Will Smith’s Race Report: WestPoint Lake Sprint Triathlon

600 yard swim (20:29) + 15 mile bike (50:57) + 5K run (28:17) = Final time of 1:43:06

My primary motivation for giving this a shot was to have another opportunity to have a good time with my brother (he has done several of these). My goal for my 6 months in the States was to run a marathon and do a Sprint Tri. I’m happy to report that mission has been accomplished, plus a half-marathon trail run! I am so blessed!

I just barely pulled it together in time for this Sprint Triathlon. First of all, my nutrition and training really dropped off about a month ago. The thought of returning to South Asia has us all busy trying to fit in fun experiences and over indulging in fun foods. My swim training has also been very irregular. I think I did four mile long workouts of easy freestyle in preparation (no open water training). I got my bike about two weeks before the race and fit in one 18 mile ride. My clip-in bike shoes arrived the day before the race! O’well, besides just spending time with family, I just wanted to experience a Tri to learn, not so much to compete (good thing!)

The swim was an out and back that went around two bois and skirted a small island. In the excitement, I started out way to fast. It wasn’t long until I was feeling the pressure of people swimming up beside me. Then the water got really choppy and my mouth filled with water a couple of times when turning to breath. I really needed a few good breaths and ended up having to dog padel to get them. When I stopped, I felt like a rock and had a brief, and private, panic attack. I was actually looking for a boat to call out to for help, but none were around. I just started easing toward the island and seriously considered quitting. When I got to some shallow water, I noticed several guys walking to catch there breath. I did the same and managed to pull it together. I headed out with a slower pace and found a comfortable rhythm. On the final stretch, I felt pretty strong and felt great when I hit land.

Transition 1 was uneventful, but not really fast (1:52). More room for improvement.

The bike was a blast! Yes, I managed to get clipped in. No, I did not fall over when I came in for T2 (by God’s grace!). I could tell the clip shoes were giving me more control and power on each rotation. A lot of folks passed me on their 2-5K bikes, but I did overtake a few folks myself. It felt good to be racing.

At T2 (1:37), for some idiotic reason, I decided to run without socks. I know… stupid. I had never trained without socks. What made think this was a good idea? I dun’ no. Anyway, it didn’t take long before I felt a holes being rubbed into both of my arches. Ouch! By the end of the race I had some fat blisters. Before that, however; I experienced to joy of running like a man who’s legs felt like they were just run over by a truck. BRICK training would have also been a good idea. Even with the pain of hot spots, after the first mile I got my legs back and started to feel much stronger on the run. I was pretty pumped when I finally smocked a 65 year old guy I had been trailing for half of the run.

Despite the fact that I had no open water experience, very little bike training and such a painful run; I really had a great time and would love the chance to do it again. We need to do one of these in Dhaka!

Joyfully in Christ,
Will

PHYSIOTHERAPISTS IN DHAKA!

Joey Delacruz 0172 769 1383 joeden15@yahoo.com

Physiotherapist (certificate), fitness instructor and masseuse
Requires doctors referral for first consultation
Specializes in musculoskeletal injuries and sports rehab/management
Consultation and treatment (one visit) = 1500 taka
60-90 minute therapeutic massage = 1500 taka
Does home visits

(Currently working on getting: licensed to practice in Bangladesh and ultrasound equipment)

ANOTHER PT RESOURCE:

At Apollo hospital, Dr. Araf is a board-certified rehab medicine specialist who evaluates patients, designs PT programs and has a staff of 4 physiotherapists that carry out the rehab.

Their group has gotten good reviews as people have been pleased with the treatment and the cost is minimal.

***The DTC provides this information for the benefit of its members and does not endorse any specific provider***

SLR NOW STARTING AT 6AM!!!

SATURDAY LONG RUN WILL NOW BEGIN AT 6AM!!!

Due to the intense heat, please join Robin, Dave and the other DTC regulars at 6AM (instead of 6:30am) for the Saturday Long Run leaving from the ARA front door. We will have folks running anywhere from 10-20K. Please bring plenty of water and electrolyte drink and wear a hat and sunglasses!

See you then!

Will Smith's Granite Grinder Half-Marathon Race Report

On April 19th, 2009

Since I am planning to return to Bangladesh in July, and will have few race opportunities (except for DTC races, or course!), before I had even completed my first marathon in March, I wanted to have another race on the calendar.

