City Coach | Nathanael Horne's Blog

Escape From Alcatraz Race Report

Photos Here Well, I survived the race, that's probably one of the most positive things I can say. I went into this race undertrained due to work and real-life commitments and expected to complete the course without drama (and maybe a good bike leg). However, there was a further monkey wrench to be had. I managed to place myself right in the path of a sneeze from a very sick person on Thursday prior to the race. I knew this was bad news, and felt ill for the rest of the day on my flight to SFO. Friday, however, I felt well, and did my last workouts at Gloria's brother's athletic club with the lovely nieces and nephews Johnny, Elena and Mia. I spent the early morning hours of Saturday setting up my sweet borrowed (cyclocross) bike from a good roadie friend, (Sean Co) who lives in Berkeley. Then, disaster. I started to feel nauseated and all energy drained form my body, the virus had completed it's incubation period. I realized I had now started to get sick- damn that errant sneeze! I felt so bad that I didn't know if I would be able to participate in the race (especially as I was anxious about the legendary swim anyway). We relocated to the house of Gloria's good friends Holly and Doug that lived literally a few hundred yards from the transition zone for the last night prior to the race. I spent a restless night, not knowing if I would even go to the start. However, when my alarm went off, the adrenaline kicked in and I felt actually OK. I racked my bike and boarded the San Francisco Belle, the paddle steamer that takes you to the start at Alcatraz Island. Advice: get on the Belle early so you can grab a prized piece of floor around the perimeter, unless you want to stand up for an hour and a half. The swim start was rough, with all 2000 participants unloaded in 6 minutes, There was a lot of contact and flailing to be had, but the chaos cleared after about 10-15 minutes. At least the water was a warm (for SF) mid fifties, and I didn't notice the cold (thanks Coach Cane for the hood!). The current was slow this year and times were slow as well, I hit the exit right on and changed into my backup shoes for the long run to the transition. The bike felt great for the first 5 miles or so, and I loved passing people on my steel 'cross bike with box section rims and 28 mm wide tires as they were riding their tricked-out tri rigs and Zipp 909's. Then mortality reared its ugly head and the virus that I was afflicted with (could it have been H1N1?) made itself known and I ran out of gas. I dialed it back until kids on tricycles were passing me, and limped into transition knowing that a long and hilly 8 miles awaited me. I had fun on the run, jogging it in, joking with my fellow competitors, walking the 400-step sand ladder, and making it back to the finish and my boo-ful Gloria, our friend Alyse (who was volunteering) and my lovely Uncle Tom who had come out to take photos. I was actually heartened by my top 10% finish, as if I can finish that high in a big national qualifier-only triathlon while ill, what can I do while well? I guess we will see at Philly next weekend. Thanks to everyone who came out and helped me with this one, sorry I was so bummed out, my apologies I was sick. I spent the next week in bed.

Update River Road Hill Climb Time Trail

I had fun, and didn't get last in my category, I felt like I could have gone harder. I am thinking about signing up for the 7 Lakes Time trial June 7th at Bear Mtn. This weekend went to lake Bantam in Ct and got some open water practice swims in, as well as some cross-training kayaking. A bit anxious about the swim at Alcatraz, but hopefully I will survive.

Back to the Bike

Yesterday I renewed my road bike racing license, and signed up for the River Road Hill Climb Time Trial. There are only 15 other entries in the pro/1/2/3 division, so I cant finish worse than 15th in my return to USAC-sanctioned racing. I'm actually excited about this event. 1.5 miles of pain.

Return to Racing at Scott's Run 5K

The CC squad fast ladies and I got down at the Scott's Run 5k this AM. I had looked forward to another several weekends without racing, but coach said the word, so I was there. Had to break the seal sometime after my winter hibernation. I am glad I went. It was a SI-tastic crowd and post race BBQ with a beer truck, and we collectively collected a bunch of hardware (1st in ag and 8th overall for me). See Coach's blog for details. It felt good to run fast again.

Late Start to Spring

Coach Jon came up with a great training plan for me to work on my main weaknesses and get me back into shape, and things are coming along, but work has conspired to cut into my swim time. Well, actually to eliminate my swim time, at this rate I will be swimming with water wings or only doing duathlons. Hopefully things will let up soon and I will be able to get back in the pool before I forget everything coach Watson taught me this winter. As it is, it looks like the spring training races are off the calendar and I may start the season with one of my main events: the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon in June. I hear the swim is tough, so I am a bit nervous.

Catching Up After a Long Winter's Nap

I finished the racing season at the end of November with the epically cold Staten Island Cross, where I had fun and got 4th in my division (the old,slow guys - but it didn't feel that way). I have forgotten most of the details, but Anthony Skorochod got some good photos, thank goodness, and I bought a few for posterity. I then settled into a winter torpor, broken by a trip to my hometown of Santa Barbara, CA, where I had very similar experiences to the author of this blog, as I rode my dad's almost 40 year old steel 10 speed on some speedy race rides and hung with the leaders on most occasions. I then proceeded to do nothing athletic whatsoever until repeated occurrences of my tri friends telling me what great workouts they were having spurred me to get my ass off the couch. I arranged a swim (my weakest sport) coaching session with Robert Watson which was awesome, and finally got me excited about working out again, which resulted in me setting a PR in average watts in this afternoon's City Coach Computrainer session. Look out world, I am back in the saddle (and pool, and running shoes) again!

