this time? By luck, I happened to pick that exact road to make a right turn, and I could smile as I went around the hill. At this point, I was in unridden territory. There was one more steep climb (I saw a sign reading "Sky Ridge Farm" at the top), and I was rewarded with a view of the city of Mt. Vernon. I wound my way down the long hill into town.

I'm always a bit paranoid of getting my wheels caught in a crack or a hole. On the way into town, there were railroad tracks, and they were NOT anywhere close to perpendicular to my road. Thank goodness the traffic there was light, because I swung nice and wide to make sure I didn't slip in there and take a nasty fall. And thank goodness for iPhones, because I needed to check my map once I got into town and make sure I didn't go past my road. Nope, I was still on course, and found my way to the trail. (Actually very well marked) And after the ka-CHUNK ka-CHUNK of mediocre paving jobs in the city, the smooth blacktop felt like heaven. It also added some free speed! The Kokosing Gap trail ended up being a very pretty part of my ride, and I can only imagine that it's even better once the trees fill in. It follows the river through farmland, parks, and next to a few small towns. The only downside I found was a fair number of stop signs as it crossed country roads, but I only truly had to stop for traffic once. And finally, I reached mile 50 and time to turn around!

I was feeling pretty good, but the same couldn't be said of my sunglasses. When I took them off at the turnaround to call home, the superglue job came undone, and I thought the glasses were going with it. The whole way back, I was completely expecting them to fly apart, but thankfully it never happened.

Soon after the turnaround, the BEST THING ALL DAY happened. I was going by a playground, and a family was just getting ready to take their bikes onto the trail. A tween-ish aged boy was warned by his mom to watch out, as I was coming down the path. And as I passed, I heard him exclaim "MAN! How fast was he GOING?!". :) Kid, if you're available, I'd like to hire you to spectate all my rides from now on.

(And around 19 mph at the time, for the record)

I didn't realize until now from looking at the elevation chart just how much I climbed back out of there. It was a long hill, but my legs and mind were feeling good now that I was on the way home. And finally having a tailwind after over three hours of headwind didn't hurt either! Once I finished that climb, I rolled my way up and (mostly) down from the high point. Around 80 miles in, I started feeling like I wanted to be done, but it was mentally manageable. It helped to be back in familiar territory, where I know the roads by heart, and could just put my head down and ride. One more fuel stop for a final bottle of gatorade, and it was time to get home. And I pulled up to our driveway at...

99.8 miles.

Like I'm stopping there! One victory lap around our street made it 100.1, and then it was really time to stop at 6 hours, 21 minutes. I was tired, a little sun or windburnt on my face (every other part of my body was covered), but happy. I never did make up all the time lost at the beginning due to the headwind, but ended up at a 15.76 mph average. That would be just over 7 hours for Ironman distance, which sounds okay to me! And my legs felt like they still had some energy...a marathon wouldn't have been my first choice of things to do, but I think I could have gotten through it.

(I've also got a few pictures from the ride snapped on my iPhone, which I'll post as soon as I get them downloaded)

I've Missed You, Food

Hmm...I'm awake. It's Tuesday night around 2:30 AM. And I have a sharp pain in my stomach. Let's roll over and...oh...no, let's just lay still. Or as still as I can when my whole body is shivering and my teeth are chattering. Under 3 layers of blankets.

This...is not good.

Two weeks ago was my scheduled rest week. And rest I did, with a vengeance. Due to VIP Photo Booths' engagement with the Columbus Crew, we had a super busy schedule in the evenings, and my day job wasn't any lighter. I got in what I could, but a few workouts fell by the wayside. No problem, though. That's what rest weeks are for, and a couple missed recovery spins wouldn't kill me.

But then came Tuesday night. That afternoon, I had already nixed a ride because of the recurring knee pain I'd been having. I'd later get to the doctor and be diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome, which I had in college. The verdict? Ice, physical therapy, and raise my bike seat (love having a triathlete as a doctor). But no break in training! That was good news indeed. I'll still have some pain to deal with, but them's the breaks.

Now, my stomach was in rebellion as well. Tuesday became Wednesday. Wednesday turned to Thursday, and then Friday. No solid food to speak of, and not a chance in the world of training. Did I say "one" rest week? Let's make that "two". Sigh. My mental state was really not good. I have a race coming up! It's really kind of long! And I felt completely beat down and unready.

Friday night, the tide finally began to turn, and on Saturday I had an appetite again. I did a 40 minute test ride, and survived, albeit with a light head when I got done. I'll chalk that one up to lack of nourishment and a headwind.