The Granite Grinder is a trail run that meanders through miles of trails at the Centennial Olympic Horse Park (the location for all of the 1996 Olympic equestrian events) in Conyers, Georgia. The fun of the race was the diversity of the course. We ran across large open fields and many different kinds of wooded trails. Since the paths where narrow, I really had to surge forward in open areas and make quick passed in the wood. The steep dirt hills, stream crossing, and mud patches where added hazards that kept things interesting. Perhaps most unique, and the reason for the races name, were the vast patches of granite moonscape we traversed several times during the race.

Being so soon after the marathon, my goal was to attempt my marathon pace (10 minute), not whip out, and enjoy the outdoors. As an added treat, my daughter Katie (11) decided to come along to cheer dad on. She jumped right in as a volunteer at a water table, made new friends and had a great time.

Before the race, I was reading Jeff Galloway’s marathon training book and was fascinated by his advice about walk breaks. There are all different kinds of walk/run ratios for different levels of training, but the idea is that by giving your muscles a break early and regularly during a race, one can avoid leg soreness and run faster longer, more than compensating for lost time in the later part of a race or long run. This certainly made sense, especially after my marathon experience, so I decided to give it a try.

I probably didn’t rest as often as Jeff would recommend, but from the beginning I would run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute. As I pulled to the side to walk, I actually got comments from people like, “hey, don’t give up!” and one lady said, “Hey, don’t walk. I’ve been trying to catch up with you.” But when my one minute walk break was over I would take off and almost always pass whoever passed me during a walk break. Sometimes they would pass me later, during my next walk break, but I would usually pass them again and eventually not see them later in the race. This is probably because I was able to maintain a faster pace for more of the race than most other folks could with continuous running. At least that is what Galloway would say and that sure seemed to be what was happening. This walk/run method helped me keep a comfortable marathon pace and complete in 2:08:00 over some challenging terrain, so I will probably us it in the future to help me go further on long training runs and future races.

Joyfully in Christ,
Will

2009 ING Georgia Marathon Race Report by Will Smith

I had always considered myself an active person, maybe even athletic, but after several years of pursuing degrees, raising a young family and adapting to the environment of our new Dhaka home, I suddenly realized that describing myself as athletic was really a distant memory, not a present reality. My re-entry into the running lifestyle began with a couple of DTC SLR’s, but really took off after the Habitat for Humanity race on April 25th. That race did it for me. After that I was on my way back to regular running.

It wasn’t long before I felt the need for a formidable fitness goal. Since I was looking forward to my six month state-side assignment in Atlanta and was looking for something fun to do with my brother (who competes regularly in Sprint Triathlons), I called him up and talked him into signing up for the ING Georgia marathon.

Making the commitment, putting it on the calendar and actually registering for the race (non-refundable) did wonders for my running, but I still had a lot to learn about training. Since I didn’t want to admit I was a “beginner” or “novice” I started out with a training program that was way too aggressive, but worse than that, I really did not appreciate the training process and the time required for one’s body to develop the endurance necessary for a marathon distance. My mentality was, “the more miles the better, run through the pain, push, push, push!” I remember my SLR buddies talking about taking it easy and giving time to recover, but I just wasn’t hearing them. I had a big goal and my aggressive type A personality was just love’n it.

In my zeal, I was breaking all the training rules, but my biggest mistake was simply over training. This all came to a head in November, when 2 miles into a run, I experienced a sudden sharp pain just below my left lateral knee. I could walk, with discomfort, but running was unbearable. After a couple of weeks of this pain, I finally got it scanned and discovered it was a stress fracture. Treatment? You guessed it. No running for at least six weeks. Oh well, there goes the marathon idea; but maybe not. After 6 weeks, I was back in the States, well rested and all geared up for some cold weather running on some delightfully quiet American roads. In this three month period before the March 29th race, I had steadily increased my long-run distance to a whopping 22.5 miles! This was the closest I was able to get to marathon distance before it was time to taper for the big show.

