Departure

We are loading up the car today, heading for the beach and the Grandman Triathlon in Fairhope, AL. It is amazing how much you have to pack just for the event. I dropped off my bike at Golden's Bike Shop for one final tune, lube, and wipe down. Hopefully, I can have a good clean race with few mishaps or mental lapses.

I am pumped to get down there today and have a day to relax for the early 4:30 AM wake-up call. The race starts at 7 AM and is a little more than 45 minutes away from where we are staying. I would love to be able to get in a real easy swim in the Gulf of Mexico and/or light ride. If I have time, it would be beneficial to drive up to the course and get a preview so I am not riding and running blind, but we will see how it goes. I will post when we get back about the race and let everyone know how it went.

Change of Plans

I decided Sunday night not to run the Celebrate America 10K in Alpharetta because I felt that I was coming down with a mild cold, presumably from the kids. Plus, I feel like someone punched me in my left eye. It is swollen up and seems to be a stye infection coming up. All that said, I decided not to run Monday and tax my body in a race before this coming weekend's triathlon.

I have been keeping keeping up my normal training routine and am getting ready to head down to the beach Thursday evening to get settled in, preview the race course and relax a little before the Grandman on Saturday. I spoke with my friend who ran the Celebrate America 10K, and he said it was a good race with really good support volunteers.

Gear Review: Bontrager Race X Lite Rear Cage Holder

I recently purchased the Bontrager Race X Lite Rear Cage Holder for my triathlon bike. I have looked at several, including the Hydrotail and various models from X-lab. Before purchasing this setup, I had one cage on my frame and a Profile Design Aerodrink on the front.

Made of carbon fiber, it is very light. It mounts to many styles of seats and can be adjusted to various angles to suit the rider's preference. It holds 2 bottle cages, has 4 female threaded holes for CO2 cartridges, and a small "basket" area to hold tubes, tools, and most anything else. It also has an additional area to mount a seat bag underneath.

The downsides that I have found so far are that the bolts that control the vertical adjustment sometimes fail when hitting bumps in the road, leaving the rig hanging limp under your seat. This could mean losing vital items when you need them most. Also, there is not much product information or instruction on Bontrager's website or with the product. X-lab has a very comprehensive website that shows various way to set up numerous configurations, what all the parts are, and where all the parts go. Also, there is no X-nut type system to store your CO2 valve. I took a machine screw, cut it off, and mounted it under the seat. The strap that holds the items in the basket area is confusing and always seems to be in the way.

The one thing that I did like about it is the price for a carbon fiber setup. The other options are more expensive and have more accessories parts to purchase separately to complete the system. I purchased mine from Golden's Bike Shops with a couple stores in Georgia and Alabama. They are good guys and are willing to go the extra mile to get you ready to ride.

Photo from www.bontrager.com and graphic from www.goldensbikes.com

Favorite Runs: Columbus Riverwalk #3 - Oxbow Meadows

Yesterday, I went for a run after work on one of my favorite routes. It is a 10-K out and back route along the Oxbow Meadows area of the Columbus Riverwalk. It follow the old, meandering route of the Chattahoochee River and criss-crosses multiple oxbow lakes. There is always an abundance of wildlife from land, sea, and air to distract you as your legs and lung burn.
The route begins at the Oxbow Meadow Environmental Learning Center located on South Lumpkin Road. Then, head north along the Oxbow Creek Golf Course, where you dart in and out of wooded areas alongside 4 fairways.
Next, make the descent down into the meadows area. Over your left shoulder, you'll see wide open fields of hay straw and on you right, you run by a series of oxbow lakes that are connected by streams with turn-offs and parking for the fisherman.
There are very few hills on this route, as you can see, but the ones that are present are short and manageable. This is an excellent route for cyclists, as well.
From the meadows, the course continues to drop until you find yourself interlaced with the necklace strand of lakes. This part of the course is very shaded and preferred on hot summer Georgia afternoons.
There are usually a good number of people taking advantage of the Riverwalk. They are walkers, runners, fishermen, and cyclists. I have seen a few police officers monitoring the course on ATV's to help keep the area safe.
The only thing that you might need to watch out for are alligators and snakes. I have seen a couple of both over the last six months of running this part of the Riverwalk. It is a little unsettling, but generally, if you leave them alone the don't pay you any mind.
The last part of the route before you make your returning trip back to the Environmental Learning Center is a final drop down to your first real glimpse of the Chattahoochee River. The worst part of this last section is that before you reach the river you pass by the waste water treatment plant for south Columbus, but it is only for about a quarter mile.

It never fails on this running route that I see something new, be it wildlife or plant life or other. It is an easy route that holds you attention as you maneuver in and out of varying landscapes.

