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.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Ironman Lake Placid- Next Stop, Hawaii!
The fifteenth running of the iconic Ironman Lake Placid took place this past weekend, and the mountains have been good to me!
The day started at 2:30 am. It was supposed to start at a "reasonable" 4:00 am, but after a solid four hours of sleeping, I think my body knew that it was about to enter a world of hurt and refused to get any more shuteye. After over an hour in bed staring at the clock and visualizing the race to come, I got dressed and had my breakfast and coffee. By 4:30, Annie, my mom, and I were on our way to the Olympic Oval.
Air in the tires and powerbars packed, I donned my wetsuit and headed down to the beautiful Mirror Lake. At 6:00 am, as soon as the water was open for warmup, I jumped in and found my stroke. Everything felt pretty good and this was shaping up to be a promising morning. The march out of the water and over to the starting line, as well as the anxious wait for the start, was absolutely surreal. I could not believe that after all the snowy runs and trainer rides, the biggest race of my Summer had finally arrived.
The gun went, and it was on. The new swim start made things smoother than a mass start, but the swim is still a full contact sport. A few kicks and punches later, and everybody was lined up and it was time to start passing the 200 meter sprinters who took it out too fast. By the halfway point of the first loop, I was swimming all alone, just the way I like it. In no time at all, I had caught up to the back of the women's pro field. The rest of that loop, and the first half of the second loop, were smooth and uneventful. Then I hit a wall of athletes who were still on the first loop, and had to weave through some very slow traffic. The traffic made the second lap noticeably slower than the first, but I managed to swing a quick 57:22.
It had been raining lightly all morning, and the carpet laid down between the lake and the oval had gotten wet. "Better not run too fast, or I'm going to trip," I told myself, but no good. As I took a sharp right turn, my foot gave out from right underneath and I was on the ground. "OOOOOH!" the spectators seemed to cry as one, and after half a second on the ground, I was up and on my way to my bike. Funny how little you care about a bleeding leg when adrenaline is running through your veins! Other than the trip, transition was smooth and uneventful, and before I knew it, my bike and I were reunited and ready for the fun 112 miles.
The first 20 miles out of town, including the humongous descent into Keene Valley, were wet and rainy. Fortunately, my swim put me far enough ahead of the bulk of the field that I had the road to myself, allowing me to use wide lines and the smoothest parts of the road. After the turn at the bottom of the hill, the "flat" part of the bike course began. During this fast stretch I just settled into my projected power, downed some fluids and took in solid calories. To make sure there was always enough fluid on board, I grabbed a fresh bottle of sports drink at every aid station along the way, even if I had two unfinished bottles. This turned out to be a smart move, when at one of the early aid stations I missed not one, but two bottle hand offs, but still had enough liquid to get me to the next station. After 30 miles of steady smooth cycling, it was time to make our way up into Wilmington, home of Whiteface Mountain. During this early climb, I caught the only other guy in my age group who swam faster than me. To discourage him from chasing me, I made sure to pass him like I meant it and never look back. This climb was the perfect place to do it! Once it flattened out I got back down into my aerobars and took a quick peek behind me. Nobody. Now I was ready to hit my power all the way to the end. For the most part, this was a smooth and uneventful ride. Other than wheelie I did for the spectators (their idea, not mine!) not much happened and I held a decent wattage all day. The toughest part mentally was when the wind picked up coming back from Wilmington to Lake Placid on the second loop, but having trained on the course I knew to expect it in the afternoon. I came off the bike with a 5:22:04 split, and leading my age group. (Side note, I am convinced that smiling teeth are more aero than closed lips, see photo below).
Second transition was quick and easy, and my legs didn't even feel like they were filled with cement! Helmet off and shoes on, ready to run.
I had been warned over and over again that its easy to cook yourself on the first loop of the bike course and ruin the rest of your day. Avoided that fine. I also heard that you can run out way too fast in the opening miles of the marathon since they're downhill and everybody is cheering for you. Checked that one off just fine as well. I think where I screwed myself over just a bit was on the return into town, where you have a couple of tough hills and tons of cheering about the downtown scene. From miles 11-13, my effort was just a little bit too high, and as I began to leave town for my second loop of the run, it started to show. My pace went from a steady 7:30-7:40 mile to 7:50-8:00 mile. Not a problem, still plenty fast enough to get me home with a decent run split. Then around mile 19 it happened. I hit the proverbial wall. It felt like somebody swung a mallet into my face, and I simply could not run. My balance was gone, I was lightheaded, and there was just no way to resume a running gait. Only one thing to do- grandma walk. For the next couple miles I made attempts at running again, only to be reminded that I still had no balance. Walking was all I had, so I worked with it. "Forward progression," I told myself. Three agonizing miles later, after a few aid stations of coke and sports drink, I was able to shuffle back into a 8:00-8:30 mile pace, which felt impossible at first. Finally I got to mile 24, and with everybody cheering including a few friends from back home, I was flying up the last hills again. Ok, maybe it wasn't exactly "flying," but compared to the preceding miles, these last two felt easy. As the crowd cheered me back onto the oval, I was passed by Adam Quinn, who hunted me down to the final tenth of a mile, and I crossed the line second in my age group. It was heartbreaking to be beaten so close to the finish, but such a huge accomplishment to finish as well as I did that it was just fine by me. My 3:53:00 marathon split brought me in for a 10:18:58 finish.
