Tri to Endure

The Rose Bowl Half Marathon - Results

2010-02-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

Clear blue skies on race morning

The Rose Bowl Half Marathon was on Sunday, February 7, 2010.

My race plan called for an easy start - running 10 minute miles for the first four miles, then bumping the pace to 9 minute miles for the next four miles, 8 min/miles for miles 9,10,11 & 12, and a full speed run for the final 1.1 miles. Done exactly right, my finish time would have been 01:55:00.

My actual finish time was 01:51:23.7

I arrived and parked my truck at 6:30am. I figured out where the start line was and used the restroom, then quickly got back in the car and ran the heater until 7:30am because it was too cold to walk around (apologies to anyone living where it actually gets really cold).

The race started on time at 8am sharp. I love it when race directors are organized and start on time!

I lined up about four rows back from the start, and when the gun went off I tried to jog at my 10 min/mile pace. Dozens of people were passing me, and it was hard not to speed up, but I tried to stick to the plan and jog. The first mile was on paved road, and slightly down hill. I got to the first mile marker and checked my watch - 8:10.50. Whoa! Too fast. Gotta slow down.

Mile 2 - 8:27. Still too fast. Gotta slow down.
Mile 3 - 8:43. Better, but still need to slow down.
Mile 4 - 9:13. Still not anywhere near 10 minute miles, but the effort on the first four felt really easy, so I let it go and prepared to run the next set of 4 miles at a 9 min pace.

Mile 5 - 8:54.14. Pretty close.
Mile 6 - 9:01.41. Nailed it!
Mile 7 - 9:17.54. A little slow, but this was actually the hardest mile on the course. There was a very steep trail climb right at the beginning of mile 7, and once I crested the top I had to really pick it up to get the mile done in 9 minutes.
Mile 8 - 9:08.06. Not bad. Mostly downhill now for the remaining 5.1 miles

Mile 9 - 8:09.48. A little slow.
Mile 10 - 8:00.56. Perfect!
Mile 11 - 8:15.49. Close
Mile 12 - 7:42.82. By now I'm passing people left and right, but there's a heavy breather right on my tail. I've got just over 1 mile to drop him, but he's sticking to me like a shadow.

Mile 13 - 7:32.13. I tried to pull away from the heavy breather, but he's still right behind me.
Last 0.1 mile into the Rose Bowl - 0:48.42.

It came down to a sprint between me and the heavy breather as we entered the Rose Bowl and ran onto the grass. I ran fast as I could, but he was able to edge me out and cross the finish line a split second before me. It made for a really fun finish.

I'm sure without him pushing me (and vice-versa) we both would have been several seconds slower. Right after we crossed the finish, he turned around and shook my hand and thanked me for pushing him the final 2 miles of the course.

Here's my Garmin GPS info for the race. I accidentally started my watch again for a few seconds after the race was over, so ignore lap 15. That's just me standing by my truck.

In the men's 35-39 age group I was 16th out of 54

Out of all men, I was 87th out of 355

And overall I was 109th out of 635

Overall I think it was a great run. I sort of blew my plan for the first 4 miles, but stuck to the plan the rest of the way. Since I was able to hit my pace goals, even after a fast start, I was obviously too conservative on the plan in the first place. My main goal was to negative split the run and I did. The first half took roughly 58 minutes, and the second half took 53.

Effort wise, it's exactly how I want to run the marathon portion of Ironman Arizona. The only difference is I don't actually expect to speed up in the Ironman marathon. I just expect the effort to ramp up as I get into the later parts of the marathon, while I try to hang on and maintain my speed.

Next up, Tour de Palm Springs this coming Saturday.

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-02-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ironman - You Will Do This

The race plan

2010-02-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Rose Bowl Half is coming up this Sunday, so here's the plan.

First of all, the Pasadena weather report shows a 50/50 chance of rain on Friday and Saturday, but perfect running weather for Sunday with 0% chance of rain. I hope the report is right.

I plan to break the race down into 4 segments:

Mile 0 - 4 at a 10min/mile, easy pace
Mile 5 - 8 at a 9min/mile pace
Mile 9 - 12 at an 8 min/mile pace
Mile 13 at sub-8 min/mile

That should get me to the finish line in less than 2hrs, but there's a bit of hill climbing and trail running to contend with, so I don't know how well the plan will work in real life. My PR for the Half Marathon distance is 1:45:48. I don't really have my eyes on a new PR, but I always like to know the number just in case things are going really well and I want to push it.

According to the official elevation chart, I'll be climbing pretty steady from mile 2 to mile 8.5. Luckily those miles correspond with my slower pace miles, but the climb could be tougher than I anticipate and might hurt my pace later in the run. The good news is I should be able to lean forward and get some extra free speed after mile 8.5 on the downhill. Downhill running tends to be tough on the quads, so I suspect I'll feel a little bit of the burn on Monday morning!

