Tuesday, April 30, 2013


The 2012-2013 race season is over, and looking back on it, i’m pretty happy, though i think i definitely burned out towards the end, and didn’t put in a hard enough effort in some races.  In particular, i think my hancock, stratosphere, and big climb results were pretty lame.  

BUT i did hit my goal of increasing all my times generally by 10% which is pretty great.



Race
2011
2012
improvement
sears
21:02
( 1262 seconds )
19:21
( 1161 seconds )
8%
aon
14:45
( 885 seconds )
12:55
(775 seconds)
14%
hancock
15:32
(932 seconds)
13:40
(820 seconds)
13%


Some observations:

1) I did better in the shorter races.  My improvement at sears was less than in other races, and i think i did relatively poorer yet in the power hour climbs.  

2) Even more so, it seems the races i did after the power hours, i did quite poorly.  Although i improved almost as much at hancock as at Aon, the year before at hancock i’d had the flu and had spent the night before throwing up, so the improvement there was not as drastic.

3) I didn’t hit the start of the season quite where i wanted to be, and trained during the season to improve my condition, which combined with races, travel, etc, left me pretty burned out and tired by the end of the season.  

4)  I definitely felt trashed by the power hours, especially when i did one six days after the other.  I definitely overestimated my ability to recover during race season.

5) I finished too many races fresh.   Late in the race, i was unwilling to pass someone even when i should have.  

So, with that mind, i am going to work all summer trying to hit the season in better shape, so i have less need to improve & lose weight during the season.  My goal is to take 10% off all of my times, which would mean:


race
2012-2013
2013-2014
(10% improvement goal)
Would have placed
/ what i got
US bank
13:20
(800 seconds)
12:00
(720 seconds)

Sears tower
19:20
(1160 seconds)
17:24
(1044 seconds)
21st /
69th
300 n LsSalle
9:45
( 585 seconds)
8:46
(526 seconds)
5th /
13th
Aon Chicago
12:55
( 775 seconds )
11:37
( 697 seconds )
9th /
23rd
Hancock
13:40
( 820 seconds )
12:19
( 738 seconds )
22nd /
67th
Stratosphere
10:45
( 645 seconds )
9:40
( 580 seconds )
21st /
34th
presidential towers
20:43
( 1243 seconds )
18:38
( 1118 seconds )
10th  /
20th

What am i going to do differently?

1) Starting my high intensity workouts now, which will allow me to aim for a much slower increase in my high-intensity fitness.  Ease into the season fairly fresh

2) Work more on muscular development, and muscular endurance, My legs were used up before my cardio was.  Go way deeper in yoga poses, lift, climb stairs in a weighted vest.

3) Edge weight from 181 to 170.  Don’t attempt to lose weight during the season, even allow a pound or two to creep on during the season, if that’s what my body is asking for.

4) Focus more on between-workout recovery, eating super clean, anti-inflammatory recovery meals, lots of carbs & moderate protein right after workouts.  i had been too carb-phobic, and i think it hurt me, as i was not able to work out at a high enough intensity often enough.  

5) I need to do more tortuous workouts to build the mental fortitude to suffer and even pass someone at the late stages of a race.   With even a long race being under 20 minutes, it’s only a tiny blip in my day/week/month.  

Monday, April 29, 2013

2012-2013 end of the season retrospect


I really let this journal slide, so instead of writing up each race after it way happened, i’m going to wrap up the season with a few sentences of each:

Springfield hilton: another great event, it was awesome seeing justin and oz power up the stairs, flying past me repeatedly.  I started off slow and steady, but 40 minutes into the race, i began to feel really sick.  i slowed down a bit, and went hard on my second to last climb so could get into the stairs one more time.  I managed it, and got 9 climbs, a nice result for me.  

Hustle up the hancock: I was hoping to come in under 13 minutes, as the climb is actually a few feet shorter than Aon and i had some gas left after that race.  There was an accident on the highway so i was very late to the race, and i had a mad scramble to get to the starting line in time, but i made it just as people were starting to go.  I started off feeling OK, but 20 floors in, my legs felt heavy and stiff, and i moved into damage control mode.  I got passed by numerous people, so i felt i had not validated my elite start.  I finished with cardio gas in the tank, and my legs felt better too.  Somehow being so out of it mentally at the start ( as well as physically ) meant i had no finishing grit or sprint.  I began to wonder if the two power hours had used me up and i had not been able to recover.

Scale the strat: i got into vegas super late ( my plane was delayed ) and the check-in line was an hour.  Even though i had figured out the building splits, and many racers had used my spreadsheet, i didn’t figure out my own pace.  I went too slow, and close to the end realized i wasn’t tired enough.  I made a mad sprint, but it was too late to make up time.  Still, i was tired.  I was definitely feeling burned out, overtrained, whatever.

Presidential towers: I finished my first climb and felt pretty good, feeling relatively fresh even though i was much faster than the year before.  I stuck to my pacing track until the last 7-8 floors, then sprinted.  Tower 2, i hit my headphones,and stopped my audio track, though i ended up with almost the same time. #3 someone hit my ipod and reset my timing track, but again, i climbed hard and had a good time.  However, i began to feel really bad, sick, pukey. I took a long break after 3, but still felt really bad climbing #4.  I stuck to my pace until 20, then let myself fall slowly behind, but gutted out the last 10 floors, not letting myself fall anymore behind.  I was really happy to come in under 21 minutes ( 20:42 ) for 188 floors and ¼ mile run.  


Big climb ( seattle ) : I’d spent the previous few days hiking and running with kristin and brady in olympic park. I’m not sure if it impacted me, or i was just done with racing, but i failed to push myself very hard during this climb.  My time was not awful, ( 10:45 ) but i knew i should have been a minute faster, and i was out of the points.  


Looking back on the season, there were two sub-seasons, both of which i started out very strong, then fell off.  US bank and Aon chicago were the first races after months, and in both of those i did very well.  I managed to grind out presidential, but my last race, big climb, was just lame.  I think next season i either need to do fewer races, no power hours, figure out how to recover better, or some combination thereof.  


Overall i'm happy with the season, i learned a lot, but i know i can do better!!!