blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

Last fall I won the stair race here in Stamford (Tackle Trump Parc). I used this as a motivation to apply for the Empire State Building Run-Up which is an invitation based race. This means that you fill out an online form and tell them your last results and how good you are and then you hope they select you. This year there were 1200 applicants and 300 got selected. Luckily I was one of them.
Besides the triathlon training I do, I only did one stair training in Pittsburgh. I decided to enjoy this race as much as possible who knows if they will ever invite me again. But to my surprise I was super nervous the night before. So I decided to do some more preparation the night before the race. I read various article and watched youtube videos. It is obvious that the key to the race is the entrance to the narrow doorway. (Start) But all this youtube videos made me even more nervous. I decided that the only solution is to stay calm in the start chaos so I did some mental preparation and went to bed.
I felt good the next morning and traveled into NYC. The temperature was below freezing and it was foggy. So foggy, that I couldn’t see the top of the Empire State Building… Yes it is that tall. I got my race package and changed into my racing gear did a warm up and after two bathroom stops (Yes, I was still nervous) I was ready to go. We had to line up in the gathering area 15min before the start. And that is also were the race begins. When we were lead to the start there was pushing and elbowing to get further upfront. Apparently, everybody had the same goal: Starting from the front line. Somehow I managed to end up in the 3 line on the very left side behind the pool of the staring door (small pole). Well there was nothing to change now, at least there were 4 more rows behind me.
Suddenly the start signal. I don’t know how I managed to get past all the obstacles, but only a few second later I was a few feet away from the doorway still on the very left side. There was lots of pushing and people screaming: “Take it easy!”. I tried to stay mentally calm and endured the pushing and squeezing. (Don’t fight it go with the flow). 20 seconds after the start signal I had my first foot on the stair. But guess what so had many others… I was corned between people till about the 10th floor when crowd suddenly seemed to thin out. Then I realized why. Even though I tried to stay calm and didn’t start too fast with all the people around me. I was already tired after 10 floors, but I buried this thought again right away. I just kept going two steps at the time. There were still enough people around me which I had to pass. This made the next few floors go by quickly. On floor 20 we had to run through a hallway to the next stair. There were also some cups which water which I made use of. After the first sip I realized that I had to pay the toll for being nervous with my stomach. But who cares in a 12-15min race? I passed floor 30 with something over 4 minutes which made me happy. I needed several floors to calculate a potential end time, no wonder since all my blood must have been in my legs. Then I suddenly was in the zone till floor 50. That is when I realized that there is “only” as much left as when I did the race in Stamford. Considering my legs and breathing I wasn’t that confident anymore but I rationalized that I can endure this for a few more minutes. Around this time I had to overtake more and more women which started 5min ahead of the man, this made the race harder since I was only able to use one side of the hand rail and had to run on the outside.
I also tried to focused on not hunching over since that is what happens when you get tired while stair climbing. But it is so bad for the breathing because the size of the lungs get reduced. This kept me occupied till floor 65 that is where we had to crossover again to another stair. I took another sip of water to wet my mouth from the dry air and on I went.
The last 20 floors was a pure mind game. The legs were hurting and the lungs were burning the only thing in my body which was in favor of keep going was my brain!
And then a helper said taht there is only one floor left. It almost felt like waking up from a painful dream. I did this last flight and tried to run as quickly as possible around the observation deck to the finish. I passed the finish line with 13:56. I was supper happy for about one second till the pain hit me. Where did all my adrenalin go? I could barely stand and needed several minutes till I was thinking halfway clearly again. I’m so glad nobody was filming up there.
Unfortunately, it was still foggy and I couldn’t see anything up there. So I went to floor 61 where they served food and drinks.

Overall an awesome but painful experience! I finished 45 overall and 14 in my age group. Results here
Here is a video from last year. Which gives a good overall impression!

