Weekend Roundup

This was a busy weekend. Saturday morning the Wingman and I went for a ride with Wynn & Teresa. We went out to Mattituck and had a planned breakfast stop. But first up is my favorite part of the ride: the oil tanks. It's not the tanks I like, but the hills over there. Wynn and I were riding side by side chatting like a couple of old ladies and before I knew it, we were up the hill. Once you make the first climb, it's like a roller coaster up and down the rest of the way. Your momentum carries you over the smaller hills and you can power down the hills. I got down into a crouched position to minimize the wind resistance and let 'er rip!! After the hills we made a pitstop at the beach. It almost turned into a big mistake. Immediately we smelled bacon and looked to see where the Wingman was. We turned to him said "NO." I was afraid he was going to storm the people that were cooking there and eat their bacon.

Once we left the beach we had another hill to climb to get up to Sound Ave. We lucked out and had no traffic to deal with getting across the road. From here we rode for a few miles and made our way to Mattituck for breakfast. I ordered oatmeal with fruit and man oh man was it good. It hit the spot and I knew it wouldn't haunt me for the ride home. As always, the conversation was great and before we knew it, it was time to head home. Wingman and I had to get home to shower and meet up with some of my friends in Huntington.

We bid Wynn & Teresa farewell and went a more direct route home to save time. We were fortunate to have a slight tailwind, but needless to say it was a hammerfest going home. I wanted to get a good workout in for the second half of the ride and I think we succeeded.

We got home, quickly showered, and drove up island to Huntington to the Cheesecake Factory. It was a farewell luncheon for my friend who will be moving out of state next month :-( The 3 of us spent a lot of time together studying and I think we were an effective group. Each one of us brought something different to the table. It was great to get together one last time. I think we spent over 3 hours in the restaurant talking. I will certainly miss our conversations, as well as RAM and the CLWBIC.....

Sunday I had a long run planned. Since I am getting back into running long, I'm not too concerned about my speed right now. I think I'm about 20 seconds slower per mile on the long runs then where I was at in the spring before it warmed up. The most important thing was to feel good the entire run. And I did.

When I got home, Wingman went out for his run. I planned on making chili for the football games on TV. First, I was in a celebratory mood and went out to Williams-Sonoma and bought a sweet new pot. I then went to the supermarket to pickup the missing ingredients for the chili. When I got home I went to work whipping up a batch of chili. I think it could very well last the week! The great thing about it is if you let it sit around long enough, it gets hotter. Can't wait.

I'm heading into my last week of tri training. One more race this season and then it's the offseason for me. I have some goals for the offseason and it's time to get to work on them.

Badges?!?! We don't need no stinkin' badges......

This summer saw many changes to my race schedule. First I was sidelined from running by a shin splint. I had to scramble and find a race of equal swim/bike distance to my "A" race, but without a run (referred to as Aquabike or Aquavelo). Originally I was going to race in Williamsburgh, VA but instead I found myself in southern NJ to put an exclamation point on the end of my season. Or so I thought.......

We had a tropical storm in NY two weeks ago and as part of cleaning up the yard and bringing the BBQ back onto the deck, I hurt my back. I have a cranky SI joint to begin with, but one false move while lifting the BBQ and I really threw it out. I was hobbled for two days and sought treatment from two of the best manual therapists I know - Vinny and Sinead. They did their best to free me up, but something like this doesn't heal overnight. It took some time for the inflammation to calm down. When the race rolled around Saturday morning I was feeling better, but not near 100%.

Wingman did his usual awesome job of putting my race number on the bike. He is meticulous when it comes to cutting down the number to the right size and can attach it smoothly so it doesn't interfere with me.

The Beast - locked, loaded, and ready to roll

We got to the race venue and it was a little dark. It is a really small race that is very low key. They cap it at 350 athletes so it's never really crowded on the course. It's so low key, that you can rack your bike anywhere in transition you want. There were no assigned racks. I really wasn't concerned about location so I found a spot on the end of a rack near the side fence. I dropped off my bag and hit the port-a-john. The line was short so I wasn't there long. Up next was body marking. I noticed inside my race packet they give you your race number to put on your arm yourself. It's basically a temporary tattoo. It really looks sharp to have a nice clean number on your arm. The only marking they do is put your age and division on your calf. Since I was in the aquavelo division, I had a giant A on the back of my calf. And I know that A is for AWESOME!! After the marking I went back to transition to setup my stuff. Since I wasn't running there wasn't much to setup. Just my bike shoes, jersey, helmet and sunglasses.

Badges?!?! We don't need no stinkin' badges.......

I grabbed my wetsuit and walked to the beach with the Wingman. As soon as I put on the wetsuit, my back felt great. It compressed my pelvis enough to support it. Had I known how good I would feel I would have worn the wetsuit all week. I got into the water to warm up. First thing I noticed was the color of the water. Like I told my friend Kari, it looked like the color of iced tea and I don't mean that as a compliment. Her mother told me that was because of the high levels of iron in the water. Well, if I had an iron deficiency issue prior to the swim, this would take care of it.