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-02-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

Don't say you can't

Fear of getting sick

2010-01-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

I caught a cold this week. It's not really that bad, but every time I get sick, I worry that it could happen during the critical training period right before Ironman, or even worse, I could be sick on race day.

But with two school age kids, I'm not sure I can really do anything to guarantee I don't get sick. I guess I'll just continue to make sure I'm getting enough rest between training sessions, wash my hands often, keep eating right, and keep my fingers crossed.

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-01-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

These guys are so unbelievably fast!

T Minus Ten

2010-01-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a reminder from my friend Don, I realized two months have already gone by and it's ONLY Ten months until Ironman Arizona. Time keeps ticking away.

On a more current and pressing note, there's only two weeks until the Rosebowl 1/2 Marathon, and three weeks until my first Century of 2010.

The 1/2 marathon will be more like a training day, not a race for me. My plan is to take it out slow and try to negative split the run. The century on the other hand has PR potential with relatively little climbing, and a large number of participants to draft behind. So I plan to push it a little bit on the ride and see how it goes.

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-01-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

Fast before Long

2010-01-15T09:19:00.001-08:00

I spent quite a bit of time researching and studying different Ironman training methods and training plans in 2009 to prepare for the training I'd have to do this year. After a lot of reading, listening, and watching, I settled on a 20 week training plan from Endurance Nation.

There are several things I like about EN, but there are two main reasons I selected the plan from EN:

1. I agreed with and liked the way the coaches at EN break down their "Four Keys" to Ironman

Success on race day is about Execution, not Fitness
A successful race = a good run. Nothing on race day really mattters until you reach The Line which is normally around mile 18 on the run
Race within a Box defined by what you CAN control
At some point your body will want to quit. Be ready to convince your body to keep going with The One Thing that brought you to Ironman - whatever that might be.

2. I also like their idea of going Fast before going Long. The typical outseason guidance is to go long and slow during the off season so you can build a bigger engine—then make that engine faster when it matters: closer to the race. The coaches at EN turn that upside down and suggest spending the winter working on speed, so when you slow down, that "slow" pace is not as slow as it was last year. I like this idea since it's hard for me to do long training during the winter when it's colder and it gets dark so early. But it's pretty easy to make time for interval workouts and shorter, high-intensity work.

So here's how my year is broken down at a very high level:

Nov 23 - March 14 - 16 weeks of Fast training

March 15 - July 4 - 16 weeks of Long training

July 5 - November 20 - 20 week Training plan/General Race Prep

November 21 - Ironman Arizona!

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-01-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

Updated Events

2010-01-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

I decided NOT to sign up for the 13.1 Los Angeles half marathon, instead I'm signed up to do the Rose Bowl Half Marathon on February 7th.

I'm also confirmed for the Tour de Palm Springs on February 13th and the San Diego Century on May 22.

I am also seriously considering Student run LA 18-mile Friendship run on February 21, and a return to the Cruisin' the Conejo century again this year on May 8, 2010 and the

Motivational Movie Monday

2010-01-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Motivational Movie Monday

2009-12-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T05:25:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Wrigleys

Motivational Movie Monday

2009-12-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the Art of Cycling

Hawaii Ironman World Championship

2009-12-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

NBC will be showing the 2010 Ironman World Championships at 1:30 Pacific Time today.

Event Calendar

2009-12-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

Time is just absolutely flying by. It's only a week until Christmas, and it's been almost a month since I signed up for Ironman Arizona. I really need to get some endurance events on the calendar so...

I'm going to sign up for the 13.1 Los Angeles half marathon on January 10. I'm not really prepared to run a fast half, but I need to get something on the calendar to get me out on the road, and I know I can finish a half without much trouble.

I'm also going to sign up for the Tour de Palm Springs Century ride on February 13th. My brother-in-law is going to ride this one with me so it should be a good event. I've heard it's a very fast and flat event so maybe I can also get a PR on the 100mi distance.

Motivational Movie Monday

2009-12-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's Monday again. Sorry for the lack of posts last week.

Here's a motivational movie from an age group competitor in this year's Ironman Arizona

Motivational Movie Monday

2009-12-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a motivational clip from 1964

Spunky Canyon Ride

2009-12-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday will typically be my long ride day.

Here's the Garmin Profile info for the 46 mile ride we did today.

Spunky Canyon 46 mile loop

Ironman Arizona Registration

2009-12-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

Apparently, when you register on-site, it's just a place-holder. Sometime between November 30 and December 14th, on-site registered athletes need to go online and complete the registration process.

My registration is complete!

Dear Jeff,

Congratulations! You are now registered for 2010 Ford Ironman Arizona. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.ironmanarizona.com

2010 Ford Ironman Arizona

Website: www.ironmanarizona.com

Contact info: arizona@ironman.com

Please notify arizona@ironman.com immediately if your information changes.

Thank you and good luck!