Map from www.columbusga.org

Celebrate America 5K/10K

A friend of mine has convinced me to enter a 10K race while we will be in Atlanta this weekend. I am having reservations about it since The Grandman Triathlon would only be 5 days after this event. I always hate to miss out on opportunities to run with friends of mine in races. The seas of people can get lonely out there.

The race is being held on Memorial Day, May 25th, in Alpharetta, Georgia near Northpoint Mall. The race is being put on by the Alpharetta Junior Woman's Club. They are offering a 5K and 10K that starts at the AMC Theaters on Northpoint Parkway. The 5K is a single loop around Northpoint Parkway and Mansell Road, while the 10K will be two loops. I am normally not much of a fan of retracing my steps in a race, but like I said, it's always good to run with friends. The route looks like is has a couple hills but nothing too bad. I will update after the race and tell how it went. Hopefully, I will have enough time to let my legs recover for the following weekend triathlon.

Graphics from www.ajwc.net

Looking Forward: West Point Lake Triathlon

The third and final leg of my three week triathlon blitz is the West Point Lake Triathlon. I have decided to stretch myself a little bit and go for the Olympic distance race, 1.5-K swim, 40-K bike, and 10-K run. I hope that my eyes were not too big for my race schedule. I felt like I had to get in at least one Olympic distance race in this year to stick to my overall goals, which are at least one Olympic distance race this year (check), at least on Half Ironman next year, and at least one full Ironman the following year. From there, who knows what I will have a passion for next.
This race is being held June 13th at 7:15 AM at R Shaefer Heard Park near LaGrange, Georgia. I have not seen, ridden, or run the course yet but hope to do it at least once before competition. As you can guess, the 1.5-K swim will be in the waters of West Point Lake. The swim start is a Time Trials start format based upon the competitor's submitted estimated swim time. It will start on a the point seen below and continue around a peninsula to the finish at the Day Use Area of the park. This area will serve as the transition area for the race from swim-to-bike and bike-to-run.
The bike ride will take the competitors on a 40-K, roughly 25-mile, trip up U.S. Highway 29, along several different scenic points along the lake, and through quiet country roads. As you can see on the elevation chart below, there are not too many back-breakers on this route. There appears to be only a couple hundred feet of elevation change the entire race. The course is basically a large loop with a couple out & back tangents thrown in there. I can recap this review when I get a chance to put wheels to pavement.
The run course actually sounds quite interesting. The 10-K course takes the runner across the West Point Lake Dam and hugs the water's edge for most of the race. From all accounts that I have heard, both the bike and run portions of this race are flat and fast. Again, I will have to revisit this review when I can get a run in and maybe post some pictures of the routes in conjunction. Some people's definition of flat and fast are quite deceiving.
Graphics from www.gamultisports.com

Wearing Thin

The Nike Max Moto 5+ were the shoes that I began my running season with last April. I ran cross country in high school and have run sporadically during the 15 years since that time. After the birth of our twin boys and a recent move, I decided to kick my butt in gear and take on some serious goals for 2008-09.

Before my first 5-K in these shoes in April, I had a pair of Asics Gel running shoes that were broken out occasionally but never worn in. I purchased the Nike Max Moto's in conjunction with an iPod Nano and Nike+ running kit. I thought, "finally running won't be so boring." Since that time, I have run in 5 5-K's, 3 10-K's, 1 10-miler, 1 half marathon, 2 marathons, and countless hours & miles by myself on long stretches of roads whose names have faded into memory. I am now hanging up the laces on the Max Moto's now that most of my long distance running is over for a while, and I am moving to more of a triathlon specific shoe. Plus, as you can see, I was starting to run the risk of a blow-out or altering my stride from deteriorating wear patterns.

I am still trying to figure out the wear patterns that developed on these shoes. On the forefoot, it is consistent with a neutral foot strike, neither on the outside or inside edges of the shoe. On the heel, there is something else entirely going on. This is the area of heaviest wear and looks to be more along the lines of a supinated gait pattern. I think that the bulk of this wear happened early on in my resurgence to running. I feel like I got into some bad habits that eventually lead to a lot of pain in my IT Band in November and December of last year. I took some time off and worked hard to correct this when I returned to running. For the most part, I have been pain free. During really long runs, I feel that I relapse into old habits, and sure enough, the pain returns.

From here on out, I have around seven triathlons in which I am going to complete before the close of the year. None of them over the International, or Olympic, Distance in length. That means the runs will be no more than a 10-k in competition. I have moved my training and competition show over to a triathlon specific shoe, the Zoot Ultra TT shoe. I have only ran in them a couple times, but so far so good. They allow for quick entry into the shoe, speedy fit adjustment (no-tying), reduced water retention, barefoot wear design, and many other features thought out with the triathlete in mind. I got mine for about half off the retail price on the 2008 models from a website called Running Warehouse. By the way it is only a coincidence that both pair of shoes are orange and blue (perhaps).