The water temp was nice and I couldn't wait to get started. I was looking forward to putting down the hammer on the bike and the swim was acting as a warmup. There were three waves and I was in the last one. When it was my turn to enter the water, I tried to line up in a good spot - not too far back, not too far forward. When the siren went off, I went into the water and started my swim. First thing I noticed was it was crowded. The first turn was probably 100 yards out so I took it easy and then after the turn I tried to find my line. I could see that I was swimming in a pack of women. They were lined up off my right shoulder and trying to push me left. I held my line, but it was a very physical swim. I didn't want to expend too much energy trying to break loose too early since there was another pack ahead. Each time I came to a buoy they tried to push me into the buoy. I would use my left arm to push the buoy aside so I could get through. At times I could also feel someone swimming across my legs. WTF?!?!  It wasn't like they would hit my leg with an arm. They would swim over my legs. That forced me to increase my kicking a little to get the point across that I was not to be used as a shortcut.

I kept my stroke nice and steady and well before the swim turn around I had lost the women near me. They fell back and now I had some room to swim. When I reached the turn around, it was setup like a u-turn. What a disaster that was. It really should have been two left turns instead of one. Clearly people on the swim lost their minds at the turn and did a breast stroke to get around. I swam a little wide to keep up my pace and not slow down. I still felt great in the water. I made every effort to not swallow water since who knows what's in Jersey water. At some point on the return trip I noticed that I was alone in the water. I looked around to be sure that I was still on course. I could see that I was fine and getting closer to the beach. I kept up my stroke pace and before I knew it I was standing up to exit the water. I peeked at my watch and saw I had a decent swim time. It was the 2nd fastest time in four half iron distance swims so I was pretty happy. Especially since this was the most physical swim I've ever participated in.

I eased my way into T1. I didn't want to risk running and jarring my back. I got to my rack and got the wetsuit off. I wanted to change into a cycling jersey instead of a tri top for the ride. I never realized just how hard it was to get a top over a wet body. I finally won the battle and finished my transition. I got out to the bike mount area and hopped on to start the ride.

Just starting the bike ride and I'm sucking my gut in to support my back

Due to the storm two weeks ago, the race director had to change to bike course from a one loop to a two loop course. As part of the change, the length increased from 56 to ~57.5 miles. The course is relatively flat and my goal was to use the first loop to warm up and check out the course and then really bring it home on the second loop. I felt great on the course. The road conditions were decent and there was virtually no wind. I settled into my aeroposition and kept an ear out for my alerts. I have my bike computer set to alert me for every lap. I defined a lap as 5 miles which, depending on my speed, is anywhere from 15 to 16 minutes. Each time the lap alert went off I took a drink or had something to eat. I knew if I was going to have a good bike split and really drop the hammer I would have to nail my nutrition.

I found myself passing quite a few people and hardly getting passed. I was feeling strong and powerful on the ride. I looked over my power numbers and saw that I was far from burning myself out. What was strange was that I was riding pretty fast, but my numbers weren't up where they usually were. I was wearing an aero helmet and that would save you some watts but I think with my back issues, I was not going to generate as much power as I usually do. I just kept my focus on the road ahead and pacing myself.

I had a couple of lapses in focus on the bike course. At one point I settled behind some guy (3 bike lengths of course) and decided to sit back. I knew I could be going faster, but for some reason I didn't feel aggressive enough to do it. Finally after ~2 miles I passed him and moved on. I was riding alone for a few more miles and came upon a few more riders. I carefully passed each one, but the final guy must have had a bone to pick. I was riding along and noticed a shadow. He was right on my wheel. Literally. I looked back two or three times at him so he would know I was aware of his wheel sucking, but he clearly didn't care. I put out a big surge for ~1/2 a mile, but he stayed with me. Well, just short of turning my head and yelling at him, I grabbed my drink bottle and took a sip. Then I sprayed it over my shoulder at him. I don't think he took too kindly too it and before I knew it he passed me and so did another rider. Now he latched onto her wheel. I could see just how close he was to her. There was less than one foot between their wheels. Again, another mental lapse as I just sat back and watched. Finally I decided enough was enough and put out another surge and passed the two riders. I was afraid of picking up the drafter again, but he didn't follow. 

One mile after the pass I looked back and saw that I was alone again. I kept cruising and before I knew it  I was near the turnaround to begin the second loop. I knew I had to put up or shut up now. As I made my way out again, I tried to remember the landmarks from the first loop. Sadly, nothing looked familiar and now I had a bit of a headwind. I did know that when I got to ~44 miles (halfway mark of the 2nd loop), I was home free. I looked down and saw that I was at mile 30. Not even close. Now my ride piriformis was screaming out at me. I was trying to figure a way to stretch it out without stopping on the side of the road. With the clipless pedals, it's hard to rotate my legs around to really get a good stretch. I unclipped at one point and wiggled my hip around to try to stretch it out. No luck. At this point I resigned myself to just finishing up and then after I dismount working it out. Onward ho............

I could feel fatigue start to settle in. Mentally I needed a pick-me-up. Usually I have a musical soundtrack in my head to keep me going. Oddly enough the only song that came to my head was a downer.

Mama, take this badge off of me

I can't use it anymore

It's gettin' dark, too dark to see

I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door

I had no idea what was happening. I think the stress of my summer was getting to me. Mentally I was fatigued and was running out of steam. My legs felt good, but it was hard to keep my focus. I started to calculate my calorie intake for the ride and I was spot on with my regular needs. My power numbers were still in a good range so I wasn't bonking. I didn't feel hungry but took in a few extra calories just in case I was starting to get low.

I looked down at the mileage and saw I was at mile 50. Only 7.5 miles to go. I did some quick math in my head to see how many minutes it would be. I also played a game in my head. I imagined various points along my rides at home and tried to picture where I would be if I was riding at home. This little game worked fine. When I got to the turnaround marker from the 1st loop, I was directed to go straight. At this point I saw I was alone on the course. No riders were in front of me. Now I was nervous about going off course. Honestly I had no idea what the rest of the course looked like. Thank goodness for the volunteers on course. They guided me along. I looked ahead and saw the sign for the school parking lot we parked in earlier that morning. Now I knew I was home free. 

