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Race Report: 2012 New Jersey Marathon

alpaul — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:24:12 +0000

My goal for the NJ Marathon was to break 3:20. Given the flat course and racing weather, conditions were perfect. Race strategy was to run the first half in 1:40 and negative split the second half. When I signed up for NJM I was still recovering from my knee surgery and seeded myself in a conservative 3:40 start corral. Starting back in corral B may have presented a bigger hurdle than I initially thought. Passing runners and settling into a rhythm took more effort than I wanted to at such an early point in the race. Not sure what it was but I got a side stitch early on at about mile 2 of the race. I have been able to run through those in training before and also was able to for the next 3 miles or so when it subsided.

Nutrition plan was perfect. I kept taking fluids in at every aid station and drinks from my fuel belt. I also took 3 meta salt tablets every hour during the race. I carried 4 gels but didn’t take any as I was using EFS shots instead with water. EFS products have such a high level of electrolytes in comparison to gels that this was a better option for me given my sweat rate.

Anh saw me off at the start and I was also able to see her at mile 2 before she took the shuttle to the finish.

I was seeded with the 3:40 pace group. During the race I was able to pass, 3:40, 3:30, 3:25 pacers and settle in a comfortable pace for the first half.

Pass mile 13.1 I began to feel really energized, especially after a quick pee break. I was able to take more nutrition and let loose. For some reason I felt that this new found boost of energy was a reason to push the pace. For the next 3 miles I was flying on the course. Picking off and passing runners like it was a 10K. This careless maneuver would haunt me later in the race.

About mile 21 my pace had to be curbed due to chest pains. I have discussed those pains with my cardiologist before. After stress tests and wearing a holter monitor at home, he concluded that those are a result of muscle fatigue. Regardless I would not take any chances given the stories and statistics in endurance sports. I slowed by pace down to about a 8ish minute / mile., kept taking in fluids and monitoring my body for the next 5 miles to the finish.

Given the nature of the course being flat and beautiful racing weather, cramps were not an issue for me.

At mile 25 I dug as much as I could to stay sub 3:25 on the day. Just kept my head down and leaned forward to save as much as I could for the finish.

Anh was waiting for me at the finish with the most welcoming smile I could wish for.

All in all a great day of racing in New Jersey.

Course Elevation

2012 NJM Medal

Race Results

Official Race Results

Race Report: Inaugural Verrazano Half Marathon

alpaul — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:26:56 +0000

Approached this run with a goal of finishing the race in 1hr 40 minutes with a pace of 7:41/mile to simulate next weeks NJ Marathon and nailed it with a 40 seconds over (Finish time 1:40:40). This pace felt nice and conservative, a pace I hope to carry out in the first half of the NJ Marathon.

During the first loop of the race I met a fellow runner who looked to be running at my goal pace. After asking him about his goal for the day I decided to join him. Coincidentally his goal was to achieve a 1:40 PR. I was excited to help him attain this goal as I’ve never paced someone before.

The course consisted of three turnarounds. The first turnaround was about mile 4, second mile 8 and third was about 11 – 12. We stopped at two aid stations so he was able to take in nutrition and curb his HR to have a strong finish. Fortunately I had my fuel belt so wasn’t dependent on the course for my nutrition. I love small races but the one disadvantage is that resources can be low when it comes to nutrition.

We finished the last 2 miles very strong with an average pace of low 7s. Awesome job he did keeping it together to gain his PR.

NYCRuns did an awesome job with providing us with post run food. There were bagels – with cream cheese on the side, grapes, apples, donuts (which I stayed away from . Huge props to Steve and the gang from NYCRuns for keeping the runners happy and stuffed today. After my grub I had no space available for brunch.

Anh came out today to cheer me on. She took some cool videos and pictures. Thanks babe for always being my #1 fan.

This race added some much more needed confidence to my marathon expectation for next week. Right leg and knee felt great throughout. Only issue was slight tightness in my left calf and ITB (definitely using KT tape on those next week). The headwinds out there was a bit tough today but this difficulty was balanced out with the FLATNESS of the course and tailwind at the start.

Nutrition:

2 x 8oz bottles fo accelerade

4 x Meta Salt tablets

1 x Powergel

2 x 8oz bottles of water plus water on the course

Finish Time: 1:40:40 (7:41/mile)

Race Report: 2012 NYRR Scotland Run 10K

alpaul — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:36:52 +0000

Very solid performance over last year’s race. PR’d by :40 seconds (guess I can say I’m officially back baby!). Since I felt great racing last week at the Colon Cancer 15K. I just decided to commence this race right out the gate. Felt great throughout. Kept pushing to maintain the same pace on hills today.

