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August 31, 2005
Blogging is impacting my marathon training...
I just realized that there really is a direct correlation between my marathon training and my blogging. It has been almost a month since I last posted on my blog and it has been equally as long since I had good run. In fact my only runs the past few weeks have been to measure the run courses for our TriAmerica races. Seeing how the past two TriAmerica races had 5K loop courses, I certainly can't say I chalked up any mileage. I now have to face the fact that there is no way I could survive a major marathon a couple of months from now. I guess I could wear purple and pretend I was a TNT athlete so I could walk the marathon. I kid the TNT athletes, they are a great group of people supporting a great cause.
I sort of knew this might happen when I signed up for the marathon this spring. Once our triathlon season is underway and we hit the road with our TriAmerica Series, sleep tends to work its way down low on my priority list. Its not that I don't enjoy my sleep, there's just too much work to be done and not enough hours in the day. Hmmm, it may be time for me to join workaholics anonymous.
Of course now I have to pick another event to train for. I need something to aim for or I’ll never motivate myself to get back in shape. If I can jump-start my running soon I could build up a strong enough base to run the Honolulu Marathon in mid-December. It is one of the few major marathons that has no limit on participation. You can actually sign-up race week.
To complicate matters I threw my back out last week. It is all I can do to try and stand up straight. I was hoping to make it to a chiropractor before I hopped on the plane to our TriAmerica Vail race, but seeing how I was only home one day this week, time was not on my side. I'm sure I'll be able to locate one when we get settled in Vail.
My back has actually been nice to me so far this year. I totally abused my back when I was in the nursery business, and it lets me know that several times a year. I hate admit it, but I think old age may also have something to do with it.
Time to get back to work…
Posted by Fred at 08:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
August 04, 2005
Coming home to Florida to cool off?
It seems absurd to be saying that, but that is what I was thinking Tuesday afternoon when I left New Jersey to head back to Florida. After wrapping up a successful TriAmerica race in Louisville on Sunday, I jumped on a plane and flew up to the Jersey Shore to work on the Danskin Women's Triathlon we direct next month. Getting off the plane shortly after midnight I could feel a slight chill in the air. I thought to myself this is going to be great! We lucked out in Louisville because the big heat wave that had blanketed the much of the country pushed out of Kentucky the day after we arrived in town. In fact it was cool enough in the mornings that I had wished I would have brought a windbreaker or long sleeve shirt along with me on the trip. The thought of packing either one of those items never crossed my mind when I was packing for the trip.
My trip to New Jersey would take me to Sandy Hook National Park, the venue for the Danskin race. This thin strip of land juts out into New York Harbor from the northern most tip of New Jersey. The New York skyline looms on the horizon. This would be my final site visit before next month's race. I had two objectives for this trip, the first was to meet with the Coast Guard and the new commanding officer at the Sandy Hook Station, and to meet with the National Park Service about a couple of changes in the venue layout.
My Coast Guard meeting went great. We actually stage a portion of the race on the base, the swim and the transitions. Last year spectators were not allowed access on the base so the race was not as spectator friendly as I wanted it to be. That was going to be one of my main items of discussion at the meeting. Because last year's race was relatively glitch free, the Coast Guard signed off on spectator access in select areas. All I need to make it happen is another 1,200 feet of steel barricades and a fence company to open up a section of chain link fence. What is cool is that after watching last year's race, six ladies from the base have decided to race this year including Donna, the outgoing Commanding Officer.
My meeting with the National Park Service also went well. They allowed us to move the finish line 500 feet to the south, allowing us to utilize the parade grounds for the post race activities. This more than doubles the space we have available and is much more scenic. There are dozens of historic buildings on Sandy Hook including the oldest operating lighthouse in the U.S.
Once my meetings were wrapped up I had a couple of hours to kill before it was time to head to the airport. I decided I had to squeeze a run in. I originally wanted to run along the beach at sunrise, but I just could not get myself out of bed in time Tuesday morning. I guess my energy level was still low following TriAmerica Louisville. It was now 1:00pm, and although it did not feel that hot out because of the low humidty, the temperature was pushing 90. My goal was was to squeeze in a 60 minute run, 30 out and 30 back. About a mile into my run I started to have a melt down. My pace was about 2 minutes slower than my usual average training pace per mile. I just figured it was because the past week had been so intense and I was still running under sleep deficit. I opted to turnaround a few minutes early and do the Sandy Hook Shuffle back to my car. When I arrive I head straight to the showers at the beach pavillion. The water is ice cold and refreshing. I must have stayed under the shower for at least 10 minutes. I was now reenergized znd ready for my trip back home. While driving back to the airport I notice that the outside air temperature displayed on the dashboard was 99! A couple of times it even jumped to 100. At first I thought it may just be a fluke because I'm driving on the NJ Parkway in full sun, but then I hear the radio jock say the current temperature is 98.