The final stretch........

I headed towards the dismount area and panic set in. I've pretty much been in the aero position the entire ride and now I have to stand up. My lower back had stiffened up and that made getting off the bike a challenge. I unclipped and stood there bent over. I lowered the bike slowly to the side and attempted to swing my leg around. I performed the most delicate dismount anyone has ever seen. Then I walked in looking something like this:

After the bike dismount

I got into the transition area and collected my medal. Once at the rack I stood there trying to relax and Wingman snapped a photo.

The most 'upright' I'd been in the last 3 hours

At the end of the race I was allowed to take my stuff out of transition right away. We brought it back to the car and then sat in the air conditioning for a while until the results were posted. After the last biker was in, they posted the results from the aquavelo division. According to the sheet I placed 2nd in my age group. When they announced the awards, the woman that came in 1st in my division was actually 2nd female overall. Since you can't double dip (overall and age group) on the awards, I won my age group. When I looked at the results online later that evening, I could see they still listed her as 2nd overall and 1st in the division. How can they steal my thunder?!?!? 

Another race, another prize....

My race went well, but I am a little disappointed with my lack of aggression at times on the bike due to mental lapses. I just wasn't sharp 100% of the time out there and that can't happen again if I want to be successful. I am pleased with the swim effort. It was a rough swim. The most physical I've ever been involved in and I didn't back down. I held my position in the water and never let up.

Since I don't want to end my tri season on a whimper, I have one more short sprint later this month. Then the offseason begins. Despite not being able to race the half iron distance, it was a successful season for me. I performed well in all races I was in.........

Riding and a runaway horse

This past weekend the Wingman and I joined Ian and Joan (aka The B-Train) in Hadley, MA for "The Farm Ride". We originally were going to do the century ride (100 miles) but my mileage just hasn't been anywhere near that. It would be a game time decision as to what distance we would do.

Friday night we took the ferry from Orient and then drove from CT to MA. We arranged to meet The B-Train for breakfast in the morning, quickly checked in and went to sleep. The next morning we got up and met then down in the lobby for breakfast. We got up to speed about the course as they had done a short ride the day before. After breakfast we followed them to the bike start. The start is very informal. You basically just check in and start whenever you are ready.

We rolled out with cue sheets in hand. The B-Train led the way. The B-Train is what I call Ian and Joan onboard the tandem. Watching them ride is like watching a train roll by - smooth precision pedaling. As we were making the exit from the campus onto the road The B-Trian pulled ahead. The Wingman and I worked together to bridge the gap to get back to the tandem. We came upon some railroad tracks and I managed to launch a water bottle from it's cage on the frame. Wingman and I stopped to pick it up and that wound up being the last we'd see of The B-Train for quite some time.

After we picked up the bottle we decided to keep riding our pace and hope that we'd meet up at the first rest stop. We followed the markings on the ground and enjoyed the sights along the way. I wound up following some old-school cyclist. This guy was riding a touring bike and his shifters were on the ends of his drops. I was riding close but not too close. Good thing because Old-School liked to bunny hop the big bumps in the road. If I rode too close I wouldn't have too much time to react to obstacles in the road. At some point he pulled over to help a group change a tire so we continued on. We rode for a little while with another group, but it was quite haphazard. They couldn't decide what speed to ride. They'd be up to 20mph, then drop quickly to 15 requiring me to jam on the brakes. The guy in front of me would call out "slowing" but I really wanted to ride alongside him and say "Do you seriously think I can hear you when you shout from on front of me?" But I opted not to.

There are many farms and wide open fields on this ride. We passed a home on our left when something caught my eye. I thought a deer was running on the side of the road, but when I turned my head to look I realized it was a large HORSE on the loose. I have to admit that I puckered up a bit (and I don't mean my mouth). I was almost paralyzed with fear that the horse was going to run out into the road right in front of me. Oh man, if I ran into that horse, that might have actually topped my "I hit some kids, I'll tell you about it later" story. But lucky for me the horse ran along the side of the road and left us cyclists alone. Phew!! Bullet dodged.

We made our way to the 1st rest stop and didn't see The B-Train there. I hit the ladies room and then grabbed some fruit for a snack. We topped off our bottles and hung around a bit. A few minutes later we saw The B-Train roll in. We were puzzled as to how we were ahead of them since we never saw them out there after we separated, but they stopped a few times along the way. We exchanged a few stories and then headed out for the next leg.

Wingman and I rode a little longer with the tandem this time. We were riding in a large group for a while and when we came upon a hill, that was the end of it. The B-Train powered up the hill like they were riding on a flat road. I was stuck in some traffic and couldn't break away. Once again, we lost contact with the tandem. Wingman wanted to work together to bridge the gap, but I couldn't break free from the pack I was in. We did work together to break out into a smaller group that we stayed with until the next rest stop. We rode along at a nice pace but before I knew it I was getting pretty hungry. I was eagerly awaiting the next rest stop.