Background photoshopped by my most talented wife, Anh

Race Statistics

Official Time: 41:30 (6:41)

Overall Place: 502 / 7918 finishers (Top 6%)

Average SPM: 84 Average HR: 173

Race Report: 2012 NYRR Colon Cancer 15K

alpaul — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:29:21 +0000

Hooray! It’s good to be back racing. First race post injury/surgery of August 2011. The things we take for granted. I remember after my meniscus tear/repair thinking how hard it was just to walk 1/2 mile, let alone 1 mile. This injury/incident happened about three weeks post Ironman Lake Placid. From surgery, therapy to end of 2011 I did quite a bit of reflecting on how much I have accomplished in training/racing and how I need to approach the milestones of my racing career with huge appreciation.

Light jogging started in December of 2011 with my therapy’s approval and progressed to full out running at the end of January into February 2012. I have so much to be thankful for. First for my health and full recovery. I am able to run and enjoy the outdoors again.

At first I was aiming for a February race season start with the NY Road Runners Al Gordon race (this race was my first competitive race when I started back in 2009). However I opted out of it and went for a later season start when I gained more running miles and endurance on my recovered knee for the year.

Anh P. and I signed up for the NY Road Runners Colon Cancer 15K challenge. I very much looked forward to this distance as it would serve as a great barometer for my current fitness level.

I have been training two swims, three bikes and three – four run workouts per week. This week I only went with running as I wanted to be at the start line as fresh as possible today.

The first six miles of the race I was running conservatively just maintaining pace and not taking any risk early on. At mile 6 into the 15K (9.3 miles) I took the one power gel I brought with me and pushed the envelop. I began pushing the pace and gear into full blown race mode. I made a body check on all my “parts”, right knee (where injury took place), calf, achilles, etc and all felt great. Continued pushing for the next 3.3 miles into the finish.

Very grateful to all who’ve supported me especially Anh P. ,folks on @dailymile , @twitter , friends, family. Looking forward to the 2012 race season.

Our Finish Photo

Official Time: 1:07:54 (7:18)

Zipp 808 Firecrest Carbon Clincher Test Run

alpaul — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:15:06 +0000

Today I was able to test for the first time legit race wheels. Zipp Race wheels to be exact – dub “Speed Weaponry”. I went with the 808s since this is most likely the setup I will use in an actual race (Although a disc wheel on the back would be nice). I decided the best way to test them would be to go on a 60 mile out and back to Nyack, NY ride. Today was a windy day. This made for perfect conditions to test the wheels, since race day is unpredictable. The winds were gusting up to 21mph. Handling the 808s can be a challenge if you are not familiar with them in such winds. Coming into this ride I had read and did my homework on handling. I was able to handle without issues.

Zipp 808 Firecrest – Carbon Clincher

The wheels definitely added the “free speed” factor promised. I may have gained 2mph with the firecrest 808s. Those were clinchers, since I have never used tubular tires and may stay away from them for the meantime.

The one con is that the brakes may not have been suitable for the zipps and that may have compromised braking a bit. A big no, no when it comes to going down a hill at 40+ mph. Also the rental wheels did not come with racing tires. I will have to add my racing tires next time I rent the zipps.

Rocking Ironman Lake Placid water bottles

All in all I was very impressed with the wheels and may add them to all my upcoming triathlon races for the year.

Heading out to Nyack (bike seems a tard bit too small, lol)

Quick Stop at Tallman State Park

Men’s Racing Clinic Presented By CRCA and KISSENA

alpaul — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:30:06 +0000

Completed my first bike racing/clinic ever and felt great. This race clinic was held by CRNA and Kissena. We did three Central Park loops. First was a neutralized loop and the last two were racing loops. I got dropped by the main group on the second loop at Harlem hill and finished off with the second pack. (during the post race talk I figured that one of the reasons I may have gotten dropped on Harlem Hill so early was maybe I should’ve pushed to the front of the pack leading up the hill, duh! What doesn’t kill us make us wiser I guess )

I am very satisfied with the outcome of today. I was able to maneuver while in the pack. Handling, hydrating while in the pack was on point. The marshalls and coach were really informative. When I got dropped one of the volunteers stayed with me, he advised me to just “hold his wheel” we managed to clock a 15 min loop/23mph (fastest in the park to date) Legs felt smashed, but were able to recover for the final loop.

I have to say I really enjoyed this clinic and may sign up to USA Cycling and set a goal to become a CAT4 rider.

Knee Recovery: Week 25

alpaul — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:16:45 +0000

Recovery has been coming along perfectly. I have been doing about 8 workouts per week. 2 swims, 3 bikes and 3 runs. Along with adequate foam rolling, stretching and knee massage when possible. I must say my right knee is about 85-90% recovered. This weekend I did my first bike/run brick session post surgery and felt great. I have also registered for a few run and swim races. My longest tri distance this year may be a half Iron distance and I may also sign up for a marathon or two. With a pre run stretch my runs go on without incident or knee issues. The more warmed up into a run the better it feels. Still icing and elevating everyday.