The next morning at the awards breakfast, it was confirmed that my age group would have two slots for Kona qualification. I was in! Claiming my spot and registering for Kona was one of the proudest moments of my athletic life. The rest of the day my phone wouldn't stop buzzing with texts and facebook messages of congratulations from friends and family who had heard, and some who had even watched the finish on the live feed. I can't say enough about how thankful I am for everybody's support, but there I want to especially thank two people for playing a tremendous role this weekend. Mom and Annie, the two of you were helping me every time I asked you to hold this or that, agreed to whatever dinner plans I deemed necessary to fuel right, and stood outside cheering and photographing in the rain for over ten hours. You both even managed to get out of bed at the ungodly 4 am! Lastly, I want to thank God. Yes, God, the guy who I don't mention too much in my posts because I don't formally worship. The Adirondack Mountains are a sanctuary, and I truly believe that God watches over the world from this place. I'm not thanking God for giving me a trip to Kona, I fought for that myself. I guess I'm thanking God for the opportunity to wake up and train everyday, and for the network of love and support surrounding me.
Speaking of which, it's time to start training again. Some friends and I are doing a relay race this Saturday, and I better be in shape to swim for them! Next race on the calendar is the Lake George Triathlon, an Olympic distance dash, and I'll be building all month for the 70.3 World Championship in Vegas this September. And not that anybody's counting or anything, but there are only 73 days until I race on the Big Island!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
The Ups and Downs of June
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.
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.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Saratoga Duathlon, Big Win at Home!
If the first races of the season in Ocala and St. Croix were long and hot, the Saratoga Duathlon this Sunday was blistering fast and bitterly cold. For whatever reason, despite it being Memorial Day weekend, temperatures plummeted from the 70s and 80s to a high of 45 for the morning of the race. When the alarm went off at 5, it was time to bundle up and get some hot coffee in my belly. At the race venue, I had plenty of time to get a solid warm up ride and a quick run on the course. What I love about this race is that nearly every local within the multisport community shows up to test their early season fitness. Racing strangers is fun, but racing with friends is an absolute blast. At the starting line I saw a few familiar faces from the year before, including Kevin, a very fast recent high school grad bound for West Point this coming school year. At last year's race Kevin came in second, beating my fifth place finish by roughly a minute. If you were to bet on the race outcome, the smart choice would have been Kevin.
At 8 am, the gun went and the race started with the first 5k run. Like any 5k run, it seemed like everybody forgot how long 3.1 miles actually is, and if I had to guess, I would say there were 30 runners in front of me for the first half mile. Of those runners in front of me included Kevin and star runner Brian, who is always a serious contender in local 5 and 10k races. Biding my time a ways back from the leaders, I patiently let the vast majority of the runners drop like flies around the second miles, keeping the race leaders in sight. Brian finished the first run in the lead, with Kevin just seconds behind him. Roughly 20 seconds back from the leaders, I clocked a quick but controlled 17:50 for the first 5k, fast enough to give me the fourth fastest split.
Transition was uneventful. Shoes off, bike shoes on, helmet on, grab the bike, go. Now the fun part, cycling. I caught two of the three guys who ran ahead of me about 3 kilometers into the 30k bike course, including Brian, but Kevin had already broken away from these guys, so the chase was on. It wasn't long before he was in sight, with about 15 seconds on me. I spent the first loop of the 3 loop bike course reeling him in, and by the second loop I was right on him. I settled my pace just enough to go back in forth sharing the lead with him on the second loop, but knowing he runs faster than I do, it would have been foolish to try and come in with Kevin. When we started the third loop, I laid down some extra power and made a break at the first hill to put some distance between us. A few miles later at a turn I got to look back, and the move had worked. I came back into transition with about 50 seconds on Kevin, averaging 23.7 mph.