As with my last stair climb only a few hours later my legs are only tired (not sore) but my lungs are still hurting and I was coughing all day. (Ricola helped at least a little)

EDIT:
Here is a video from this year. You can see me at 1:21.
That was apparently filmed on floor 74. I didn’t even notice

After the experiences this season and considering the goals for next year. I decided to get professional support from a coach. Starting December 1st, I will have a personal coach which will help and guide me trough the next season. He has successfully completed 10 Ironman’s and is a much better cyclist and swimmer then I am.
I got to know Douglas through a mutual friend at UBS. This friend convinced me to join the training group for some track workouts. Shortly after that I was not only attending the track workout, but did also some bike interval training and swim trainings. I really enjoy training with Douglas and his group and look forward to many more trainings together. I hope that with Douglas experience I can improve the effectiveness of my training and bring my triathlon fitness to the next level!

More information about Douglas and his coaching can be found on the Multi Sport Partners website.

At the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC, I got a goody bag with various things in it. Amongst them was a little blue carabiner which can be used as a key ring. Interesting about that is that is an advertisement for the “European Union”.
I was thinking about it, why would they advertise to athletes? Or is it a general advertisement campaign in the states? I wonder what the goal of such a campaign would be. It obviously got me thinking, but I doubt that it will have a big impact on US citizen in general? Another interesting question is, who is behind this campaign. By that I mean who is paying for it? Did all the countries together decided that it is worth the money?

So many questions. If anybody has and Idea or knows something about it. Please fill me in!

Jihaa! I did it!
Only one week after the Marathon in Washington DC. I competed in a stair race for the American lung association.

I not only competed… I WON THE RACE!

Two weeks ago (one week before the marathon) the organizers offered some practice time on the stairs. Since I haven’t done stairs since Pittsburgh (in the cathedral of learning) I welcomed this opportunity. I did two training runs, both times in 3:40. I tried to do the first run slow and take every single step, but I realized way to late that I’m not really going slow. The second time I took two steps at a time and was half way up in 1:30. Considering the marathon a week later, I decided to slow down for the second half and save myself the pain of pulling it through. This training gave me some valuable information: I should take two steps at the time and aim for a 3min time.

The racers where started one by one with a 30 second gap in between. This would prevent too much overtaking on the narrow staircase. I was assigned number 18. And to my luck number 16 was missing. The race was started by the first runner, and I got more and more nervous. Only a few more minutes till it was my turn. I started to get nervous and decided that it would only be to my benefit if I would lose some weight by going to the bathroom once more.

I tried to start with a “moderate” pace. But considering all the adrenaline in my body it was more like I was bitten by a snake. I overtook the next runner which started 30sec in front of me after about floor 7. She was very nice and let me pass when she heard me coming. Thanks! On floor 9 it was time to check my time. I was expecting 45 seconds, the actual time was 42 seconds which satisfied my. Especially, since I was still feeling fresh! On floor 18 I had about 1:20 and knew that I was on the right track. But my legs started to get really heavy. I passed floor 25 with 2:00 minutes and then I had tunnel vision. I tried not to slow down but more and more parts of my body started to work against me. With 5 floors left I told myself that I can do it. It is the last thing between me and 3 weeks rest. And then finally I saw the finish line. I pressed the time token on the time measurement device, walked two more steps and fell on my knees. A helper came asked me if everything was okay. I showed my thumb up and tried to catch my breath again. My lungs where burning from the dry air in the staircase. It felt similar to running too hard in minus temperatures outside. (My lungs were still hurting a day later but to my surprise the muscles were doing fine) But all the pain didn’t matter to me. The only thing I was thinking about was that I achieved my goal.

At the award ceremony I learned my finisher time. I did the 34 floors (590 steps) in 2min 56sec and therefore improved the old record by 10 seconds! I then received my age group medal and a nice plaque for being the fastest male. It was a good feeling to be “the fastest” the crowd was cheering and some policeman and firefighters were giving me high fives. But I also was missing my friends at the ceremony.

After my first marathon which didn’t go as well as expected I was able to finish this season with a happy ending! Sometimes the hard training doesn’t pay off and sometimes it does. This race will certainly help me to start the training for the new season, which starts in 3 weeks from now

Results

Link to the pictures from the organizer will follow here.

Last Sunday I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC.