Why is DetailViewController Table View empty?

alpaul — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:03:37 +0000

What have I been up to lately? I have been immersing myself into programming. iOS development to be exact. The one way I have found to be fully engaged in learning software development is to solve a problem that you are passionate about. In this instance it’s an app that I find may solve an immediate issue of mine. iOS development demands a great bit of time to get familiar with especially with the fact that I have been away from any serious programming since 2004-’05. This past October I have dedicated myself to learning and being as consistent as possible with iOS Dev. Since thinking about this app and working on its creation the process has been fun. Today I solved one of the many bugs/issues I’ve faced in building the app.

I am using iOS 5 and Xcode 4.2. In iOS 5 storyboards was introduced. Storyboard helps better the UI creation process. So I came across an issue where my DetailViewController object was not being properly instantiated in search. I have been trying to solve this for the last week or so. Today I finally read over the View Controller Guide Apple documentation and realized that if you attempt to initialize a view controller while using segue (a feature of storyboard) you do not get the behavior that you’re hoping for in your view controller. So with the guides help I fixed this issue in the code below.

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath

{

if (tableView == self.searchDisplayController.searchResultsTableView)

{

if (!self.detailViewController) {

UIStoryboard *storyboard = self.storyboard;

self.detailViewController = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"DetailViewController"];

}

self.detailViewController.project = [self.dataController.filteredListContent objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

[[self navigationController] pushViewController:self.detailViewController animated:YES];

}

Report: End of the year 10k swim – 100 x 100s swim

alpaul — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:53:44 +0000

I started contemplating doing this end of the year 100 x 100 set swim two years ago. I first heard about it from Chio on dailymile. In 2009 I had just started triathlons and learning proper swim technique. Back then I did not have the swim endurance to take on such a challenge (that year when I started swimming, I took occasional breathers after ever 200 meters or so).

My training for this swim challenge began nine weeks ago. After my right knee meniscus tear and during physical therapy swimming was an essential part to my therapy. The orthorpedica and therapist okayed it very early on. During those early weeks I decided to take on the 100 x 100s challenge. The training schedule I devised worked out perfectly for me. The plan provided me with sufficient time to build the base and endurance for I needed for the 10k swim. I broke down the training as pictured below: three days a week – drills, speedwork and a long swim respectively. First long swim was a 2k swim in the Flushing Aquatic Center. Other swims were done at the Chelsea Recreation Center before work. Longest swim prior to todays’ 10k was 8k. I would like to think that the drills really helped me keep my shoulders strong and free from overuse injuries. During my speedwork I kept pushing myself as much as my knee would allow. With swimming being soo low impact my right knee was never compromised or felt aggravated in any way. I always kept an eye on it for added inflammation or such.

For my nutrition I started with carbo pro and accelerade during my long and hard swims, but later changed to just having Ironman Perform (cheaper choice ) which also contains maltodextrin (complex carbohydrates) which is an excellent fuel choice for endurance athletes. Also used powerbar gels.

Nutrition used today:

- 3 x Ironman Perform

- 4 x Powerbar Gels

- 1 x Cliff Bar

- 1/2 Odwalla Banana Nut Bar (a taste of heaven when I needed it most)

Workout:

100 x 100 meters

Today I got up with some race nerves. Yes I know it’s not an official race. However the challenge to myself was official. Going into this 10k challenge not being from a swim background I knew it would be tough (not a 2.4 mile Ironman swim by any means). Fortunately as an endurance athlete and coming off my first Ironman this year we live for such challenges. Anh accompanied me to the pool as she would enjoy a pool workout herself. Having a Garmin 310XT to monitor my laps was huge. Also have a H2O audio to keep me entertained was awesome, some tunes from my iPod Shuffle really got me going.

At the 7k mark, 70 100s in my triceps began screaming at my insanity and thoughts of cutting my goal short was hovering. After taking a quick bathroom break I did some arm and shoulder stretches and change the game plan slightly. Prior I was able to get close to 2:00/100m or below, but with the power from my pull compromised I went into cruise mode. Not worrying about lap time but just enjoying the swim and being relaxed. That strategy worked out perfectly as my triceps were okay with less fatigue.

Began cooling down at the 95th lap. Really just soaked in the fact that I was about to finish a 6.2 mile swim (a distance I can’t even run presently due to my recovery). Best of all I felt great with plenty left in the tank minus my triceps being on fire

The end until next time…..

NYC Swim Schedule for 2012

alpaul — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:13:01 +0000

Now that I’m recovering I need to start planning out my race schedule for 2012. There are some key NYC Swim’s that I want to incorporate into my schedule, namely the Little Red Lighthouse 10k swim. Below is their schedule for 2012. Already I am seeing some conflicts with other tris and races. Today is the last day to lock in on the lowest registration fees.