Ironman Athlete Services

Registration Details

Date & Time:	11/21/10
Location:	Tempe Town Lake (Map)
Purchased at:	12/01/09
Team:	Jeffrey Wrigley
Category:	On-Site Registration
Name:	Jeff Wrigley

Motivational Movie Monday

2009-11-30T09:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun motivational commercial featuring one of my favorite cyclists.

Race Day Jersey

2009-11-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

I spent a little bit of time watching cyclists go by during the 2009 Arizona Ironman race last weekend. I was trying to determine what color jersey and helmet would stand out and be easy to spot on race day.

Most people wear different combinations of black, blue, red, and white - making people wearing those colors more difficult to spot. The only color that really seemed to stand out to me, was yellow. It didn't have to be a completely yellow jersey - just some yellow stripes were usually enough to make the jersey stand out. So my new mission is to find a race-day jersey with some yellow in it. Ideally the yellow will be up in the shoulder, sleeve, and chest area where it will be most visible while riding. I also don't want to wear a jersey that advertises for a different race or a cycling team.

Here's one I found online at http://www.bicyclinghub.com/ that fits all of my criteria. It's also a racing cut jersey (tighter fit), so it might be perfect!

Volunteering at the 2009 Arizona Ironman - Third shift

2009-11-27T11:03:00.001-08:00

After my second shift ended, I took the opportunity to go run a full loop of the run course. The marathon portion of IMAZ is a 3-loop course, so by running one loop, I was able to preview the whole course. It was a fun run because the course was all setup with cones, motivational signs, chalk drawings, and directional arrows, but no athletes. It was great to be able to see the full marathon course, exactly as it will be on race day next year.

My third and final shift on race day was from 7pm - 9pm.

I arrived around 6:30pm for my final volunteer shift of the day. I was expecting a relatively easy shift. My assumption was that there would just be a handful of volunteers 'standing guard' at the gate, making sure only athletes or people with the correct 'ticket' were allowed in to transition, and then checking again to make sure that that number on the gear bag matched the number on the wrist-band or ticket.

The reality was quite different. When I strolled over at 6:30pm, there was a HUGE line of athletes waiting to get their bags. I'm not sure if they were worried about a stampede, or theft, or maybe a combination of both, but the athletes (or their designates) were only being allowed into transition if they were escorted by a volunteer. So here's how it was working:

Athletes lined up at the gate
Volunteer checked the wristband on athletes, or tickets on non-athletes to ensure they were allowed to enter
Each person had to wait until a volunteer could escort them in
Another volunteer checked to make sure their race number matched the bag number when they left

So, I was one of several volunteers escorting folks to their bags.

About half of the people in line were athletes that raced that day. The other half were people with a ticket allowing them to pick up the bags for a specific athlete. I always tried to line up with and escort an athlete so I could talk to them about the day.

Whenever I escorted an athlete, I would ask them if they wanted to walk with me to get their bag, or if they wanted to wait by the exit and I would get it for them. It was about 50/50, with half asking me to please go get it for them because they were having trouble walking, and half saying that they wanted to walk or else they might stiffen up too much. Whenever they wanted to wait - I would run to get their stuff so they didn't have to wait too long. Whenever they wanted to walk, I would ask them how they did, if they ran into any problems, and congratulate them on their day.

Although it was slower when they wanted to walk, it was very cool to get to interview all of those athletes right after they finished an Ironman. I talked to one guy who was thrilled with his day even though he had three flats on the bike course, and only had enough equipment to change two flats. So he ended up waiting for the course mechanics to help him fix his third flat for almost 45 minutes! I walked with two different pros - one who finished 12th overall, and one who didn't even start the run because he said he was having such a bad day. I talked to several first timers, and just as many multiple-finishers. I got advice on everything from where to line up for the swim start, to what to put into my special needs bags, and what to eat before, during, and after the race! But the coolest thing was that every single athlete was so thankful for the help. And not just the help I was giving them, but the help they got all day from the 3000+ volunteers. It was very gratifying to receive thanks on behalf of all the volunteers that helped make the race happen

Volunteering at the 2009 Arizona Ironman - Second shift

2009-11-26T14:23:00.001-08:00

My second volunteer shift was immediately after the first.

9:30 - 12 noon:
By 9:30am, the transition area was clear of all athletes and everyone who was still racing was out on the bike course.

During the first transition, athletes come out of the water, take off their wetsuits, grab their bike gear-bag, and then change into cycling clothes. The wetsuit, goggles, towel, cap, and any other equipment or clothing from the swim get stuffed into the T1 bag and tossed in one of several large piles and bins.

Our job during this second shift was to clean out the changing tent and gear bags area of any trash or misplaced equipment. Then re-collect all 2500 T1 gear bags, and put them back in order from 1 - 2500 so the athletes would be able to recover them at the end of the day.

This shift wasn't nearly as fun as the first shift, but since there were so many volunteers, we had the tent cleared out, and all the gear bags in place and in order by 10:30am. Since nobody would finish the bike section of the course before noon, it meant the second shift was essentially over and all the transition area volunteers went and ate lunch together in the volunteer tent.