2014 Tentative Race Schedule

Below is my tentative race schedule for 2014.  I have registered for the first 6 races. 
Hopefully, I am going to do my first back-to-back race weekend.  Minnetonka on Saturday and Manitou on Sunday, two sprints back-to-back.  It is about the average number of races I have been doing, 12, since I started in 2006.
This year, after I complete six races, I will have completed 100 multi-sport (triathlon and duathlon) races since I started in 2006.
It will be my 7th time starting St. Anthonys'.  If I finish it will be my 6th.  It will be my 8th Gear West Du.  My 3rd Lake Minnetonka.  4th Manitou, 6th Waconia, 3rd Heart of the Lakes, 6th Chisago Lakes Sprint, 2nd Graniteman Big Lake, 2nd Lake Marion Sprint, 5th Maple Grove Oly, 5th St. Croix Valley Oly (did the Sprint once), and my 7th Dousman Du (did it once as a relay).
I will also try to do as many Tuesday Night Time Trials (T'N'Ts) as possible.  Sprinkle in a few trail races and road races at the end, maybe one road race in March.

4/27 (Sun) - St. Anthonys' Triathlon (R) - St. Petersburg, FL
5/18 (Sun) - Gear West Duathlon (R) - Orono, MN
6/21 (Sat) - Lake Minnetonka (R) - Minnetonka, MN

6/22 (Sun) – Manitou Sprint Triathlon (R) – White Bear Lake, MN

6/29 (Sun) – Lake Waconia (R) – Waconia, MN

7/20 (Sun) – Heart of the Lakes (R) – Annandale, MN

7/27 (Sun) – Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon () – Chisago, MN

8/9 (Sat) – Graniteman Big Lake () – Big Lake, MN

8/17 (Sun) – Lake Marion Sprint Triathlon () – Lake Marion,MN

8/23 (Sat) - Maple Grove Triathlon () - Maple Grove, MN
8/30 (Sun) - St. Croix Valley Olympic Triathlon () - Hudson, WI

9/ (Sun) - Dousman Duathlon () - Dousman, WI

My Weight Update

Every year I post my weight update, sometimes twice a year. 
I do watch what my weight is doing, to see if it is trending in any particular way. 
Generally, I watch what I eat.  I try not to eat a lot of crap, which I think I am pretty good at. 
I do like craft beer, good beer, and I am not going to cut that out.  I try to watch how much of it I drink.  I do like to eat, I try to no overeat, but sometimes I do.  With the amount I workout, especially certain days, I get really hungry and it is hard not to eat a lot, and eat whatever I can get my hands on, so I try to have stuff around that is not too bad. 
My weakness is certain breakfast pastries (apple fritters, coffee cake, some doughnuts), but only with coffee in the morning.  I do like meats and pizza.  I will overeat pizza, it is a terrible habit, but I LOVE pizza.  Sometimes when I have a great hamburger or steak, I might overeat also.  I think I am getting better at not overeating.
Over the last two years, my weight has been pretty flat on average.  Over the last two years, it has been up a little over the years prior. 
So far in 2014, my weight has started out a couple pounds lower.  This is probably a combination of my wife starting a new diet, and, of course, me following suite, and working out more intense, and more than last year at this time, and in December.  Just eating less meat, smaller portions, more vegetables is probably helping too.
I have mentioned this before, I will mention it again, I weigh myself in the morning, usually every two weeks, and twice that week, typically.  I weigh myself in the morning, in the nude, after emptying my bladder and/or bowels.  I try to be consistent so that I am not weighing at different times of day under different conditions.
Below are charts showing my trends.  Click on charts to make larger.

Weight Since 2007

Average Weight Since 2007

 

2013 Summary of Racing and Training Data and Totals Since 2007

So listed below are my racing and training totals for 2013, with comparisons to previous years.  It is not all about the numbers,  but numbers have something to do with it.  You need to put time in to get results.  I had a blog post a bit back that compared training time (Oct-Oct) to racing results.  In this post I am just showing my training time for the calendar year(s).
This year I as up in swimming time and yardage from last year.  I would also say that my intensity was up.  My bike time was down, and has been on the decline for the last two years.  I would say that my intensity has also gone down a bit.  It shows in my bike times. 
In 2013 I spent just over 97.7 hours in the pool, which came out to about 275476 yards (~156 miles of swimming).  I spent just over 85.7 hours on the bike and a little over 55 hours running.  The total for those three is about 238.5 hours.  I spent about 13.5 hours strength training and about 1.1 hours on the elliptical trainer.  So the total for 2013 is 253.04 hours, up about 15 hours from 2012, and down about 30 hours from 2011.
Hopefully, in 2014 I can get back up to 100 hours, or at least over 90 hours, and get some intensity up.  Attending spin classes will help in this area.  My run time is down a little bit from last year, but my intensity was higher, and I think this showed in my race results this year.  The time I spent strength training in 2013 was about the same time I spent in 2012 and 2011 combined, which is a good thing.  I would like to pick it up again in 2014.  I think all strength training can do is help, and it is a nice change from swimming, biking and running.
I think in 2014 I can get over 100 hours of swimming and 100 hours of biking.  I don't think I want to go much over 60 hours of running.  I think my running will depend more on intensity, than necessarily on time.
Click on any below to expand.