When we pulled in, I immediately scanned the area for food. They had pie but I wanted something more than that. I made a beeline for the table with the peanut butter and jelly. I grabbed two slices of wheat bread and the first thing I noticed was "mmm, this bread is soft. I like soft bread."  Then I smothered it with PB&J. I took a bite and was immediately happy, Wingman saw that I was eating a sandwich. He looked at me and then turned away. When he turned back the sandwich was gone. He asked me "did you just eat that sandwich?" and I sheepishly replied "yes" and looked down in shame. I made that sandwich disappear faster than a David Copperfield trick. After that I loaded my bottles again and we made our way out.

We decided earlier to bag the century and ride the 70 mile route. I just wasn't feeling a 100 miles in my legs today. The last leg of this ride was challenging. It had a short, steep hill and many miles of bike paths. We got up and over the hill no problem but the bike path was another story. It was far from smooth and incredibly boring. I think we easily rode ~8 miles of the path.  It was bumps galore and my kidneys were bouncing up and down and my eyeballs were vibrating. I couldn't wait to get off the path. Add this to the list of reasons I hate the state of MA.

We finally made our way onto solid roadway again and were on our way to the last rest stop. We stopped in and had some burgers and corn. We chatted we a few others from the ride and then decided to head out for the last few miles back to the campus parking lot where our car was. It was brutal. My legs were tired from the last stop. If we had just skipped the stop I would have been fine, but the stop and start was tough. The whole ride was ~74 miles. We slowly made it back to the car and the Wingman loaded our stuff into the car. We went back to the hotel to shower and clean up for dinner.

I think our dinner easily surpassed the ride. Ian and Joan had dinner Friday night at a local restaurant and we went back Saturday. Oh man, that was a great dinner. Each entree came with a giant popover. I swear it was the size of my head!! The dinner was great and so was the company. We had breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning and then we departed for the ferry ride home. We promised that next time we'd do the whole hundred.

The B-Train and the Wingman

The Wingman 

No farm ride is complete without a tractor

A cow field

One of our last bridge crossings

Riding at the back of the pack on the bike path

The reward for our ride - Popovers!!

What a week

The last week has been a super busy one. First, I took a week off from running to try to rest my weary leg. I was at the point where I was about 50 days out from my big race of the season and I opted to stop running for a week. Losing a week of running would impact my run fitness a little, but if I kept running I risked making the injury worse and not even getting to the starting line. And it wound up being a perfect week to take off as I started my new job and it felt like a baptism by fire. It's an understatement to say I was busy. Plus I was meeting with my study group during the week so there was no rest for the weary.

With no running on the schedule, there were extra bike workouts on the schedule. On Saturday, Wingman and I went out for the long ride. I hadn't been on the road bike in a while and with the heat I wanted to be comfortable. The temperature and humidity would be brutal in the afternoon so we went out early to try to beat the heat. The air was so thick I could hardly breathe. The ride called for an easy first half and faster second half. Around the halfway point we stopped at a 7-11 and I got a slurpee to cool me off. Each sip brought on a brainfreeze no matter how slow I tried to sip.

After our pitstop we motored on. I felt stronger as the ride went on. I was pushing the pace on the way home with Wingman in tow. We were about 2 miles from home when I heard the Wingman calling out from behind me. I looked behind me and noticed he was dropping back. I asked him to repeat what he said. What he said and what I heard were two very different things.

He said: "I have a flat. Go get the car."
I heard: "You're fat. Go get the car."

No joke. That's what I thought I heard. Now, I know he would never say that but it was pretty funny to hear it. I raced home and drove back out to pick him up. When he got into the Element, I told him what I thought I heard. It became a running joke throughout the weekend.

Sunday morning brought on more riding. I picked a route that was about as hilly as you will get out here. At the first climb I started my spinning to get up. My goal was to spin up and not grind up like I usually do. I focused on my cadence and just put my head down. I saw the Wingman go by. I picked up my cadence and next thing I knew I was passing him on the way up. Near the top I looked back to see where he was and I could see that I was about to claim the "KOM" polka dot jersey. Once over the top I went into an easy spin to recover. We had a few miles before the next incline. By the time we got to the incline, I did the same as the previous hill, found a good gear where I could spin and power myself up. Looks like my week in NH and ME paid off on the hills. The rest of the ride was nice and quiet and I took it easy coming home. I had another easy ride scheduled for Monday and I kept that ride easy.

I had my first run tonight in over a week. When I got home from work I was getting ready to change when I heard rumbling outside. Before I knew it, there was a massive downpour. I thought about getting on the treadmill, but decided to wait out the rain. In less than 10 minutes the rain stopped and I went out for my run. I felt almost light on my feet at the start, but made sure I was holding back. It was supposed to be an easy run to test my leg. For the most part the leg felt good. Every once in a while I would feel a quick jab, but it would last for a split second and then it was gone. I got a little faster as the run went on, but I was a little on the slow side. In the grand scheme of things, I was happy with how the run turned out. I'll re-assess how I feel tomorrow to be sure it's still OK, but tonight's run was definitely progress!

Taking this mother down

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?

This morning the Wingman and I got up early to head out to Montauk for another triathlon. I've done this race every year since 2005, with one exception (2006). It's such a great venue to race at and the weather is pretty much perfect every year. The setup is a little tricky with two different transition areas, but with some help from the Wingman, I get my stuff setup easily and stress-free on race mornings. The only thing weighing heavy on my mind is a lingering calf issue. I've been battling a shin splint on and off for over a month now and I have good days and bad days. Most of this week has been bad. I've been wearing a compression sleeve at night when I sleep and since this week has mostly been a recovery week, I've stayed off my feet as much as I could.

