Well…suffice to say that didn’t exactly go as planned on multiple fronts. I collapsed at the finish line and then found myself in the medical tent a short bit later with a sweet 102*F core body temperature.
I’m good now, but more details later…
Ok, I’ve only got a second – sorry – got all behind this weekend.
Suffice to say…the girl and I are ready to roll:
See the Great White Shark there? Well, hopefully he doesn’t appear tomorrow (again), at the same beach (as last time).
See ya out there! I’m bib number 1504, the race starts at 7:00AM for me, and hopefully I’ll be done before dark. You can track at Ironman.com and select Rhode Island/Providence 70.3. Bye!
Back a while ago, someone asked what all the hubbub was about ‘qualifying’ for various big events within the Triathlon or Running world. So here’s the quick rundown of how it all works for the top events in each sport. Let’s start with the easiest and most clear one first…
Aside from the Olympics and Olympic qualifying events, this is about as high as you get in the running totem pole world. The good news is that unlike tri’s where your qualifying status is based against your competitors on any given day – Boston qualification is simply a race against yourself. You hit the time, you’re in. Done deal!
In the case of Boston, you need a certain qualifying time to be accepted. Once you achieve that qualifying time you can run Boston* assuming it hasn’t filled up yet that year. There are an assortment of age groups, and each one has different minimum times. So, for a Male 18-35, the minimum time is 3:10:59. If you get 3:11:00 – sorry, try again next year. :(
Here’s the table for Boston. There are different age group standards for both male and female.
In a similar vain – there’s also something similar for another popular race – the New York Marathon. Normally to race in the NY Marathon you enter a lottery where you roughly stand a 1 in 3 chance of getting in. Though if you fail three years in a row, they’ll let ya in. But in addition, there’s actually a guaranteed entry program as well – though the standards are pretty strict:
The good news with running through is that’s it’s a race against yourself – you don’t have to worry about competitors. The same can’t be said for Tri’s…
*Nitpickers corner: Yes, you can run Boston as a fundraiser or with various event sponsors and not achieve a qualifying time.
Clearwater (aka Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3):
First in the tri-category is the 70.3 level – which is the half-iron level. These are held in Clearwater, FL each November and then broadcast during the winter on NBC. In order to qualify for Clearwater you must race in any of the M-Dot (official Ironman) series 70.3 races. There’s a few dozen of these around the world, with about 15 of them in the US.
Now, unlike Boston, you have to earn a ‘slot’. A ‘slot’ is simply a ticket to go to Clearwater. Slots are awarded via age groups, with each age group getting at least one slot. Now, the number of slots varies from race to race based on the number of participants. Meaning, a race with 2,000 people will have more slots than a race with 1,000 participants. As the 70.3 series has grown (more races), the number of slots per race has decreased. For Rhode Island this year, there are 45 age group slots, and 5 pro slots.
These slots are then further subdivided based on the number of people in each age group. So – the M30-35 age group is typically one of the largest, therefore it gets more slots (perhaps 4-6 per race), versus the F65+ category (maybe only one per race). Now, if no racers in a given age group finish the race, then the slot is transferred to another age group (typically the largest age group within the same sex). Though there are supposedly specific rules on this, I’ve found that in actuality the ‘handing down’ of extra slots is highly ‘flexible’. For example, say nobody F60+ finishes or wants the slot in that age group (AG), that slot would then go to the next largest female group – such as F30-35. Here’s the breakout for the 2009 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island race, Clearwater slots (per the athlete guide PDF file):
See, you don’t have to accept the slot. Which then takes us to the roll down. The roll down is the process by which people who don’t finish within the allocated number of slots can get a slot. Say there are three slots available for the M25-29 AG. The #1 and #2 persons accept the slot, but the #3 person declines. The slot is then offered to the #4 person. This is done at the awards ceremony and you must be present to ‘win’. If #4 person declines, then it goes to #5 and so on. I’ve seen it go as far as #20. The reason is because usually only the first 4-8 people hang around (if that), and so after that many have already gone home and thus the slot can slide quickly down the ranks.
So in summary – you basically have to be on the podium to get a guaranteed slot, or within the first 4-8 finishers for a realistic chance at a roll down slot.
Got it? Ok…next…Kona!
Kona (aka Ford Ironman World Championship):
The biggie in the tri world. The one measuring stick that everyone seems to strive for. And unless your 65+ or under 20, it’s the hardest one to get. Known simply as “Kona” in tri-circles, but officially as the Ford Ironman World Championships, it’s the one tri event that most Americans have actually seen on TV at some point in their life via NBC’s annual coverage in mid-December (the race actually happens in October…btw, did you know that the corporation behind the Ironman race actually pays for the production of the NBC coverage, in the same manner as a paid 90 minute infomercial).
Kona slots work exactly the same as Clearwater slots. For example, in the case of Ironman Canada, there are 72 slots allocated for 2009.
And here’s the official rule listing for how these are allocated:
But, aside from the usual slot allocations and roll downs, there are also a few other ways to get into Kona (none of which are easy mind you).
Once you’ve managed to check at least one of the four boxes above – you can go ahead and book your ticket to Kona!