I finished my first marathon in 3:19:00. Not quite as fast as I hopped, but still a good time I guess
I think I know now what it means to hit the wall… I started out “strong” and in a moderate pace with the 3h10 pace group. Everything went smooth up until mile 20. I was enjoying the scenery and the crowd and then I suddenly noticed that I more and more was just focusing on me and the few fellow runners around me which haven’t dropped back. This was somewhat an indication that I wasn’t in the flow anymore. But I tried to depress this idea and relax, back then I thought that is just a phase which most runners have to go through give it another mile and everything will be fine… Unfortunately, it came different. I pushed myself to stay with the pace team till about mile 22. But the wind picked up and the group which was initially several hundred people big was reduced to about 15 people. So not much drafting anymore
I promised to myself if I made it to the next water station I would walk while drinking a cup of water. So I did, after the walk I started running but from there on it just went downwards. I quickly lost track of the pace group and had a hard time to keep going. I would set myself goals how long I have to run till the next time I would walk. But these goals became shorter and shorter… I even had to walk the grueling finish hill couple hundred meters before the finish. This way I lost 9 minutes on the last 4 miles. I finally crossed the finish line and didn’t know if I should be happy that it (the suffering) was over or if I should be disappointed since I missed my goal by 9 minutes!

My finisher time of 3:19:00 is not that bad, but it’s all about expectations. This just means I will have to do a Boston qualifier next year
At least I held up to my statement which I have been saying for many years: “My first marathon should be under 3h30, since more time doesn’t make it more pleasant!”

See me crossing the finish line. Finisher video: 3:19:04-3:32:58 (20 sec into it)

Pictures will follow…

Oh no! The Boston Marathon 2011 sold out on the first day. Last year it took about 2 months to fill up.

My goal was to run qualifying time in Washington DC at the Marine Corps marathon in 1.5 weeks and then sign up for Boston. And now this option is gone. I can’t run in Boston in 2011!

The organizers at least were surprised as much as I was. To use their words it was “unprecedented”

The only problem I have right now is the motivation. Should I even care to run qualification time? It doesn’t matter anyway… Or should I just do it and say at least I made qualifying time even though I didn’t get in? Well people who know me well already know the answer…

Stay tuned for it

Today, I run the Hartford half marathon. My goal was to qualify for a spot in the NYC half marathon. The requirement for that is a time under 1:23:00. This would also mean that I would improve my personal best time from 2005, which is 1:23:26. I tried to improve my best time three times already and failed every time. Well today was attempt #4.

Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for NYC half marathon and also missed my personal best time by 4 seconds. This was because it was too windy, too hilly, I was sick 2 weeks ago, and I had to run alone. Excuses, excuses… what it boils down to is that I should have trained harder and run faster

Well better luck next try…

Result page with finisher video and pictures. Enter my BIB: 7313

In the last post I wrote about the experience of my Olympic distance triathlon. But I didn’t mention my analysis of it. Yes, I know this could be boring and no one cares how I could have saved a few more seconds. But I like to talk a little about the analysis and especially the attitude of an athlete in this post.
When I crossed the finish line, I was happy and I knew that I gave my best. But then a few minutes later when I had the receipt with the detailed split in my hands I immediately started thinking I could have done it faster… I was thinking in which part I could have saved a few more seconds and maybe even finished under 2h 15min. Why is that?

Before I started this race I had a goal. I wanted to be faster than my last Triathlon in Stamford (2:21:08). I also set an aspiration for 2h 15min. So finishing with 2:17:45 is perfectly within this range, and that I didn’t hit the 2:15 shouldn’t be a big deal since it was a stretch goal. But as an athlete that doesn’t matter. As soon as you achieved one goal, you think you can do it faster the next time. I guess this is just the eternal drive to get better…

Then I look at this race from the other perspective. I wanted to improve the time from Stamford. But what I didn’t consider were the differences in the races. First off, the swim leg was shorter due to the low tide. Which saved me several minutes (let us say 3min) and then the transition are which were smaller and closer to the exit. Comparing the time of the professionals Stamford was another 3min faster. Admittedly, the Stamford Triathlon had a hillier bike course which is hard to factor in, but looking at the pros again, it seems that they were about 3min faster (also considering that the field in Washington DC was better). So the major factors seem to make the Stamford course 3 min faster.
This leads to the conclusion that I improved my time not “only” by ~4min, but rather by ~7min. And there is still the excuse of the wet roads

After this though process I was much happier with my time from this Sunday. This seems weird, since I just should be happy with my time in the first place. After all I gave my best…

Any other athletes out there, who go through the same process?