Talk about nervous. I tossed and turned the whole night before the race. It was a relief to hear the alarm go off that morning. My brother and I ate some oatmeal and a banana and headed for the subway. Not trusting the clothing drop-off system at the race, we about froze to death waiting for the race to begin. Rusty and I exchanged some final encouraging words as he split off to find his 3:40 pace group (which he stayed with for the entire race! His first marathon! Wow!). I, on the other hand, joined the 4:30 group, but not for long.

The energy of the crowd, the excitement of the endeavor and the amazing urban atmosphere (especially in contrast to Dhaka) was so exciting for me. When the gun went off, and the crowd began to creep ahead, even though I knew most of the folk around me were doing the half-marathon, I decided not to resist the urge ease ahead to a faster pace group. My goal was 4:30, but before I knew it I had passed the 4:20 and the 4:10 groups. My spontaneous new strategy was to see if I could shave at least 10 minutes off my goal but start in the 4:10 group just to create some buffer.

For the first 8 miles, I felt awesome. The city was beautiful, the crowd was fun and I was just pumped to finally be on my way. My first pang of reality hit when I approached a huge sign that read “Half-Marathon, Turn Right”, and I watched 90% of my running companions leave me with a slightly slower and much sparser field of runners. The intensity of these runners was noticeable and sobering. I could tell from determination on their faces and the cheers of admiration from the spectators that this was going to be a long and tough journey and I had better find my rhythm and settle into my own pace.

The beautiful homes, parks and the interesting people made it easy to occupy my mind, but at mile 13 the strain on my legs had become a persistent ache and I was almost startled when the 4:10 pace group seemed to blow right past me. I tried to keep up with a couple of surges, but came to my senses and returned to my rhythm. My breathing was great and my body temperature felt perfect (55F outside), but the muscle ache was there to stay. I stayed fueled up with Power Gels and sports drink and gave myself some 60 second rest breaks at the water stations.

From this point forward, I just kept those doggies move’n. Several times, especially toward the end, a simple thought would dominate my mind “this hurts and I want to stop”, which was followed by “well then stop, dummy”. Then I would think “Wait a minute! This is what you spent all that time and energy training for, so don’t stop, it is supposed to hurt”. I remember me regularly asking myself “Is it physically possible to keep running?” “Well… yes.” “Then don’t stop, just make it to that next corner and reassess.” And that is exactly what I did. I kept negotiating with myself over and over, until I finished the race with very minimal walking.

Some of my friends know that I have my own personal cheering squad. They are my 12, 11 and 6 year old daughters, my 5 year old son and my amazing wife, Carol. It was such an encouragement to be greeted by their cheers. They managed to see me again at two other spots on the course and met me shortly after my finish. As I approached the end I was determined to finish strong, for them. I also stopped thinking about how many miles I had already done. Instead, I would pretend I was just stepping out for a 6, 5, 4, etc. mile run. I can do that! In fact, it felt kind of like the beginning of my runs when I was over training. Been there, done that, so press on! You get the idea. Just more mind games that got me to the finish.

My finish included a little surge to get past a guy I had my eye on for about 3 miles. My final time was 4:20:58 and I was thrilled to realize I had achieved all of my goals. I finished, I had fun, I spent some good times with my brother, I took minimal walk break, I felt “good” at the end, my kids got to see their Daddy follow through on a challenging goal and I finished with a desire to do it again some day. I could not be more pleased.

I really want to give a special thanks to Robin and Dave (Guys, you better include this if you use this report!). If they had not started the DTC I probably would have never found the motivation to pursue my dream of running a marathon. Every time I seemed a little discouraged and would say during a steamy SLR “Man, I just can’t imagine running a marathon”, they would always encourage me to just keep at it and be patient. Thanks for investing in people. I thank God for the pleasure of knowing your family.

Joyfully in Christ,
Will

Ironman China 70.3 Race Report: The Toughest Race You’ll Ever Love!

by Dave Martz, Born Again Triathlete
(For Robin's race report see... http://bangladeshmartzes.blogspot.com/2009/04/ironman-china-703-race-report.html)

Whether it was swimming like a salmon up stream in the strong current of the Nandu River, enduring a stiff headwind and slight up-hill climb for the first 20 miles of the bike, or battling the +42C heat and humidity of the brutal mid-day sun, Ironman China 70.3 was race a of survival. Out of the over 200 participants that started the swim only 130 or a little over 60% crossed the finish line. For me this was one, if not the, hardest things I've completed enduring for over 7.5 hours in the elements. To put this into perspective, this took more than 2.5 hours longer than my previous 70.3, of course that race was under much better race conditions.