ITU Age Group National/World Championships:
While all of the previous events I’ve mentioned focus on ‘long course’ type races – either a full or half-marathon included, there’s also focus on the Olympic distance (aka International Distance) races – a typical 1500M swim, 40K bike and 10K run. While this is one of the most common distances that triathletes race during the course of the year, the ITU Age Group National Championships are kinda the red-headed step-child in the tri world – at least at the amateur level. At the pro level it’s a whole different story (reason = money offered for pro’s).
This race moves around from year to year, this year it’s in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 22nd.
Now, qualifying for this event is significantly easier than qualifying for Kona or Clearwater. But it’s important to remember it’s also targetting a different segment of the tri world, as this is primarily aimed at the Oly distance instead of Half/Full Iron distances.
That said, depending on the phases of the moon and tidal waves, there are approximately 32 million ways to qualify for Nationals, here’s the low-down:
Once you’ve qualified for Nationals, you go and race. It’s a big day! Note, there are also sprint, long course, winter, team and collegiate nationals held at various times throughout the year.
If you race at Nationals and fall in the Top 16 in your age group, you can move onto Worlds (roll down to Top 20), which is held in conjunction with the ITU World Championship race (where the Pro’s race). This also moves around from year to year. This year it’s held in the Gold Coast, Australia, next year (2010), it’s scheduled for Budapest, Hungary.
Note though, that there are significant differences in the performance level between the Age Group World Championships and the ITU Pro’s level. Meaning, the top AG person wouldn’t likely be the last place person at the ITU pro level. That’s because (without getting into a lot of details), to get to that ITU race you have to earn points on the ITU circuit (lower level races), which means there’s an entire class of folks racing ‘in between’ those two levels (not to mention ITU Junior Elite or ITU Collegiate folks). Further, many many folks (especially younger but very competitive racers) don’t have the means to go to both AG Nationals and then AG Worlds. Just trying to paint a realistic picture here… ;)
Summary
So, in summary – there’s a number of big events that us non-Pro’s can strive for in numerous difference distances in both the running and triathlon world. Hopefully I’ve covered all the biggies, but if I’ve missed any questions, feel free to post (or answer) them in the comments.
Before we can get to the rest and relaxation part, we gotta get through the less than relaxing part. But it was pretty fun!
Ok, well, actually, back to rest and relaxation first. Friday evening post-long-swim, the Girl and I and some friends went to the Nat’s game (that’s the baseball team for you non-baseball folk). The weather turned out great for it, despite my current streak of it pouring for every Nationals game I’ve gone to.
Early Saturday morning (well, actually, this time they arrived at a reasonable hour into close by DCA instead of far away BWI or IAD), my parents arrived for the weekend. After a nice breakfast with the girl in Alexandria, we headed down to Prince William Forest National Park to get in our short brick workout for the day. By ‘we’, I mean me – the girl, and my parents. With my Mom also doing the run portion of the brick in preparation for her first tri later this summer, while my Dad cycles his way towards his first century ride later this summer as well.
My workout consisted of three loops around the 7.1 mile main scenic loop, which is a combination of a few miles of up and down hills and then the remainder of the miles in a shallow false flat (climbing).
Though, this wasn’t just a normal Z2 long ride effort, instead it was a set where each loop increased in heart rates to a higher zone. So, the plan was:
Loop 1: Z2/Warmup – @ 95rpm (139-149bpm)
Loop 2: Z4A @ 95rpm (157-162bpm)
Loop 3: Z4B @ 95rpm (163-166bpm)
And with that, off I went.
The first loop was a pretty solid warm-up loop that I knocked out in 21:44, or 19.6MPH. After that it was time to kick it up a notch.
The second loop came in at 19:47, or 21.6MPH. By far the fastest split I’ve ever recorded there, so I was super happy about that, especially since I wasn’t even riding race wheels. But…
(Sorry, not a great pic…but I was working my ass off)
…I wasn’t done yet. I still had one more lap to do. And on this last one I knocked out a 19:44, edging out my just established record by a few seconds. Of course, I did spend the last half a mile going a bit easier to prepare for the upcoming run transition.
Speaking of the run…I had a short 35 minute run that quickly built up through the following zones:
2 Mins Z3 (157-163)
15 Mins Z4A (164-169)
10 Mins Z4B (170-173)
3 Mins Z5A (174-177)
5 Mins Cool down
One little twist though...I decided to take along my semi-new Camelbak. I’ve found though my recent runs that I am really significantly faster and more in control of my hydration and nutrition when I’m carrying the Camelbak. Even though it was only 35 minutes, I wanted to see if it would fair as well in a much faster paced tempo run as sort, as well as just how it would feel running off the bike with it.
While I could simply type out how the run went…I think this picture accurately describes it:
Booyeah! That’s all there is to say about that run.
Oh, and I’m about 80% sure I’ll actually run this weekend’s Rhode Island 70.3 race with the Camelbak. The extra weight will easily be negated by being in complete and total control of my hydration and nutrition strategy.
Later on Saturday night we rambled on bikes to watch the big 4th of July fireworks over DC. We stayed on the Virginia side of the river, but we were still plenty close for the action.