EDIT: Some pictures from the event!

I hope many of you are waiting with great anticipating for my triathlon report!
Well, here he is:
The weather forecast wasn’t great and so was the actual weather. It was already raining when I got up at 5am in the morning. But, since I knew from military that I’m pretty much water proof and that is all in your head it didn’t bother me much. Not so many other athletes, “only” 5000 from about 7000 bothered to show up
After my morning routine and a long wait for the shuttle bus I arrived at the transition area. Within a few minutes I was soaked and shivering because of the cold temperatures. So the first thing I did was putting on my wetsuit which made the early rainy morning hours much nicer. The transition area was on natural ground and wasn’t ready to swallow all the water so I was super happy to have a plastic box for my gear. Since my neighbors bathing towel was underneath the water surface.

For whatever reasons the organizers delayed the start by 25min. At the same time they also promised sunny and warm weather which should arrive shortly. Guess what! That didn’t happen =)
The next big challenge for me was finding a restroom… even though they had massive amounts of “Porta Potty” I had to wait 20min till I was able to re leave myself. This was exactly 3min before I had to line up. Amy who hasn’t seem me for the last hour was already nervous where I would be and if I would make it on time. But I did. Since I consider myself not a strong swimmer I decided to start from the back of the 12th wave and try my best at drafting. I figured at the end it would be less hectic and I could focus on my swimming. Well I was proven wrong. The water was very crowded, since there was a wave every 4 min. There were swimmer everywhere; it was almost a fight zone. Giving and receiving hands/arms/elbows was a common thing for the whole 1500m. Somehow I manage to come through the water without a knockout and a satisfying time of 28min 46sec. The run to the transition area was rather long and is always an interesting experience in a dizzy state after the swim. I managed to find my bike and make may way to the exit. There was Amy who screamed some encouraging words and off I went.
The bike ride went really smooth. It is a flat course with only a few turns which was good for the rainy weather. Here again, I noticed that I was in wave 12 I had to overtake many people and was screaming “passing” all the time. Apparently it is really hard for bike riders to follow the right side of the road. To my surprise, I also saw many mountain bikes with suspension on the course. After only 1:04:53 I was back where I started.
After a stabling my bike and putting my running gear on. I was on my favorite part of the race. Amy once more had some encouraging words for me.

I run past the Washington Monument and was enjoying the scenery. That is also the reason I missed the first mile marker. The only indication of how fast I was going was the amount of people I was passing on the run. They even cheered me on with things like “Wow, you’re fast” or “Keep it strong”. I passed mile 2 with 13min, so I knew that I wasn’t slacking of too much. But since most people were running considerable slower, I had a hard time to keep my pace. Until at mile 4 another guy passed me. This was a blessing… I had finally something to focus on. I only lost about 100m on him on the next 2 miles. Which resulted in a run split of 39:01.

Thanks to jetBlue I received a print out of my race splits a few minutes after I passed the finish line. What an awesome service! It even included my correct division place (I was in the last wave of my age group).

Here you can see an animation of the race. Its easy to observe how much catch up I did in the bike and run leg

Other facts about this weekend:
600 miles (965km) car ride
12h of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (BBC Audio book)

EDIT:
Some pictures and videos from the race photographer: asiorders

Tomorrow, I will be competing in the National Triathlon in Washington DC. I already arrived here yesterday Friday to get settled in and have time for the race preparation. Amy and I had also some time to explore the city. We were on the top of the Washington memorial and visited the American History Museum.

The race seems to be organized very well, and everything is going smooth. The best part of the day, was the organized bike ride from the Hotel to the transition zone. Two Police car with blue light and sirens escorted us (several hundred athletes). I felt like a celebrity, while we passed the white house and the World War II memorial. After the bike ride, I did a test swim in the Potomac. They say this is one of the dirtiest rivers in the US, and that might very well be. I was barely able to see my hand in the water during the swim stroke. Unfortunately, I bumped my knee into the ramp to get out of the water. So it is a little swollen and I am hoping that everything will be fine till tomorrow since I will be racing anyway

Apparently, there are 7000 athletes competing in 44 waves
I am in wave #12 and will be starting 7:44am (EST)!

Check back in a few days to read how I did…