June has been a busy month, and I haven't been very diligent about blogging my training and racing, so this entry will serve as a synopsis of the entire month, light on the details.
June 9, 70.3 Eagleman
Sometimes races go great start to finish. Sometimes they are terrible all day. More often races have highs and lows, and you really can't say where you will finish until you get to the line. That was the case in Eagleman. On race day the famous winds of Maryland were non-existent and the heat and humidity modest. Shortly after the pros took off on the fast and flat course, my age group jumped in the water to await the start of what should have been a very fast race. The swim in the Choptank River lived up to it's name. Despite being a wetsuit legal swim in salt water, the choppy swells made for my slowest 1.2 mile swim of the year, clocking a 31:41, putting me in a sloppy 7th place in my age group into transition. Onto the bike, there was nothing to do but lock into the aerobars and find my groove. This was the flattest course I have ever ridden, and it had very few turns, making this a bike course that favors a well disciplined athlete. Being focused on not going too hard and tucking away to stay aerodynamic is mind-numbing, but I found it rewarding as I slowly picked off the six age groupers ahead of over the first 40 miles of the 56 mile course, and my 2:17:55 bike split brought me back into transition leading my age group. I left transition running side by side with another athlete in my age group, and in the first mile of the half marathon he put about a 30 second gap between us. Knowing my best chance of winning would be hoping he blows up later on the run, I stepped off the gas and settled into a comfortable stride, but the joke was on me. About six miles into the out and back my pace started to slip, and in the last 3 miles I was caught by three more age groupers en route to a 1:40:26 run split, clocking a total time of 4:33:39 and landing a fifth place finish in my age group, and once again my chance at a Kona qualification slipped through my fingers.
June 21-24, Long Weekend Training Trip in Lake Placid
With just one chance left to qualify for the 2013 Ironman World Championship, I quickly recovered from Eagleman and headed for the hills to focus my training on Ironman Lake Placid. I've said it once and I'll say it again- I want to win the amateur division at Lake Placid. To know the course like the back of my hand, I made the trek deep into the High Peaks for 4 days, with nothing to think of but training. Over the course of those 4 days, I accumulated 9800 yards of swimming in Mirror Lake, 185 miles of cycling on the bike course (plus a 3000+ foot climb up Whiteface Mountain), and 33 miles of running. Needless to say, I was wiped. To top the trip off, I raced in a Monday night sprint triathlon in Lake Placid, and snagged a second place finish. With all the arduous miles logged, its fun to throw a little speed into the equation and make the legs and lungs scream for an hour.
June 29, North Country Triathlon Aquabike
I wanted to practice my Ironman swim and bike pacing strategy in as close to a real race situation as possible. This race on Lake George gave me that and then some. The 2.4 mile swim was long, and poor sighting on my end had me swimming 2.66 miles according to my GPS watch. Fortunately in Lake Placid you can follow the cord, making Mirror Lake basically a giant pool and impossible to swim off course. My swim split was still 1:00:45, fast enough to be the first out of the water. After a quick transition I was onto the bike course. The Lake Placid bike course is tough, but this bike course was just plain brutal. The entire 112 mile bike course was either uphill (up-mountain?) or downhill. After a 5:35:29 tour of the Adirondack mountains, I came back down to the lake to win the aquabike division with a decisive 10 minute lead.
June ends tomorrow. July finishes with my biggest race so far. Ironman Lake Placid is a course I know and love. If you respect the mountains, they reward you with good finishes. Not necessarilly fast finishes, but good finishing positions when other break over the demanding hills and climbs. I'm looking forward to playing my knowledge of the course to my advantage. May the mountains be just.