Training and Racing Time, and Swim Yardage from Year-to-Year

Chart Breaking Down Time for Swim, Bike, Run for Each Year, and Total Time

2013 Monthly Totals

 

December 2013 Racing and Training Summary

Below is my usual training comparison for December.  No racing this month.  It was an above average December.
In January I will have to work on ramping it up above 20 hours.  I would like to be above 22 hours, with 8+ hours on the bike.
Today, the last day of December, I shoveled, then spin bike for 75 minutes, and then run on treadmill for 60 minutes.  In that order.  The long workout felt pretty good.  I just wanted to see where I was at, at the end of the year.  The 75 minute bike was a ramp up for 20 minutes, then alternate kind of hard for 5 minutes and then back off for 5 minutes.  I got off the bike and on the treadmill and ran the first mile as hard as I could, 7:45/mile.  Then every mile I alternated between hard and easier, easier no slower than 8:34/mile.  I wanted to run a 10K under 50 minutes, and I was able to go 49:45.  The last 10 minutes was a warm down.  I felt stiff getting off the treadmill.  I am probably going to be feeling it tomorrow.
This December the totals were greater than last two Decembers.  I biked and ran a little less than usual.  This December was a little different than previous Decembers, since we closed on a house and moved into a house.  Even with that I was able to get in some decent workouts.  I kept up my swimming this year, as I had planned to do.  My increased swimming from last year, and keeping up strength workout, made up the difference from previous years.
Off to start 2014.  My next post will compare totals from previous years and then post about my weight, as usual.


December-to-December Comparison

Totals and Averages Since 2007

 

YTD Totals and Since 2007

 

Kiefer Performer Swim Goggles - Product ReReview (Originally Product Review 27)

Back in January of this year I received a pair of Kiefer Performer Swim Goggles, from Kiefer, to review.  At the time I wrote up a little something about them.

My original post is here: http://nowiamdoingsomething.blogspot.com/2013/01/product-review-27-kiefer-performer-swim.html
The goggles are here: www.kiefer.com

I have used the pair they gave me for the whole year.  The only thing I did was replace the strap, because I accidentally ran the goggles through the washer and dryer and destroyed the strap.  I used a bungee cord type strap that worked fantastic.
Now that almost a year has gone by I wanted to comment on these goggles.
I used the goggles all year, both racing and training.  Amazingly, I did not lose them.  I have put about 250,000 yards on the goggles this season.
Also, they lasted the whole year without leaking, until about 2 weeks ago.  About two weeks ago they started to leak a bit.  Last week I ordered two more pair of the same goggles. 
These goggles are great for the price, and just in general.  They are 12 bucks a pair, about half the cost of the Speedo Air Seal Tri Mirror I had been wearing previously.  The Speedo goggles would last about as long.
Goggles are a purely personal choice.  Everyone has different size heads, different facial features, etc. that will affect how goggles fit.  Sometimes it takes years to find goggles that work well for a person.  If not years, then lots of money trying different goggles.  Luckily, I kind of fell into these goggles.
So, if you are out looking for goggles, I would recommend giving these a try. 

Race Totals Since 2006 (All Races) and Some Statistics

Since 2006 I have completed 178 individual races.  The breakdown by race type is in the table below
Triathlon = 66
Duathlon = 28
Running Races = 35
Time Trials = 45
Cycle Cross = 4

Race Count Table

My biggest triathlon years were 2008 and 2010 and my biggest duathlon years were 2006, first year racing, and 2007.  There are a number of years that I did 5 or more TTs.  My biggest run race year was 2006, when I started doing duathlons.  I replaced run only with duathlons, triathlons, and TTs, which makes sense.  This year I did do 7 run only events, which is the most since 2006.

I also added a chart to breakdown the races by month, just to get an idea of which months are the busiest and what type of races I do each month.  Being in MN it makes sense the busiest race months are going to be June - August.  June looks like the busiest overall.  Most duathlon are in May and September.  Most triathlons are in July.

Month-to-Month Race Count Comparison

I took the total distance I raced each distance, and the total time spent racing each distance, and then divided the two to see my average speed\pace at each.  By my estimate I have raced over 3500 miles and spent over 230 hours racing those 3500 miles.  I have spent over 1700 hours racing and training,so I have trained about 1500 hours.  The ratio of the time I spend racing to training is about 1:6.5, so for every hour I spend racing, I spend 6.5 hours training.  Kind of an interesting statistic.
My average 100 yd pace is 1:45, my average bike speed is 21.4MPH, and my average run pace is 8:31/mi.

Table of Total Time and Distance Racing, with Pace\Speed

 

 

 

I will post my total racing and training time for the year at the beginning of 2014, along with comparisons of totals for previous years.

 

November 2013 Racing and Training Summary

I am running a little late with this.  Busy, busy, busy.  Just closed and moved into a new house, so that is taking up some time that would normally be free for other things.  It is worth it.  The house is awesome.  We are setting up a training room in the house.  Basically, a room to put a bike trainer, maybe a treadmill someday, a place to store workout and race stuff, workout mats, with a TV and DVD player.
I did a 5K on Thanksgiving, in St. Paul, down by the river.  It was cold and it went ok.
5K = 23:47 (7:40/mi)

I got more swimming in this December than the previous two years.  Again, Masters is an ass kicker.  Run time down a little from previous years, bike time up from last year, and strength time down from last year.  Overall, my strength work for this year is the highest it has been since 2009 when I had the stress fracture.

In December I am going to workout when I can.  It is tough month with the holidays, and especially with moving into a new house.  I will see what I can do. 
In January I will have to start ramping up.  I have registered for two races already.  St. Anthony's in St. Petersburg, FL.  2014 will be the 7th time there.  The other race I registered for is Lake Minnetonka.  Once 2014 starts, I will probably start registering for more.  2014 here I come!


November Year-to-Year Comparison

Workout Totals and Average Since 2007

YTD and Totals Since 2007