Fronhofer Tool Triathlon

5:10 am- The alarm goes off
5:12 am- The tv goes on so I can watch the women's Olympic triathlon while I get ready for my own race.

The Fronhofer Tool Triathlon is probably my favorite short-course race in the state of New York. This morning I was blessed with the chance to race in it for the 4th time, and I could not be more pleased with the results.

The two-loop, 1500 meter swim was a great way to start my day. As always, the start was hell in water, with arms and legs everywhere. I kicked somebody on my feet square in the middle of his chest, only to find out later it was my friend, John (sorry John). After the first lap, there was a short beach run, which gave me the oppurtunity to see the competitors ahead of me. There were three in a lead pack about 50 meters ahead, and two other swimmers running the beach by my side. The three of us swam next to each other for most of the second loop, but they seemed to be holding back and trying to coast off of each other's and my feet, so in the last stretch I pushed a little harder and got to shore as the 4th swimmer out of the water.

The bike course was a hilly one, just as I remembered it. Last year I crushed the bike course in an attempt to separate myself from a large pack behind me, and I paid for it with a slow run. With this memory all too fresh in my mind, I settled into my aerobars and cruised a little more on the conservative side to save some gas for the run course. After only a few back and forths, I was still 4th coming off the bike.

Anybody who knows anything about my triathlon career will tell you that running is my weakest leg. Today I came off the bike feeling better than usual, but my weakest link still showed when I was passed by one runner who was back and forth with me for awhile about 4 miles into the 6.2 mile run, and got kicked in the last mile by two strong sprint-finishers, including one of my training partners Kevin Miles. I left the venue satisfied with about a 2:10 finish, a new PR, 7th place overall male, and a solid age-group win. Official results are not posted yet, but I can't complain about my performance today.

The Olympics had some solid American performances today as well. As mentioned earlier, the women's triathlon was on live when I left home this morning, where Sarah Groff finished just off the podium in 4th. Later on, Galen Rupp put together a stellar 10,000 meter run in 27:30 for a silver medal, blazing fast!

Two weeks remain in triathlon season for me, which means I'm begining a long training taper for Timberman, where I hope to qualify for the 2013 Ironman 70.3 World Championships. The taper will not be as extreme as usual, since I didn't hit the training mileage I was hoping for in the past 2 weeks. This week came out to 12,500 yards swimming, about where I wanted to be, 165 miles of cycling, a little short of my targeted 200, and 30 miles of running, solid but not quite where I wanted to be. In this first week of my taper I'll aim for 10,000 yards of swimming, 130 miles of cycling, and about 35 miles of running. Wish me luck, see you at the races!