I decided to wear my sleeve for the race so my calf would feel good during the race. The 1/2 mile walk down the sand to the race start wasn't much of a help. I tried to minimize the twisting motion of my foot/ankle as I walked but I could feel a twinge every now and again. Once I got down to the starting point, I chatted with Wynn, Teresa, and Marty for a little bit. Then the Wingman joined us for a few. Before I knew it, it was time to get into the water for the start. The ocean was a little cool at first, but I quickly got warm. There was also a nice chop that we were swimming into as well. The saving grace was the underlying current that would carry us along. When the horn went off, I started off. At first I was in a little traffic jam, but I decided to take it easy a little to see if it would open up. My patience paid off and due mostly to the chop, I quickly found some open water to swim in. I've done a few open water swims with a chop similar to today so I had a rough idea how to time my strokes for the rise and fall of the chop. At times it was a little weird when I would look up to sight ahead and all I would see is a wall of water coming towards me. I think I was about a 1/3 of the way through the swim when I was actually thinking "This is kind of fun. I wonder if I can go back and do it again?" 

I think by the time I was 3/4 of the way done with the swim, the waters were calmer and I could see ahead of me. Oddly enough I noticed that there were very few swim caps of my color in front of me. I wound up finishing ahead of most of the people in my wave which is a huge victory for me since swimming is not my strength. Once I got out of the water I took a peek at my time. I was ~1 minute faster than last year. Oh boy, could this be the makings of a good race? Only time would tell.......

I made my way up the beach and into T1. I passed the Wingman who was sitting down on a rock not expecting me quite so soon. I waved hello and he cheered me on as I ran by. I got to my rack, stripped off the wetsuit and got ready to ride!! 

I grabbed the bike and set out on the bike course. There was a bit of bike traffic in front of me and I was kicking myself for not being 20 seconds faster in transition. Now I was stuck trying to maneuver around people. For ~3 miles I had to do various accelerations to try and get around people. I felt good on the bike and was pushing my pace. Every once in a while I would look down to see what my speed or cadence was. I didn't bother looking at power. I think maybe twice the entire time I looked at my average power. I zipped around Gosman's and decided to go for broke. I was feeling really good and wanted to see what I was capable of on this course. Before I knew it I was back on Montauk Hwy and making my way to the Lighthouse. Usually on this stretch of road, I tend to labor a little, but not today. I think I've really nailed my nutrition down. Even though it's a short course I still brought half a bottle of my drink out there with me. I'm not as fast as the uber people out there so a little swig here and there to keep my topped off doesn't hurt.

Up ahead I could see my nemesis looming. There is a big hill to climb about 2 miles from the park. Every year I struggle up this hill. It's a pretty sad sight to see my climb this hill. I am usually huffing and puffing my way up with my heart beating in my throat. But this year was different. I was spinning up easily and in a harder gear than in years past. Next thing I knew I was at the top and flying down the back side of the hill. Holy crap, who stole my old, crappy hill riding legs and replaced them with the climbing legs I had today? Now I was flying the rest of the way to the park. I looked down at the race time and started to think about a PR on the course. 

I got to T2 and switched out my shoes for the run. Before I left the transition I took another swig and told my calf to behave itself. I channeled my inner Jens Voigt and said "Shut up legs" and began my run. As soon as I hit the grassy hill, my left calf started to ache. I walked it up the hill and started to run when I was on solid ground. The usual spot of my pain didn't bother me, but I could feel a knot in my calf with each step. I tuned it out and kept moving one foot in front of the other. I had no idea where on the course Obi-Jen was and the last thing I needed was to have her see me walking at any time. I knew I would find my rhythm quickly, but I forgot that the run course is ever so slightly uphill on the way in and you are rewarded with the downhill on the way out. The other thing I forgot is just how long it seems to take to get to the turnaround point. I saw Wynn running along with his laser focus and when I said hello it almost seemed to startle him.

I kept my focus now on finishing strong. When I saw my time prior to starting the run I knew I had a course PR in the bag. The only thing would be if I completely imploded on the run course or a catastrophic injury. I got to the turnaround and was never happier to be heading out of the park. I took advantage of the downward slopes for free speed and overall, my foot turnover was increasing. I was feeling a little stronger as the run went on. As I exited the park I saw Teresa and cheered her on. 

Now I made my way to the road and the uphill finish. I did my best to get up the hill as quick as I could. The only thing going through my head was the faster I got up the hill, the faster the race would be over. When I crossed the line I stopped my watch and was shocked at what I saw. I had an incredible PR. I shaved 13 minutes off the PR I set last year. Most of the time came off the blistering pace I set on the bike and some more came from the run.

This race was a HUGE breakthrough for me. My bike average was ~2.5 mph faster than my previous best. I climbed the hill like it was a bump in the road. I powered through the last 2 miles with plenty of energy. I held it together on the run. There are always things I find in the race that I could work on for next time, but overall I have to say I am finally pleased with my race performance. The results are proof that Obi-Jen's planning and training are taking hold. The pieces are starting to come together as I hunker down for the heavy load coming up for my A race in September.

2/3rds of the way there.......

Today was day 2 of racing. Last night was the time trial and today was the 'international' triathlon. The distances were a little shorter than a traditional international race, but with the hills on the course it felt long to me. It was also the Wingman's first triathlon so I was nervous for him as well as trying to focus on my race.

We are staying really close to the race start so there is no need to drive over. We just make the 5 minute walk to the transition area with our stuff. First up was body marking then we made our way into transition to setup our stuff. After I was done with mine, I went over to the Wingman to check out his setup. We reviewed the in/out areas of the transition for the swim/bike/run segments. Before we knew it, it was time to line up for the swim time trial start.