Sunday was the time to really see where I stood. It was back to the pool for a "real" workout again. 2500m of fun and drills. I could feel the lack of endurance brought on by two weeks off, but I still wanted to see where I stood, and what I had lost. I made it through the majority of the workout, and had one "hard" 150m left. Time to let it all go and see where the chips fall. I spun around after touching the wall and found the second hand on the pool clock...2:15. Holy cow, that's the same pace as my best 100m! And I found out that PRs in the pool taste surprisingly like a slice of red velvet cake roll a few hours later.

Guess we might still be on track for that pesky race in June after all.

Weekend Getaway

What better place than Chicago, under the watchful eye of my coach? On Friday we packed up (for a two week safari, from the look of our bags) and drove to Chicago for a weekend of training. I was going to hit the Computrainer for a long ride, and plenty of other fun would ensue!

Proper nutrition is a bit hard to come by when on the road. I had one water bottle on the way, but probably left myself under-hydrated for what was to come. We got my bike set up Friday night, then hit the bed (and watched the end of the OSU game).

On, Saturday morning, we got an early visitor when our hosts left for masters swim. Boss greeted us with an army crawl into our bedroom, and spent the morning with us lounging around and playing with his squeaky carrot. For the carrot's own good, we had to lock it away from Boss, lest it be furless by the end of the morning. Soon enough, it was time to ride! But first, we measured my weight and hydration to judge my nutrition plan. When that was done, it was on the bike and off to see the course. The first hour was fairly flat and straightforward; a few hills gave me the feel of the trainer. Legs were good, head was good, and all was right with the world.

Hour two - the course heads out of town and up into the hills. On the trainer, some of these hills were nasty. Rather than a gradual build to a hill, it was like hitting a wall. I stayed seated for them, and "spun" my way up in the single digit speeds. Even though my average was suffering, I was still feeling good.

Hour three - Up, down, up, down, repeat. The rolling hills at the top of the CDA course were plentiful, and felt nothing like rollers around home. Still, I was feeling decent. I've done 3+ hour rides before, and though this one was tougher, it was still in my comfort zone.

Hour four - Uh-oh. Somewhere around 3:15 or 3:30, the wheels started coming off. I was putting in about the same effort, but my speed and cadence were dropping. My quads were getting a little tight, and at some point I even got off the bike to stretch them. It was really frustrating to be feeling so bad, and to know that there was still over an hour to go. And it was worse to know that I was on probably the easiest part of the course and still feeling that way.

Hour five - Pure survival. My speed was absolutely shot, and I was just turning the pedals to get done. I think I averaged somewhere around 11 mph for the part where I started the second loop. Hope that's not the case on race day, or I'll be hard pressed to make it to the run!

Once the fun on the trainer was wrapped up, it was time to take my measurements again to see how I did nutritionally. Well, not only did I maintain my weight despite being a heavy sweater, I gained 3 pounds over the course of those 5 hours. Hmm. Not exactly sure how that works, except that I was dehydrated beforehand. Done now? Nope, down to the treadmill for a 10 minute run. The GOOD news: my legs felt absolutely fine once I got to running. I held a 9:40 pace, which is just fine by me after that long a ride. Given some time to get the legs warmed up, I can usually pick it up a bit too.

Meredith and I snuck out for a quick bite to eat after the ride, since we were both starving. She had done some pretty tough strength and speed work while I was riding. And what sounded good to us? Well, when we came back in, Liz had but two accusing sentences: "You went to McDonald's, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes." We couldn't deny the truth. But the truth tasted awfully good.

On Sunday morning, Meredith and I headed to the nearby arboretum for long runs. Despite two cranky knees, my legs felt pretty good. After 30 minutes, the knees were warmed up, and I was able to hold a decent pace. I came in at 10.77 miles in 1:45, right around a 9:45 pace. Not bad for a hilly course and the day after a long ride. After the run, we hit the pool for a few pointers and a welcome soak in the hot tub!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Liz and Chris (and Boss, who made one last ditch attempt to join us for the return trip) and head home on Sunday. Back to work and normal life, but it was a great weekend! Thanks guys!

T-Minus 3 Months

Under 100 days to go now. Yikes!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

The bike miles! I'm pretty confident that once I get to the run, I'll be able to finish. Even on a bad day, I think I can drag myself through 26 miles. But ramping up the bike time has been a whole new challenge. I think 3 hours is sort of my limit of being comfortable right now, but I'll be working to change that.

