First week of the off-season

The off-season began on Sunday afternoon after Timberman, and so far has been a blast. Most people wouldn’t consider two races in one weekend after a season ends an “off” season, but that’s just what I did this weekend and could not be more pleased with. The thing is, we finish our main season at peak fitness for one particular race (Timberman, in my case), but our steady decline in fitness is not fully realized until a couple of weeks after this peak. So why not take advantage of the hard-earned fitness before it disappears?

I spent the entire week in serious R&R mode, only taking one leisurely mountain bike ride on Thursday. That night I registered for the Berkshire Bank Y-Athlon, a small sprint triathlon in Pittsfield, MA. My intention was to do a light swim and a light bike ride on Friday night, just so that I wouldn’t go into the race feeling like a slug. Never got around to either. I opted to arrive about an hour and forty minutes early on Saturday morning and take a nice, long warm up, seeing the entire two-loop bike and run courses. Somehow my lazy-to-race-day strategy paid off, and the race went well. I finished the half-mile swim in 12:14, second fastest in my wave (I later found out that a woman in the second wave went under 12 minutes, incredible!). Onto the bike I pursued the swim leader for nearly 12 of the 14.5 miles before catching him, and got off the bike in first with the fastest bike split of the day in 38:10. Leading in the first mile of the 3.1 mile run, I turned a corner and looked over my shoulder only to see Mark Snowise hunting me down. Let me tell you a little bit about Mark. He had won this race 4 years in a row, been to Kona, and beat me earlier this season at North Country Triathlon. He is a phenomenal runner, and amazingly, performs as well as he does at age 43! Mark is a stellar athlete, and I aspire to stay half as fit as he is when I reach my 40s. Knowing he is a faster runner than I am, I allowed the inevitable catch, and dug deep to stick with him stride for stride. We must have raced nearly 2 miles together side-by-side! In the final 400 meters or so, Mark began a stellar kick finish, and I chased after him as hard as possible, but he quickly put five seconds between us that I was unable to get back, bringing me in with second place by a mere five seconds. A race for the books!

After the race I got a chance to grab lunch and a couple of beers with my grandma, sister, and brother in law. When I recapped the race, the response I got from my sister was the classic “Talladega Nights” movie quote, “If you ain’t first, you’re LAST!” Thanks, Angela! But in all seriousness, it was a great way to spend a beautiful summer afternoon.

Sure enough, Sunday morning rolled around and I had nothing special planned for the day, so why not go up to Lake Desolation for the Luna Chix Splash and Dash? The race is a half-mile swim and 5k run, with no splits, no frills, and a lunch at Tinney’s Tavern following. I figured no matter how well the event went, there was a lunch included in the entry fee, so why not?! This event was far smaller than your typical endurance races, with maybe 50 or so participants. I got a nice long warm up in, put on my wetsuit (for the millionth time, it seemed), and was ready for a beautiful day of racing. Forgot to mention, it was an 11 am start, perfect for the lazy, Sunday morning bum! The gun for the swim went off, and for once there was very little physical contact because of the small field. Nice! I cruised away from my fellow swimmers and was able to enjoy the calm, fast waters all by myself, without any contention of other swimmers. It was probably the most uneventful (good thing) open-water swim of my racing career, and I finished the leg in about 11 minutes (no official splits, so not sure exactly how long). Not more than 30 seconds back was a girl from Hartwick’s swim team, a terrific swimmer even without a wetsuit! The run was mostly flat and very fast, and like the swim, went relatively uneventful. I think the 5k time was about 19:30, but it’s difficult to say for certain. I came back to the finish line with a good sized gap before the next runner, scoring my first ever win! I used to secretly own the claim-to-fame that I was the fastest person I know who had never won a race, but I suppose now I need to think of something else to call myself. After the event we all enjoyed a hard-earned lunch and a few beers.

Funny to have my first win come in the middle of my “off-season.” With that in mind, I can’t complain one bit about this past week. I’ve gotten to see my family a lot more without any regimented training, and the events I’ve been doing just for pure pleasure have been a blast. I know on paper my off-season seems somewhat physically demanding, but the mental rest and relaxation has been incredible. Not to mention, I’m going on a real vacation later this week, to NYC to see Annie and go to the Electric Zoo music festival. There really are some things you just can’t do while trying to be a serious competitor at big races, and for the sake of longevity in sport, the off-season is key. Don’t get me wrong, I love training and racing, but without a little time off it becomes very challenging to keep that fire burning. I’m planning to start a running and cyclocross season just after I get back from New York, and by then I know I will be itching to train and race again. Thanks for reading, see you at the races (but not for a few weeks!).