Now I feel much better about my melt down on the Sandy Hook Trail. Northerners always complain about the southern heat, well here is one southerner complaining about the northern heat. Florida seems cool by comparison....
Posted by Fred at 07:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Triathlon
August 03, 2005
Sidebar to all good things...
I forgot to note in my previous post that this was the first year in more than a decade that the Gulf Coast Triathlon did not reach capicity and close registration in advance of the race. It is also interesting to note that neither Ralph's Half in California or the Disney Half officially closed registration because they had reached capacity. Both of those events are official Ironman licensed events with Kona slots. They did attract large numbers of participants and came real close to being closed. We'll see what happens now that the Disney Half no longer has Kona slots. Hey, who needs Kona when you have Clearwater!!!
Posted by Fred at 01:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Triathlon
August 02, 2005
Too much of a good thing?
That's what you have to wonder when you look at the current half iron distance event calendar. I think it would be safe to say that the number of half iron distance races in the U.S. has doubled in the last five years. A few years earlier there was a boom in iron-distance races. Often race promoters assume that if official Ironman events can fill up in less than 24 hours and turn several thousand athletes away; those athletes are going to want to race another iron-distance race somewhere. That may be true, but I would guess that 80% only want to race an official Ironman race, not one of the independent races. With the exception of the Great Floridian, none of the independent U.S. races have yet to break the 500 participant barrier. Most are still attracting less than 300 athletes. It is not because of the quality of the events, it is because they are facing the most powerful brand in the sport at this time. I know if you gave me the $1,000,000 budget that many official Ironman races have to work with, I could easily produce an event that would rival their’s.
Following the growth of half iron-distance races came the U.S. Half Championship Series. This was the brain child of Mark Livesay of UltraMax fame. He brought a dozen or so independent races into the fold all qualifying for his series. Seeing how he owns the designated championship race, I'm sure this was more of a marketing ploy to attract additional athletes and attention to his race. It certainly does increase the exposure in all of the races, yet qualifying does not mean much when you can also enter the same race on your own without racing one of the qualifying races. The series also created some confusion in the market place by calling itself the U.S. Half championships. Some athletes thought they were qualifying for the USAT National Long Course Championships and did not realize they were qualifying for a self proclaimed national championship.
It looks as if the 70.3 series is doing the same thing. At first when WTC, the owners and producers of the 70.3 series, announced the 70.3 Series I thought they would be creating new high profile destination events in the U.S. After reading the WTC's most recent media release, it appears as if they are just copying what Mark has done with his U.S. Half Series. They are banding together several existing races under the 70.3 brand. Races like EagleMan, VineMan, and Buffalo Springs are carryovers from the old Ironman Qualifier system and the other two U.S. races were already Ironman Licensed events. I understand their strategy now. Because you can only race their self proclaimed world championship event in Clearwater by qualifying at another 70.3 event, it is important that they get as many events as possible in the 70.3 feeder system. If the series offered Kona slots, athletes would trip over each other to enter, but no kona slots are being offered in the 70.3 series.
Two of the new events just added to the 70.3 series are the Stealhead Triathlon in Michigan and the Dannonman Half in Lake Stevens, WA. These two events have nothing to lose by being part of the series. Steelhead had less than 400 finishers last year and the Dannonman Half did not even have 100 finishers.
Clearwater is not Kona, and it will take plenty of marketing hoopla, along with some smoke and mirrors to make into a high profile triathlon destination. It may take even more than that as we enter into a cycle of increased hurricane activity. Most late season storms develop in the Gulf of Mexico.
My personal opinion is that the 70.3 series in its current format will only dilute the existing market. There is nothing new and exciting about it, it is just big corporate America at work.
Posted by Fred at 03:49 AM | Comments (0) | More in: Triathlon