Biggest Success This Month:

Health, maybe? Even with the increased mileage, I've only missed a couple workouts this month. One was due to a sore knee after a long ride, and the other because I had to work some really long hours last week at times.

I also put in a 3:45 outdoor ride, with the first half uphill and generally into a decent headwind. At the time, that was my longest ride, and by far the most challenging one I'd done. The feeling of turning around after struggling along at 13 mph for an hour and suddenly going 23 is a nice one! It's also sort of fun to see the course map from the Garmin zoomed out so far to show the whole thing! The only bad thing about the ride was that when I mapped out my course, I picked a small airport as my turnaround. I finally got to the road that led to it...and it was gravel. Not just chip seal, gravel on dirt. So my ride was a few miles short. :)

How I Feel About Training:

Like I want the race to be here! (No, I don't. Not yet. Forget I said that.) Still enjoying it, but it's getting hard to fit everything in sometimes. I'm thinking I'll be doing some less time-intensive training for a while post-Ironman.

How I Feel About The Race:

Confident about the swim. Feeling pretty good about the run. And I think I can get through the bike. That's definitely the order of confidence.

What's Next?

A big training weekend with coach (okay, it's technically already done, but it wasn't during this month, and I'll blog about it next). Then it's time to continue ramping up the miles!

3 Months Out Theme Song:

I was introduced to this one by my wife this month. Yes, I know it isn't actually a 3. But it has one, just with a bunch of zeroes after it. :) Plus, I like to think the tempo will match the bike course - uphill for a while, then down down down! (Hopefully, I navigate it a bit more successfully than the driver)

Movie Quote Game!

Well, this has been floating around Facebook and Meredith's blog, so I figure it's time for me to play the game. I'll list 20 quotes from some of my favorite movies. Meredith and I decided it should be movies that you'd leave on the TV if you noticed they were on, and with at least one quote you could recite from memory. (Thus eliminating some favorites like Memento or Schindler's List) There are some pretty obscure ones, some really famous ones, and a lot from my childhood.

Your job is to comment and match the name of the movie to the numbers you know! I put them in roughly what I think is the order of difficulty. :)

So, without further ado:

1. "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"
Raiders Of The Lost Ark

2. "Well, that is your name, isn't it? Calvin Klein? It's written all over your underwear."
Back To The Future

3. "There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from. "
Forrest Gump

4. "It's a trap!"
Return Of The Jedi / The Empire Strikes Back

5. "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail

6. "Surely you can't be serious!"
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
Airplane!

7. "Sam... I'm glad you're with me."
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

8. "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!"
The Wedding Singer

9. "Have fun storming the castle!"
The Princess Bride

10. "How's your wife and my kids?"

11. "So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five?"

12. "Luuuke... Luuuke! I am your father!"

13. "The game starts now. You have to score one thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce the scores from that loudspeaker."
Life Is Beautiful

14. "Necktie...Neckturn...Nickel...It's an 'N' word, it's definitely an 'N' word!"

15. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas...And that's all!"
UHF

16. "Communism was just a red herring."
Clue

17. "EASTMAN! He came from the east, to do battle with the amazing RANDO!"

18. "What is that?"
"One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire."
The Neverending Story

19. "Hey! Hold it right there!"
"Yes."
"What do you mean, 'yes'?"
"Yes."
"Is that all you can say?"
"No."

20. "Tell us everything! Everything!"
"Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life."
The Goonies

T-Minus 4 Months

Really a few days shorter, since I'm late with the update. That number keeps shrinking! Now we're into month counts I'm more used to from marathon training.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

The fact that neither Meredith nor I can stay healthy! We were doing great until this winter, and now all of a sudden it seems like one or the other of us is sick. Right now, it's me. We're crossing our fingers that it stays that way until after Meredith's race this weekend.

Biggest Success This Month:

Racing! Not only did I take my first top 10 overall spot at a race (8th at Last Chance 10K), I took my second as well! (6th at Lifetime Indoor Tri) Kind of crazy how far things have come since last spring. It's a big mental transition for me to think about pushing myself farther than a comfortable pace; up till now, I've just worried about finishing. I still don't really think much about "how do I compare to others" during the race, but I'm starting to concentrate on being the best I can be on that day.

How I Feel About Training:

When I'm healthy, really good! It was great to actually get to see some results, and know that all these hours are paying off. I'm a little intimidated by breaking 4 hours on a trainer, but I suppose it's only 30 minutes more than I've done to this point.