The swim is in a very, very small lake so each racer goes in one at a time every 5 seconds. I had looked into the water earlier and could see there were small rocks in the water. In an effort to avoid the broken toe suffered in my last race, I knew I would go easy into the water. I wished the Wingman good luck and found my spot on the starting line. It took about 12 minutes before it was my turn and I stood at the top of the slope and when I was told to go, I ran down the slope and then slowly got into the water. As soon as I dropped down to swim, I realized the water felt FRIGID!!! I kept trying to swim but I felt so breathless from the cold water. They listed the temps as 70 degrees, but there was no way this area of the lake was 70. I just took it easy until I got a little warmer. At first I thought I made a mistake wearing the sleeveless wetsuit, but as soon as I got to the first turn buoy I was feeling better. The lake swim was weird as the water seemed to change temperatures in various sections. The swim itself is really short, only .25 miles so I was out in less than 10 minutes. Getting out was a challenge too. Plenty of rocks under foot made it a challenge.

I made my way up the slope towards the transition area. I passed up on the wetsuit strippers and got to my rack and got the wetsuit off quickly. I put on my socks, bike shoes, shades, helmet, and grabbed the bike. Once out of transition I mounted the bike and started my 20.5 mile ride.

Basically the bike course elevation profile is a big U shape. First half of the ride is downhill and the second half is uphill. I knew I had to bomb the downhill section as I would lose time coming back up. I was flying along and before I knew it, I was at the turnoff. After ~ 8 miles there is a small loop that you do before you come back out. Wingman and I drove the course yesterday so I knew where the hills were. This first one at the turn off was a doozy. I knew I would have to drop down into my small ring to get up it. It looked steep from the car, but it was much steeper on the bike. When I looked down at my bike computer, it said it was a 16% grade. You just don't find many hills like that on Long Island. But I just focused on spinning up.....ok, more like grinding up the hill. Once over the top I popped back onto my big ring and recovered with a slight downhill. The road surface was not too smooth so I was moving around a bit to avoid any bumps that would slow me down. Otherwise, the loop section wasn't too bad. Any uphill area was preceded by a downhill so you had some momentum to climb back up.

Before I knew it, I was flying back onto the main road. The uphill route back to the transition area was about to begin. It's roughly 8 miles of uphill riding. It's very misleading because some of it is a false flat. I looked down at my computer and it was telling me the 'flat' area was 2-3% grades. I kept the gear light and easy for spinning and kept staring at the computer for the distance. I so desperately wanted to get off the bike. The constant pedaling was wearing me down a little. I started to think "how am I possible going to run after this?" but I quickly got back into the moment and stopped worrying about what was coming. Before I knew it I was at the last climb which is the steepest of the last series of climbs. I just hammered over the top of it and once again re-introduced myself to the big ring. I had about a half mile to spin it out before I had to transition to the run.

My legs were feeling fresher by the time I reached the transition area. I was somewhat pleased by my bike time seeing as how I am not a hill rider. I changed my shoes, grabbed one last swig of my drink and made my way out to the run. I took it easy going out as I wanted to find my running legs. I focused on my leg turnover and keeping a steady rhythm. I was wearing my Garmin GPS, but didn't really look down to see my pace. I was going by feel. Once I hit the first mile marker I could see I had a good first mile. The time was better than I felt. As I went through the first water stop I took a gel and some water. Normally I would go without for 5 miles, but since I am racing again tomorrow, I didn't want to deplete myself too badly. The run course was pretty flat with only 1 uphill in both directions. The hill was steep for me so I power walked it to save some energy since I knew I could not run it any faster. After this hill it was mostly shaded. I ran along wondering how the Wingman was doing. I was also hoping that the turnaround was coming soon.

I kept on running and at the turnaround I had another gel and some water. I could feel my energy level picking up. I felt stronger on the 2nd half of the run so I knew my nutrition plan was working. I took advantage of this new found surge and tried to hold on to it. I don't think I was actually running faster, but I felt more power in my stride. I kept it going and was looking for the Wingman. Since the entire run course was an out and back style, I knew I would see him at some point. It was on my big downhill and his uphill where we exchanged high-5's.

When the GPS buzzed that I was 4 miles in, I was thrilled to know that there was only 1 more mile to run. I barely remember that last mile as I was focused on finishing (aka tunnel vision). I was getting closer to the transition area and could hear the spectators ringing their cowbells like crazy. I somehow found another gear and motored around the long finishing chute to a 1st place finish in my division.

I felt pretty good at the end of the race. My legs were tired, but otherwise not too bad. I think the bike course hills tomorrow will be challenging for me. I will certainly feel the fatigue of the entire weekend of racing while climbing back up the hills.

My proudest moment of the race was watching the Wingman cross the finish line of his first triathlon. It was a hard race with the hills, but he handled it well and he is welcomed into the club of triathlon finishers!!

Tomorrow is my last race of the weekend. It is a shorter distance than today (.25 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run), but it will still hurt. I just hope I have some running left in my legs when I get off the bike.

"You'll get a 3 countdown......"

Those are the words I last heard spoken to me prior to my launch into my first ever bike time trial (TT). Getting to the starting line today though was touch and go.