That’s the Lincoln Memorial lit up across the river, with the pile of bikes on this side of the river.
Many many people both walked, ran and biked down to watch the fireworks…
…oh, right – the purpose of my post: Rest and Recover
See, on my official schedule for Sunday, it had the following:
So what did we do Sunday?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Yup, we sat around on the couch all day long and watched cycling, reruns of movies on TV, and more cycling…and more reruns of movies on TV.
And at the end of the day, the parents, the Girl and I made some food on the BBQ:
So, that was my relaxing weekend. Now I’ve got a week’s worth of sweet bricks ahead of me leading up to the big dance on Sunday. More to come…
I think mentally I had written off this week as part of the taper for Rhode Island next week. Perhaps because I didn’t really look at my schedule in detail, perhaps because it was July, perhaps because I don’t really know why.
Let’s recap thus far…
Sunday: 102 mile bike ride. Nuff said there…
Monday:
The week started off with knocking out a 3200 yard swim, and a nice 46 minute trainer ride to loosen things up…at 9PM, due to meetings all day long. Yuck!
Tuesday:
Tuesday included another set of all day meetings, pushing back my long run until late in the evening. I didn’t get ‘on the trail’ until after 6PM, which, when you’re going 20+ miles means that it’s gonna be pushing twilight.
I started off at Wakefield Park, and headed south on the CCT (Cross Country Trail, really…I don’t come up with these names). I’d never run south on the trail before, and while it goes something like 40+ miles, I didn’t know how far south it actually went based on where I was starting. And for that matter, where it even went. So off I went…
Eventually I popped out somewhere near where Coach Alan’s house is, which meant of course I had to pay him a visit. Now, it was a tiny bit further than I was supposed to go timewise – but what’s 3 minutes? So I wandered on by and left a big ole rock on his doorstep, and then kept on running. I figured I’d explain that one later and let him ponder in the meantime.
I made it back just as the sun was setting, some 2hrs and 30 minutes later, and a total of 20.5 miles. Woot! Mid-7/min/mile paces.
Oh, and because it was late…I went to my favorite place for a quick calorie refill – Chipotle!
Wednesday
Wednesday brought another trainer ride and swim combo. 65 minutes on el trainer, and 3,900 yards of swimming. Unfortunately that’d be split between two different swims because a kid left a present in the pool half way through my first swim, causing the pool to close.
The bike was nice though, all Z2 and relatively easy. With 5 minute sets buildings up to 125 RPM. Power output was constant across all of them until the last 5 minute set of 125, when I had to back it down a bit to stay in zone.
In general, the lower the cadence the higher the wattage I can sustain. Obviously, that tears up the legs long term, so it’s used for muscular endurance in these sessions. Whereas this one was all about high cadence (up to 125RPM), so the wattage was relatively low. Well, much lower than the 415w 30/30 sessions I have to do (which reminds me, I need to write about those fun trainer rides sometime…).
Thursday:
Finally, brick-day at the track. With the trainer in tow, the girl and I setup and then knocked out a short 34 minute high intensity sweat dripping ride in the windless sun before circling 7.25 miles worth of running on the track. Now, the bike was solid – but the run was incredible. I was sustaining low 6’s (6:00-6:15/mile) lap after lap after lap. Incredibly fast for an off the bike run in the late afternoon sun and heat – and for a relatively modest HR. Good stuff, bodes well for Rhode Island next weekend. Woot!
Friday:
Today was all about a swim, a nice long continuous swim. Due to some earlier week mathematical errors I think I thought this was shorter than it was. Nonetheless, I decided to head to the George Mason University Competition Pool to get in some time long course (50m). It was pretty kickass, and very empty – which was nice. At times I was the only one there.
One thing I really enjoyed though was the synchronized large digital clocks the corners at the end of each lane. This was really useful in pacing. There was also one mid-way down the wall closest to me.
It’s an awesome facility, and at only $5 – you can’t beat it. After some 5,200 yards (converted from meters), I was done – which was nice. This being my second time swimming in a long course setup (first was in Kenya), it definitely takes some time getting used to. You also have to remember that your splits will be slower because you’re doing less turns, and my flip turns are pretty quick (and you go pretty fast off the wall). But that’s alright, it’s better for what we do anyway.
So with that, I think I finally get to start my taper. Though, technically – today was kinda taper-esque for me. Tomorrow’s brick (Saturday), is also significantly down for last week’s. All signs are definitely looking good for next weekend!
Rice Krispie Update: I found out that the massive 55 pound rice krispie treat we build and left at the Pacers Saturday Fun run took until Tuesday to consume, all while hanging out at the Pacers Store in Old Town Alexandria. Pretty awesome!
Antarctica Update: For those of you following along from home – here’s the current score: Other people: Lots of votes, Me: Not as many lots of votes. So – if you’re contemplating clicking the vote button to give me some votage love, now would be an awesome time to do it! I’m like the turtle, slow and steady wins the race…but, I’d like to win it sooner! Thanks all for reading, and voting!
Have a good 4th of July everyone!
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