How I Feel About The Race:

A little more confident than before. The part that still scares me the most are all the hills, since I don't have a lot of experience on them. When the weather breaks, I think it'll be time to find some of the few we have in central Ohio and get to know them intimately. :)

What's Next?

Still need to find a half in the spring. Other than that, no races planned at this point. I was originally going to do the second indoor tri in town here, but I think we'll be out of town. No big deal, as I got the first one in.

4 Months Out Theme Song:

Well, I couldn't come up with anything great, so this one's a bit of a stretch. But I think it might need to go on my iPod. :)

The Results Are In!

Last night, the results were posted for the indoor tri.

Swim:
24 lengths (600m total)
1:40/100m

5th (tie)/78 overall
3rd (tie)/26 men

I was quite happy with this pace. It happened to be exactly my goal before the race, so here's to knowing what your body is capable on race day!

Bike:
16.4 "miles" (32.8 mph)

3rd/78 overall
3rd/26 men

Yeah, right. :) Going by the place, though, I was surprised and pleased with the result against the field. I don't really consider the bike a strength, but I've had nothing to compare it to since almost all my IM training has been indoors so far.

Run:
1.18 "miles" (16:57/mile)

Umm...

So, I was NOT happy when I saw this result. I had been in 3rd place overall after the swim and bike, and then my official run time beat nobody. Okay, there were two people who didn't do the run; I did beat them. I know this race isn't my target, and it was just to get a good workout, but I felt sort of ripped off that I had worked hard and didn't get the chance to evaluate myself on an even playing field.

I sent off an email to the director asking about it, and he let me know that the "overflow" ellipticals that I was on were supposed to have mileage tacked on to compensate for the difference in difficulty, but the numbers didn't get added in as planned. So, it looks like my actual run will be marked as 2.68 miles, which is probably pretty accurate as to what I could have done. Kudos to the Lifetime Fitness team for being willing to take time to review the results, and for doing as well as they could on race day given the circumstances!

Overall:

Current:
20/78 overall
10/26 men

Don't know exactly where I'll end up once the run is corrected since I wasn't the only one that needed an adjustment, but my guess is somewhere around 6th overall. I really wasn't expecting to do quite that well (I was silently hoping for top 10), so now I'm really excited to get outdoors and see where the training has me for real!

For fun, let's take my paces in this race and see how I'd do in the Ironman if I held them.

Swim: 1:04
Hey, I'd certainly take that!

Bike: 3:24
Hmm...a little over an hour faster than last year's fastest biker in Coeur D'Alene? Yeah, I'd take that too. ;)

Run: 7:24
Hehe! Well, fortunately, the run is last, so thanks to my blazing bike time I'd still make all the cutoffs.

Total: 11:52
An unorthodox way to get under 12 hours to be sure, but if I finished under 12, I wouldn't complain. :)

Maybe I should just trust my training plan instead. Yeah, that might be the way to go.

Race Report - Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon

Or, "A Comedy Of Errors"

To get the day off to an appropriate start, I woke up before my alarm this morning. The alarm was set for 6:15. I woke up at 12:20. Standing by my alarm clock. It took me a few minutes to convince myself that no, I didn't really need to be up yet. Back to bed. And then it happened again around 1:30. Pre-race nerves, anyone?

At 6:15, I did get up to my alarm, and was up and ready to go. I had already packed up the night before, so it was a pretty simple morning of eating and getting on the road. I got to the gym in plenty of time to register, get set up, and check out the venue. After watching one of the earlier swim heats, I went back out to the desk to make sure my shoes would clip into the bikes. A woman out there confirmed that they would work.

And then, the power went out.

Not a blink, not a light off here or there. The whole gym, and from what I later overheard, the whole street. The staff's faces fell, and from downstairs you could hear a collective groan from the first wave of athletes, who were about two minutes into their 20 minute run. We were informed by a race director that the race would proceed, but we would be moving the run to the ellipticals because they don't require power. Yuck. I know they didn't have a choice, but I can't stand the elliptical. But, it would still be a level playing field, so the best I could do was accept it and go on with the day.

I got changed and made it out to the pool with a few minutes before my heat. There was just enough time to swim down and back for a warm up, and then it was time to go. We all had to share lanes with one other person, and the girl sharing my lane wasn't (by her own statement) much of a swimmer, but she did a perfectly good job of staying on her side. I went out a little harder than intended, but I think I held on pretty well! The swim director was calling out times and when to stop, but I never really heard her. I sort of heard people clap, and then noticed everyone standing at the end of the lanes. Guess we're done. I think I made it somewhere around 24 lengths, or 600m, in the 10 minute swim. That would be a 1:40/100m pace, and a perfectly good start to the day.