Yesterday the Wingman and I arrived in New Hampshire and checked into the hotel. We have a nice suite in a ski lodge right near the race start. It has a full kitchen so we went out to do some light grocery shopping. We picked up some cold cuts and other stuff for dinner. When we got back to the hotel, we made some sandwiches, watched TV and went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, I just didn't feel right. I felt really dizzy and every time I moved my head the room would spin. I took it easy and had some breakfast and took a nap to try to sleep it off. I thought perhaps my head was congested so I took an allergy pill hoping it would help. When I woke up later, I did feel better but still not close to 100%. At this point I was doubting my ability to race tonight. I made another sandwich for lunch and still felt lousy. Hmm, maybe a shower would help clear my head.

Got into the shower and I knew it would not be pretty. My stomach quickly alerted me that I needed to vacate the shower immediately. Before I knew it, I was sick as a dog. This may be a little TMI, but the sandwich came back up. I am thinking there was something to the cold cuts that did not agree with me. Wingman had the ham while I had the turkey. Once my stomach was empty, I was actually feeling a little better. I still felt weakened, but at least the dizziness was gone. Phew. Now I had about 5 hours to get some calories in me to sooth my stomach and get ready for the time trial.

Wingman and I went down to the packet pickup and got all of our goodies. We scoped out the race sight and then came back to the room to get the race numbers on the bikes. Before I knew it, it was time to make our way down to the race sight. There were a lot of racers already there. I could see that the race director abandoned the TT ramp. Racers had to go off every 20 seconds so it would have been impossible to load everyone one by one onto the ramp in a timely fashion. Instead, you clipped into one pedal and two guys on either side of you grabbed the bike so you could clip the other foot in. Then they passed you off to two more guys to hold you up prior to the start. Once guy asked "Are you ready to rock?" and I answered "Please don't drop me." He laughed and then said "You'll get a 3 countdown" and then I vaguely remember hearing 3..2..1..and the horn went off. I got a huge push from the two guys like a giant catapult and was flying towards the main road. Spectators lined the road and the cowbells were going like crazy. It was a huge boost for the start. I realized in my worry over the start that I forgot to start my computer. I was about 2/10th of a mile in when I started it.

The first half of the course starts out flat and then goes into a big downhill. I quickly worked up into a big gear to be ready for the downhill. I used the free speed here knowing I would be slower coming up. I felt like I was flying but never looked down at the computer to check my speed. The other issue I had was the sunglasses I was wearing were too dark for an overcast, twilight race. I have a lighter tint pair, but I left them home. I had no trouble making it to the bottom of the hill. I had to slow down quite a bit as it is a tight u-turn before you begin the climb back up.

Once I began the uphill I had to decide if I was going to pass the woman in front of me. I waited it out a little to get through the first climb. On the flat, I could see she wasn't going any faster so on the next climb, I came out of the saddle to accelerate past her and continue my climb. I was handling the hills well for a flat lander, but the last climb was a tough one. I opted to stay in my big ring (tomorrow I will definitely be in the small ring) and I was working hard. The one thing that snapped me out of my tunnel vision was hearing some kid shout out "If you believe in yourself, you can do it!!" Which is a reference to this video:



It made me smile a bit and took some of the hurt out of that climb. By now I was on flat ground again and quickly shifted gears back to I could finish out the ride fast. I hammered it down the last big straightaway and made the first of two left turns to get to the finish. I passed the spectators again with the cowbells going but I had to slow down for the final turn. The finishing area is really short so I opted out of a crazy sprint so I wouldn't have to brake too hard once I crossed the line.

After the end, I took an easy spin to flush out the legs and then went back to see the Wingman finish. There were about 40 riders between us so I saw him on the course as he was heading down the first hill and I was near the end of the last uphill. He was looking strong out there!! After he finished I told him to keep on riding to cool down.

We came back to the room to change and went back to see the results. We didn't do too badly in our first TT effort. I would love to come back next year to see what I can do if I can get any better at hill climbing.

Tonight will be an easy night as we both have a tri in the morning and I have another on Sunday. No rest for the weary as I feel it will be a looong weekend.........

Owning the pain and suffering

"Every triathlete, pro or amateur, no matter how fit,

reaches a point in every race where he has to decide

whether he will endure more suffering. It's very simple.

Either he will or he won't. You will get there. The only

question is how you'll handle it."

                                                     -Chris McCormack

This morning the Wingman and I made our way to Ronkonkoma for the Run Around the Lake 4 Miler. We've done this race maybe 4 or 5 times over the last 8 years. The distance is short, but the course is challenging. I have never had a good race on this course. Usually the time of year (hot, humid) and the terrain (hilly) are a lethal combo for me. The two sections that will bring your race to a screeching halt are the hill in the first mile and the hills that come in the fourth mile. If you go out too hard, you will suffer later on. Wingman asked me what my goal was and I told him I just wanted to run the whole race and own the last mile. A PR was the furthest thing from my mind. But oddly enough, the weather was almost perfect this morning. No winds, very overcast, and no/little humidity. It was still a little warm, but without the other elements to slow me down, I was ready to finally own this race.

We made our way up to the starting line and I thought about that last mile. It has haunted me for years and I wanted so badly to run well. The gun went off and I was on my way. The race starts with a very slight decline and then flattens out so it's easy to start fast. I waited patiently for the road to open up before I picked up my speed. I could feel how light my running shoes were. My feet were barely touching the ground. I was afraid to look at my garmin to see what pace I was running. All I knew was it was a little quick. The other thing I noticed was I was not laboring. Usually the first half mile or so my breathing is really heavy and I always wonder how long it will take me to settle in and feel good. I had a rhythm early and decided to ride the wave. 