The Anti-Hole Shot at Whitmore's Cross

Its 'crossing time again, and Glo and I went the Whitmore's Cyclocross race in the Hamptons last weekend, braving the freezing conditions and arctic wind. At the start, I was not only pretty far back, but due to my inability to buckle my helmet with thick gloves on, I started at least 200 yards behind everyone else. It was part of my plan to start at the rear of the field anyway, as I haven’t done a ‘cross race for years, and it is widely known that for every triathlon completed, one loses a small modicum of bike handling skills (assuming one had any to begin with). Given the number of tris I have done in the last two years, my bike handling skills are now not even on a par with those of my teammate Neil Ross's 3 year old son Hugo, whom I saw do a beautiful flying remount on his tiny bike over the weekend, the kid is ‘cross crazy! Anyway, the first part of my plan (to start at the rear) went perhaps too well, but at least I was able to hit the first few sections with minimal traffic and get a feeling for the bike. I started passing people by the barriers and it was a pass-fest from there on. My handling skills came back alright, though after a few laps I started hitting lousy lines out of fatigue. My lack of workouts and excessive calorie consumption of late have conspired to endow me with a beer gut of Jan-Ullrich-in-the-offseason proportions, which is harder to move around the course and probably throws off my balance. Luckily in the masters B field people are nice and let you pass if you look like you can pull it off. I get the feeling the other fields might not have been so nice. I worked my way up to Kissena riders Dave, Gui, Eloy, and Ian, and watched how they handled the course, trying to learn a few things from these guys with more experience. I also had trouble keeping the feeling in my hands (did anyone mention it was cold?), which made shifting/braking and holding onto the handlebars difficult. There was also a steep section that most of those guys had no trouble riding, but I felt more comfortable running, so I guess I need to work on my power. However, the most important thing I learned is about the “bell” lap. There is a lot of cowbell ringing in cross, and when I went through the finish area after about 28 minutes or so, I thought I heard one being rung by someone near the officials, and I thought to myself ”I know this race is 40 minutes, so this can’t be the bell lap…” and wrote the bell off as being wielded by an enthusiastic spectator Well, as it turned out, yes, it could be the bell lap, and I was waved to a halt when I next crossed the finish line after 35 minutes or so. I thought ‘crossers were tough, and if anything the race would be longer than 40 minutes. Maybe in Europe. Lesson learned, 8th in my category. It was amazing to watch the guys in the other categories fly over the course after we were done. I was psyched after the race and ALMOST did the Sunday race, but ended up having to get back to the city earlier than expected, I will do the race next Sunday in Staten Island, anyone want to hop in the zipcar? I put some photos up here http://picasaweb.google.com/nshorne/200811WhitmoreSCross?authkey=b7SI9ExROO8#

Get to the Danceoff!

The Get to the Point 5K was super fun, even though I was sick all week and didn't want to run, I guess I carried some fitness from tri season into the getting fat, beer drinking season and Pr'ed with a 17:56, and got 8th overall, 3rd in AG (tough AG!). Johanna did awesome! see her blog for details. Glo and amigos Kara and Mirm did good as well. Photos here.
One highlight (or lowlight depending on your perspective) was the Billie Jean Danceoff, which resulted in a 6 pack for me, and I was too embarrassed to post, but I was finally convinced to do so, edited for brevity:

New friend Ryan rocked it even harder on his danceoff, but I wasn't quick enough to video it.

Westchester

My knee bothered me all week from my accident at the Mighty Hamptons race, so I ran on it only once during that week. At least I was well-rested for the Westchester Triathlon. The weather was gorgeous again, just like last year. The course had some changes: the swim was considerably longer this year, in response to complaints about last year's short swim, and the run was slightly different as well, and also seemed longer to me. Those two things conspired to make my overall time about 10 minutes slower than last year, but I improved my overall place to 16th. My AG placing was second again. I felt good on the swim and the bike, but couldn't muster any "oomf" on the run, perhaps due to the long racing season or my knee injury. The Post race was cool again- with my favorite thing being the beer tent, its been a long season and I am looking forward to some unstructured workouts. Yan P took the attached photo.

Mighty Rainy Hamptons

Light rain turned into pounding downpour by the time Glo and I arrived at transition for the Mighty Hamptons olympic distance triathlon . By the time I had put down my mat, it was already filled with puddles. Glo and I set up and then took refuge in the car until the rain let up. People did not seem to be scared off by the weather, and the race started on time in between showers. The swim seemed to be longer then 1500M, just like last year, and was super chaotic, with lots of contact and jostling. A downpour in the middle of the swim made sighting difficult as well. Glo says she was kicked in the face a few times and I was actually grabbed on the arm mid swim by someone who seemed to come out of nowhere, which freaked me out.
The ride started well, but on the first hill, my chain slipped as I was coming out of the saddle and I (POW!) bashed my knee into a sharp edge of my aerobars. OUCH! I continued to ride, but thought I was going to have to drop out for a few minutes, however the adrenaline seemed to dull the pain and there didn't seem to be any fracture or permanent damage other than a cut and a big bruise/swelling. I didn't know if I would be able to do the run after that, so I concentrated on a good bike split, despite having less use of my right leg than usual due to the knee-bashing. I was hoping to come in under an hour, and I got close, coming in at 1:01 on a wet, windy and hilly course, so I was happy with that (2 min faster than last year). The run seemed long and slow, but ran down and I took last years 2nd place finisher in a final 2 up sprint to the line by a fraction of a second. I finished 5th overall, 2 spots better than last year, and about 2 minutes faster, so I was pretty happy, especially given the quality and size of the field. Now we'll see if my knee mends enough to do Westchester, as I could barely walk after the race ended and it stiffened up.
Glo and Alyse Courtines also did great, handling the wet conditions on the bike with aplomb, but Glo's wet running shoes ended up giving her several blisters per foot. I might have gained another convert to the Zoot shoes I have loved all season, as they handle wet conditions very well. The wet and rainy conditions continued through the morning, so we didn't stay for the awards, which I regretted, as they gave great prizes last year. Next time I will def. stay.