On the way out of the pool, a woman was nice enough to hold the locker room door for me.

And I was halfway through the door, thanking her, before I realized that I was walking right into the women's locker room. Oops. The doors at this gym are backwards from the one we go to, and I'm so used to the door on the right, that I just followed the pack. :)

It was certainly the darkest transition ever in the locker room as I got ready for the bike. I must have taken my time, because by the time I got up there, the director called out 90 seconds until the start. I wasn't the only one, as everybody scrambled to get onto the bikes. I got my bike shoes on and got the iPod on my arm, just in time to start up. Then I tried to clip in. Hmm...can't get the right shoe in, let's try the left. No luck there either! I called over the director, who didn't know much about the clips, and said we'd wait for the staff member running the bike portion to check in on me.

So, I started pedaling with bike shoes on, on top of pedals with the wrong kind of clip. Let me tell you, that's no fun. My feet kept slipping off, and since they were spinning bikes, the pedals kept right on going. I'd have to wait for the pedals to stop before I could start up again. Probably 5 minutes of this went on before I had had enough. While pedaling with my right foot, I reached down and undid my left shoe, tossed it to the side, and slipped my foot into my running shoe. I did have to briefly stop to get the other one, and then one of the staff was kind enough to help me get into the toe cages and let me know I was scaring her to death. :) The bike specialist did come by, and informed me that I had the wrong kind of Shimano clips. Sigh. I let him know that the email they sent out just said Shimano. Twenty-five more minutes of running shoe, seat slightly too low cycling ensued, and at the end, it said I had gone 16.4 miles in 30 minutes. Heh. I wish. When I'm finishing the bike portion of Ironman in 3.5 hours, I'll be sure to remember this race. ;)

When they called the finish, I gathered up my stuff and hustled over to the run, intent on having enough time to get settled. I took my gel as planned, went to take a drink, and realized I left my water bottle on the bike. Time for more hustling, as I ran back over, grabbed the bottle, and went back to the ellipticals, which were now all full. A staff member directed the three of us without machines back to some of the older models, which felt more like "stair climber" ellipticals. Nonetheless, it was time to work for 20 more minutes. Before the start, they asked us for our estimated time on a treadmill so they could try and convert the numbers to more run-like distances. I estimated an 8 minute pace, while the guy next to me estimated 10:00s.

Since I didn't really want to know how slow I was going compared to treadmill pace, and so I could just concentrate on working hard, I threw a towel over the machine's display. It had been months since I'd been on an elliptical, so it was a foreign skill to me. I did my best, and just held on as best as I could for 20 minutes. (Of course, 10 minutes in, the power came back on. :P) There wasn't a staff member over by us, and those of us on the leftover ellipticals had started about a minute late, so to make sure it was fair, I hopped off the machine right at 20 minutes so I wouldn't get credited for extra mileage.

And then, before the staff could come mark down our distance, my machine turned off. With my towel still over the distance.

I have no clue how far I went on the "run" during this race. With no way to retrieve the number, they suggested using the distance from the guy next to me. I know I was going faster than him, but I didn't see any other option.

So, it was a comedy of errors. To their credit, I think the Lifetime staff did the best they could given the circumstances, and were very polite and apologetic. That didn't make it less frustrating, though. The good things I took out of this race were:

1. My body was really ready to go - the times all seemed short, and I was able to keep my effort level high the whole way through.

2. Mentally, I was able to calm myself down before the swim and get a pretty efficient stroke going. I believe I led my heat of 10, or came in second at the worst.

3. I didn't have anyone in front of me for most of the bike, so I could watch my form in the mirror. There was certainly less bouncing around going on that most of the other participants. It was hard to judge exactly, but it looked like I had one of the faster cadences, and since all the resistances were set equally, that should mean I had one of the longer distances travelled in my heat.

4. I put together a great, if very eclectic, playlist that kept my mind off the fact that biking and...um...ellipticalling indoors really isn't all that exciting.

This event was scored by your place. 1 point for the shortest distance in an event, 2 for the next shortest, and on up to points equal to the number of competitors for first place in an event. Total the three scores, and that's your overall score. I don't know my official swim or run distances, nor anyone else's, so your guess is as good as mine as to how I placed. Results are supposed to be up by Tuesday at the latest, so I'll post an update when they arrive!