When I approached the first hill I eased up a little to save some energy for the hills later. A few people passed me on the climb, but I knew I had to keep it comfortable. Once I got to the top, I picked it up again and turned down a small section of road. This part of the course was great as it was nice a shaded. It's a small section shaped like a U to add mileage to the course to make it a 4 miler. When I came around the back side of the U, I was at the one mile marker. The GPS buzzed for the lap and I peeked at the pace. It was much much faster than I have ever run before in this race. I think it was about 40 seconds faster than I've ever run that first mile. I was still feeling good so I figured I'd keep up the pace.

By now I made my way back to Rosevale ave heading towards Portion Road. I passed up the water station as I was feeling good. I turned onto Portion and noticed it's a slight decline in the road so I picked it up again to take advantage of the terrain. I still felt like I was moving at a good speed and was working hard. All I remember was passing an ambulance that was stopped along the course and in front was a HUGE swan in the road. I was hoping that it wouldn't freak out and attack me. While it would make for an awesome race report, I didn't want to deal with the humiliation of a swan attack.

I was nearing the two mile marker and was still feeling good. When I saw my time, I could see that I was still running very well. I kept pushing it thinking if I could put in 3 fast miles, whatever happens in the 4th mile won't hurt me too much in terms of the final result. I knew I had to get up the hills in the final mile, but I decided to worry about it when I got there. For now, I had to keep on pushing. 

I saw a woman ahead of me that is at a lot of the races. I decided to keep her in my sights. She's a good runner and she always finishes ahead of me. (Ignore the fact that she's 68 years old). I figured if I could keep her in my sights, it would motivate me to keep running fast. I was now running along the back side of the lake. The second to last water stop on the course is in front of a drug rehab facility. I am sure the water was fine, but I am always leery about it being spiked. I passed up on the water and noticed I was slowly gaining on my rabbit. 

I approached the last climb. It's not a major hill, but it's a bit of a grind due to where it comes on the course. You're going full throttle for 3 miles and now you have a hill, then it flattens out briefly, and then goes up again. I knew I was slowing down to get up the hill, but there was no way I could go fast as it would take up too much energy. There was still a good 3/4 of a mile to this race and another small hill around the corner. As I rounded the corner my rabbit was right there. She slowed down for the last water stop so I took this as my opportunity to pick it up and pass her. I was suffering at this point and had to dig really deep to find my legs. Once I passed her I used the downhill to pick up more speed. I kept telling myself to push it. I was hurting at this point, but I really wanted to finish ahead of her.

I climbed the last hill and had about a half mile to go. Out of the corner of my right eye, I could see her at my side. I let her stay there for a few strides while I tried to figure out my strategy. If I stayed with her, I wasn't sure I could out-kick her at the end. But if I made my move too soon, could I hold on to beat her? I decided the time was now and I dropped the hammer. I couldn't risk the gamble of a finishing sprint. I surged ahead and could feel my heart pounding in my throat and my legs growing heavy. I was running scared. I summoned every fiber in my body to hold her off. I kept looking over my shoulder to see where she was. I didn't want to be taken by surprise. 

I was getting closer to the entrance to the lake and at the turn had one final look back. I had no idea how strong her kick was so I wanted to gauge the distance between us. I could see the race clock ahead and knew if I kept pushing it, a PR was in my grasp. My legs and arms felt so heavy but I had to keep moving as she wasn't that far behind.

I finally crossed the finish line and looked back to see how close it was. I finished 5 seconds ahead of her and broke my 4 mile PR by 26 seconds. I was amazed at the 'killer instinct' I had on the course today. In past races I would back down from a challenge and just think "if she passes me, she passes me. I'm just running my race." But now I am taking calculated risks on the course to see if they will pay off. And today it did. I received a medal for 2nd place in my division. 

Weekend ride

This past weekend Wingman and I ventured out with Wynn, Teresa, Ian and Joan for a ride out east. I had a workout on the schedule so I was only able to join for half the ride. The plan was to ride out east, stop for lunch and head home. It all sounded good, except I wouldn't be able to stop. In order to reach my race goals this season, I have to hit my long workout goals.

We met up and I led the way out to the oil tanks near the sound. The back roads were lightly traveled. The main roads were packed with cars heading to the strawberry festival out east. Once we hit CR 48, it picked up a bit. There was a slight tailwind, but it really didn't impact the speed so far. A little further up the road and we headed north again and made our way to Horton's Lighthouse. The fog was still over the sound so we couldn't see the water.

It was at this point we bid farewell to our friends and Wingman and I headed home. Once we got out onto CR 48 I dropped down into the aerobars and let 'er rip!! I felt really strong on the bike. Despite a slight headwind, I was flying. I nailed my nutrition perfectly during the first half of the ride and it was paying off for the second half. I felt so strong I thought I could rip the crank arms off the bike!

Once we got home I quickly changed and went out for a quick two mile run. After the run I had lunch and relaxed on the couch for a while. It certainly was a well deserved rest.

My "B+" race is coming up in two weeks. I am pretty excited to see how I can hold up over three days of racing. It will be tricky to get the pacing right. I don't want to go all out and have nothing left for the last race but then again I don't want to finish up and still have something in the tank. It will be interesting to find that balance.

 Heading up to the oil tanks

 The fog is still prominent in the distance

 The deer near the tanks

 Closer look at the deer

 Teresa on her bike, shot over my shoulder

 Waiting for a truck that was stuck in the mud

 Grape fields