There were many points during the 70.3 that I seriously contemplated dropping out. However, I had many positive and motivational thoughts to keep me going. On the swim, I decided that I would continue to swim even though at some points it seemed like I wasn’t making any progress because of the current. Note that the Ironman China website describes the swim, which was changed from last year, as “a sheltered swim course in the clean, slow moving waters.” Needless to say, this was a major understatement. When I finally stood up out of the water, both my legs started to cramp up from the extra hard kicking that I used through/against the current. This of course was not a good sign since I needed to get on the bike and ride 90k, and then run 21k.

After the extended swim in the endless pool where I probably swam long enough to cover 600 meters more than the required distance, I walked into T1 and again thought about dropping out. But then I remembered all the trouble that we and others went through for us to bring our tri bikes to Dhaka. To give you a sense of what it took, I had researched and bought a durable hard, double travel bike case and had it shipped to my dad where our tri bikes were being stored. My dad then took our bikes and the travel case to have the bikes broken down and packed in the case. He even bought Robin two new rims for her bike when the bike shop found a crack in her front rim. He then paid to have them shipped to where we would be staying in Dallas. We then carted the bikes/case back from Dallas to Houston (back of Honda Odyssey), from Houston to Dhaka (on two long-haul BA flights) and then from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur to Haikou (on two Air Asia flights). Not to mention the fact that we had to pay excess baggage charges for the over-weight bike case, which of course had two bikes. When I thought about all this during my walk to T1, I realized that I had to get on the bike and ride hoping that this would help loosen up the leg cramps.

After spending nearly 10 minutes in T1 carefully pulling on socks and putting on bike shoes in such a way to avoid cramping, I walked to my lone bike (there were maybe 10-20 bikes left out of 600 that started both distances that morning) and walked out the TA. I got on my bike and started to ride, unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride very hard trying to keep my heart rate (HR) low and to avoid my legs cramping. The first 20 miles were in a headwind and slightly up hill, two negative forces which slowed me down. A number of 140.6 triathletes cruised by me on their second lap. While no 70.3 participants passed me, not many were behind me to pass. I was able pass a handful of 70.3ers on this stretch despite the wind pushing against me either as a stiff headwind or crosswind. Despite these challenges, I kept positive thoughts like “you're on an open road with a wonderful surface, enjoy it because you can’t do this in Dhaka!”

As I chugged along at a slow to moderate pace, the wind continued to whistle by me. About the time I started to get in a rhythm, I was brought back to reality. The grassy median that the divided 4-lane highway was roped off with pink police-like tape to keep our lanes closed to traffic. Well one of the pieces of tape had broken free and started whipping wildly in the wind just as I was rolling over it. However, instead of running over it as I had planned, it got caught up in my front wheel casing, cranks, and rear derailleur. I went another 10 feet or so before my bike came to a grinding halt.

I got off my bike to assess the situation and concluded pretty quickly it was just fubarred. Just then two bike course marshals stopped to ask if I was okay and assisted me with untangling it. After a couple of minutes of trying to untangle the mess, I realized that it would be much simpler to take the wheels off and get the tape off. This speeded things up. In the end, I probably was on the side of the road for 5-7 minutes, which was much longer than any time penalty. I realized that the handful of people I had passed, had now passed me back.



Soon after this unplanned pit stop, I came up to a km marker and thought I feel like I should be halfway. However, the sign read 30km mark or 1/3rd the course in about 1:16. At this rate I would finish the bike course nearly 1 hour slower than my Eagleman bike time. Once I got to the midway point, the course changed took us through some small villages. While the road quality wasn’t as nice as the tarmac on the highway, this was offset by the wonderful villagers who came out to cheer us on. Also, it was during this stretch of 10-15km that we were able to climb some short yet welcome hills, which forced me out of the saddle and allowed me to ride in a different position than aero bars. After a rather nice descent, we headed back towards Haikou on the wonderful highway; however, this time the wind was either at our backs or neutral at worst. Once I accepted the fact that my biked time was going to be a PW for me, I just tried to enjoy it as much as possible. I even stopped for a couple of minutes at an Aid Station to fill up my bottle with Gatorade. Things were going okay until I reached the 85km mark, and my left quad started to cramp up so I slowed down even more. Eventually, I made it back to the TA and took another 10 minutes or so in T2 to carefully change my socks and shoes and replenish my nutrition.