Race Report - Last Chance For Boston 10K

Well, how about that? An impromptu sign-up for a distance I've never run before, and it turns into my best placing ever in a running race!

Things started off with a 5:45 wake up call. Unfortunately, Meredith was still feeling sick, so it was just me. I wasn't very excited about heading off into the cold, but I didn't really have any excuse not to go. So, I packed up about 4 different combinations of clothes, not knowing how cold it would really be. Got my number picked up, and I headed out to the course. Before the race, I had 30 minutes of easy warm up to get in. Easy was the key word, as I didn't quite even get in three miles.

Before I knew it, it was time to line up. This race has a full marathon, half marathon, 10K, and 5K, and the course is a one mile loop (plus a 0.2 or 0.1 mile spur at the start). The 10K and marathon start together, so I was lined up with Andrea and Helen, who were both doing the marathon, for the start. As much as I wanted to try and hang with them, I knew I needed to stick to the plan and not go out too hard. I even turned my Garmin to only show heart rate so I wouldn't constantly be checking my pace; instead, I'd concentrate on keeping my heart rate in the right zones.

And for the first lap, I did just that. I kept my legs in check, and my heart rate was nicely settled into zone 2. When the Garmin clicked off the first mile, it was around an 8:20 pace. Whoa! Nothing wrong with that. Since things were feeling good, I decided to just hold my pace and see how it went. And though it doesn't make for an interesting race report, I did just that. My fastest and slowest miles were only separated by 28 seconds, which I'm not sure I've ever done before. My heart rate did keep creeping up on me, though. By lap 2 or 3, it was parked in zone 3, and I had to ease up just a couple times. On the last lap, I finally gave myself permission to run a little harder, and went all out with about 1/4 mile remaining. That turned into my fastest mile, an 8:12. I crossed the finish line, and surprise, surprise, I was in the top 20 men!


Post race, there wasn't time to rest. I still had another 27 minutes of cool down. Three more loops around the course, and I could call it a day...until I had to hop on my bike later. :)

Mile 1 (+.2): 10:28
Mile 2: 8:38
Mile 3: 8:40
Mile 4: 8:37
Mile 5: 8:32
Mile 6: 8:12

Total: 53:05 (8:32/mi)
7/30 Men
9/74 Overall

It's Race Season!

40 minutes of fast run + will be at a race with a 10K anyway = 1st race of 2009!

I convinced coach that I would do my warmup and cooldown as planned around the race, so it's time for the season to kick off with the Last Chance For Boston 10K! Meredith is running the half marathon, so I was going to be there already. Now, I can get in my run and then get to watch her smash her PR! My only instructions are not to go out too hard. I'm 0/1 on that in races so far since I started working with Liz, so I'll try to do better this time around.

Also coming up is my first tri of the season, the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. It's a 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and 20 minute run. I've never done an indoor tri, so it should be a new and interesting experience. It's silly, but I'm getting nervous thinking about it. From looking at last year's numbers and my current fitness, I should stand a decent chance of being in the top half of the field - I'm not used to that, so I think it's making me even more nervous! :) If I like this one, there's another one at the closer Lifetime in town next month that I'll sign up for too.

Other than the upcoming races, training has been pretty steady so far this month. I've missed a couple workouts here and there, but haven't "fallen off the wagon" or anything. I did set a new 100m PR the other day - 1:27! I'd never tried one with a 6-beat kick; I'm more of a 2-beat kick kind of guy. The extra kicking did get me there faster, but I think it would probably tire me out too much in a longer swim.

We also had a huge windstorm last night! Somehow, we acquired a grill cover. It was wrapped around our air conditioner! Our neighbors had one of their patio chairs blown right through their fence, and we got woken up by a car alarm that the storm set off. Here's hoping I can get through a long swim this afternoon on some marginal sleep. :)

I'm An Omelet

Er...an anomaly. Sorry, the stomach got excited and took over the fingers for a second.

Swimmers, I need your help. I always knew I had a poor kick, but I never quite realized just how bad it was until yesterday. Or, at least, I think so.

Here's the test to try for me:
25m with a kickboard. Not "all-out" gasping for air at the end, but a nice solid effort.
25m of one-arm swimming. NO KICK AT ALL.

I clock in around 40 seconds for the kick, and 30 seconds for the one-arm swimming. My mind says this can't be normal, but I need a better sample size. Give it a try, and let me know which is faster for you!