Four weekends, four races, the last month of Summer has been insane! I'll try to keep it brief, but there is a lot to talk about.
Lake George Triathlon
This Olympic distance race took place on Labor Day weekend. It was particularly fun because it was my first chance to race against my training partner, James, since the Saratoga Duathlon back in May. James is one of the strongest cyclists I know, and to make the race more interesting, we put a wager on who would have the faster bike split of the two of us, loser buys lunch. When official results were posted, my bike split was 14 seconds faster than his, and if you're reading this, James, you still owe me lunch! This was my first Olympic distance race in over a year, and the big miles from Ironman training carried over well for this race, allowing me to post my fastest time at the distance, sneaking in at 2:05:59, 4th place overall.
Ironman 70.3 World Championship Las Vegas
Not sure how it happened, but I managed to make it rain even in the desert! Of the 5 days Annie and I spent in Nevada, it rained on 4 of them. Race day in particular had uncharacteristically wet and cloudy conditions, and before the sun was up, a little cold even! Racing as a big fish in a small pond is fun, but when all the big fish come together into the same pond, it can be a humbling experience. The mountainous bike course and hilly run made for a slow and challenging course, and all I could clock was a 4:43:39, a race time highlighted by a 1:35:43 run split, my fastest since Mooseman last June, during which nobody I passed on the bike came back and passed me, a first! Talk about humbling, this finish time was only quick enough to swing 15th place out of 63 in the male 18-24 age group. After the race, Annie and I enjoyed a little bit of Vegas the way normal people do, with the world famous show, "Le Reve," and a little bit of gambling and booze. Only live once, right?
Duxbury Beach Triathlon
Having just raced in Vegas, my body needed a little bit of rest, but with Kona not far away, I couldn't afford to lose significant fitness. On somewhatof a whim, I signed up for the Duxbury Beach Triathlon, a small sprint race out between the Cape and Boston. With all the traveling and a tough race just 6 days earlier, I felt stiff from start to finish, and never really hit the rhythm I usually find in my swim stroke and on the bike. Unable to break away from the competition on the bike course or make up ground on the run, all I could do was hold onto my position as best as possible, finishing in 1:03:09, a bit far off the front for such a small race, in 6th place overall.
HITS Hunter Mountain
Finally, this past weekend, I raced in the HITS Hunter Mountain aquabike full distance race. In other words, an Iron distance with no running. The other time I raced this format was at the HITS North Country, up on Lake George. The purpose of that race was to practice my pacing plan for Ironman Lake Placid. At this race though, I wanted to push the pace and see just how fast I could cover a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike course. The swim was 4 loops in a small lake, which meant lots of opportunities to practice entries and exits. Half and full distance athletes started together, but obviously half distance athletes only did 2 loops. When the horn sounded, I quickly found myself well in front of my all the other full distance racers, with only 2 half distance racers leading me. After my four laps, I found myself out of the water and running into transition right around 57 minutes in, about the same split I swam in Lake Placid. Onto the bike course, it was a brutally windy day. Long story short, I was flying until about 80 miles in, and then in the back stretch really started to fade, and finished the bike course in about 5:18. The practice of bike handling in crosswinds was good, since Kona is notorious for heavy trade winds, but it became quite obvious that a strong marathon would depend on a much gentler cycling pace.
This has been the most physically demanding sport season of my life. Many of the friends and family I've discussed the season with have tossed around words like "burnout" and "over training," and as the racing season comes to an end and the biggest miles are in the books, its easy to see why. But one of the best things about data collection is that you get to look at performance objectively. How many times do you wake up and feel too sore, or too tired, or just plain not motivated to train? I think we back off on hard training too often in exchange for "much needed" rest. Don't get me wrong, you need to get your sleep and nourishment, and maybe a day off or a lighter training day can be justified sometimes, but why don't we listen to bodies objectively, rather than just not training because we feel tired? If you get a chance, read Iron War by Scott Fitzgerald. This book documents the greatest Ironman race in history, the 1989 World Championships, in which Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced over 8 hours within meters of each other, while the rest of the field lingered half an hour back off their pace. The book discusses the difference between Allen and Scott and the rest of the world class competitors, but the difference isn't their VO2max, threshold power, hematocrit, or anything else traditional physiology would say predicts endurance performance. Their strength lays in their heads. After reading the book, I have a much deeper appreciation for the power of the mind over what the body does. Don't get me wrong, you have to be fit to get to the level of Dave Scott and Mark Allen, but what allowed them to stomp on guys just as fit as they were was how they trained mentally.
My body is exhausted, but my mind knows I can handle more. This has helped me push through the toughest times in this season's training. Loud dubstep music doesn't hurt either. Kona is two weeks from tomorrow, which means just a little more hard work at high volume before tapering and traveling. I can't wait to compete against the best Ironman athletes in what is argued to be the toughest single day endurance event. Even though I have a few time related goals in mind, my most important goal is to prove to everybody, but especially myself, that I belong among them. See you in Hawaii.
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