I then walked through the TA and embarked on the 13.1km slog. I started out running, but quickly realized that something wasn’t right when my HR shot up to 160, and I should say I wasn’t running very fast to justify this. So I started walking till my HR came down to 130. After walking for about five minutes, I started running (at best maybe 10 minutes pace); however, my HR shot back up again only after about two minutes. I continued this run-walk-run approach for the first few klicks before I realized I really needed to get my corps temperature under control. At the next Aid Station, I loaded up with cold sponges and chunks of ice blocks in my shirt. This seemed to work as my HR didn’t spike up when I started to run, really jog. It was a little after the 5km mark that both my legs started to cramp up. So back to the run-walk-run approach I’d been using. However, I noticed that when I walked I still had the cramps and when I ran they didn’t get worse, at least not yet. I then focused on a new strategy, run to the next Aid Station, which were about 1.5-2km apart, stop and load up on Gatorade, ice and sponges.

I should mention something about the run course here. They designed it so that you ran out 5km, turned around and ran back 5km to the TA, and passed it at the 10km mark. While this made managing logistics (e.g., Aid Stations and Medical Tent) easier for the race organizers and volunteers, this really tested whether you wanted to continue on with the run. For the people doing the 140.6, they had to pass the TA three times as they had to complete two loops of the course. Imagine having to run by your bike and keep the idea out of your mind that you could just stop, pick up your bike and things and jump on the bus back to the hotel. For me, I had to fight the urge to stop running and again drop out. Even though I wasn’t even to the halfway point, I started saying the mantra “just get to the finish line” when I started to see the TA and began to run by it. Fortunately, my mind and will prevailed, and I ran past the TA only stopping at the Aid Station to refill my shirt with ice and cold sponges, as well as get more Gatorade. I think it was about this time that I started dowsing my head and face with cold water.


I have to say that the second half of the run is a bit of a blur. I just slogged along from one Aid Station to the next. There were points later in the race where I saw Robin, who I’d been chasing the minute we stepped into the water. The last few km were designed, again to torture us with out and backs. While it was nice to see Robin a few times and have an idea how many minutes I was behind her, it’s very unsettling to know be within sight and earshot of the finish only to have to turn around and run away from it. The last five km were definitely the most difficult part of the race. I was drained from being out the sun, and the cramping in my legs was getting worse. Even though my gait probably looked more painful for the spectators to watch, I get going. However, just as I felt that I was getting closer to the finish and could even hear them announcing finishers, my bubble burst when one of the course volunteers said, “you’re almost there, just ONE MORE KILOMETER.” This coupled with the fact that I heard Robin’s name being announced at the finished really took what little steam I had left in my engines. As many endurance athletes are familiar with the idea of hitting the wall, this was the most profound of the many walls that I’d hit that day. At this point, I thought let’s walk for a few minutes. This little respite was just enough to allow me to run the last little bit and cross the finish line!

I look back on the day and am amazed that I was able to overcome the physical and psychological challenges that confronted me. It also made me realize that our training in Dhaka either would need to be adjusted or the distance and race conditions we do are reduced. At the end of the day, I’m satisfied with the accomplishment of being 124 out of the 130 to finish the race.

My Quick Stats:
Swim: 01:13:34, 155 out of 162 who finished the swim
T1: 8:05
Bike: 03:26:11, 112 out of 160 who finished the bike
T2: 10:00
Run: 02:39:55, 82 out of 130 who finished the run
Overall: 07:37:44, 124 out of 130 who finished the 70.3

Hello DTC'ers!

We are still running every Saturday morning, 6:30AM from the American Club. Please join us for a run at ANY distance. We have runners going from 5-15 miles these days.

It is getting HOT, so please bring water and/or an electrolyte drink, sunglasses and hat.

This will be our last SLR before Ironman China 70.3! That race takes place in Haikou, China (Hainan Island) on April 19th. Wish us (Dave and Robin) luck!

Stay cool Dhaka runners and triathletes!!!