Unsure how far behind me Kevin was, I tried to get out of transition before he was in, successfully. On the second 5k run, there was an out and back turnaround, where I got to estimate my lead. Kevin came running at me strong, and it looked like I had about 40 seconds on him, meaning the race was far from in the bag. Running on fear, I moved as quick as I could, realizing that Kevin was obviously the only threat to my lead. The second time I saw Kevin, around 2 miles in, he had cut my lead down to only about 30 seconds. This was going to be close! Gritting my teeth and digging for every ounce of energy, I pushed and pushed and pushed some more, until I got to a turn with about 200 meters to the finish line. Knowing Kevin could have been right on my shoulder, I kicked it in and tasted victory! Just 23 seconds later, Kevin came in for second. That young man has some serious potential in the triathlon and duathlon world, and I cannot wait to see him grow and mature as an athlete at West Point in the years to come. My training partner James finished in 4th, dropping some serious time from his run splits. My friend Shaun won the relay race with his cycling partner, Jaime.
The weather has been terrible for every single race so far this year, and the duathlon was no exception. At first I though bad weather sucked, but I'm liking it more and more as the season progresses. Rain, cold, heat, wind, it doesn't matter. Bad weather doesn't ruin races, but rather gives you the opportunity to be positive when most people are going to be negative, a realization that can always be turned to your advantage. The next stop is Cambridge, MD for Eagleman. With any luck the weather will have cool temperatures and low wind, but if it doesn't, I'll still be ready to throw my best effort at the course. Anything that slows me down is going to slow down everybody else. The duathlon was a big win for me, but that doesn't guarantee success for the rest of the season. It's time to get back to work and be ready to hammer, no matter what the weather brings.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
70.3 St. Croix, Hard to be sour in such a sweet place
This past weekend I made my first attempt at picking up a Kona Qualification on the island of St. Croix, USVI. The trip was a blast! My training partner, James, Annie, and my mom all made the journey to the Caribbean with me, arriving late on Thursday night. On Friday, James and I got a taste of the salt water at the practice swim in Christianstead Harbor, returning to the hotel to kick it by the beach and kayak a little bit with the rest of the afternoon. On Saturday we got a look at part of the bike course, which we had some very mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it might have been the most beautiful cycling I have ever seen, circling the island and giving us mind blowing cliffside views of the coast. On the other hand, the roads were rough as hell and the topography made for some challenging, slow riding. After our ride we returned to the hotel, where we pretty much just kicked back to rest up for the coming day.
Sunday came quick. Alarms went off at 4 am, and we were race-site bound at 4:30. Stoked to compete, James and I racked our bikes, suited up, and made our way across the harbor to the beach where our swim started. After watching the professional men and women take off, our wave was the first amateur group to line up. We wished each other luck, got ourselves in the zone, and anxiously awaited the horn. When it finally went off, we rushed to the water and dove in. With the first turn buoy only about 200 meters into the course, it was a crowded pack with lots of rustling, so I tried to just keep to the outside of the main pack, it could be a long day if my face got kicked and my goggles got filled with salt water. When things finally smoothed out, I found my stroke pretty quickly, got into a groove, and worked my way up through the crowd who went out way too hard. For the last 500 meters or so, I found myself in between 2 other swimmers, just on their hips, a perfect place to get a little bit of draft on both sides! I exited the water in 30:47, my fastest non-wetsuit 1.2 mile swim. It was hands down the easiest part of the arduous journey that lay ahead of me...
After stripping my swimskin, cap, and goggles off and donning my cycling shoes and helmet, I rushed out of T1 and onto the 56 mile bike course. The night before the race we had gotten a large storm that brought some serious gravel and sand onto the roads. Sixty percent of athletes picked up a flat tire on the course, including about half the professional field. The race of attrition was on. My plan was centered around two words- patient and conservative. This meant not chasing after everybody who passed me early on the bike and taking the sharp, fast downhill corners easy to avoid a crash and try not to flat. It seemed to really pay off when I got to the infamous climb, appropriately named "the beast." The beast demands serious power to get through, averaging a 14% grade and maxing out at 21%. Naturally, a climb like this turns into a king of the mountain contest for nearly every guy on the course, but I humbly decided to put down just enough power to keep my bike moving in a forward direction. Shortly after the climb, I caught up with just about every flashy cyclist who decided to cook themselves up the beast. My conservative and patient approach didn't give me the sexiest bike split of the day, clocking an official time of 2:39:23, but it left me feeling like I had left enough in the tank to put together a solid finish on the run.
I was wrong. If the bike course wasn't tough enough, the 13.1 mile run course in 86 degrees and 90% humidity was downright brutal. Despite hitting my stride well for the first 3 miles, heat cramps quickly found their way to my legs, breaking the beautiful stride I had worked so hard to perfect all season. Knowing that anything could be happening in front of me or behind me, I had no choice but to trot my way as best as possible to the finish line. It was undoubtedly the most challenging run of my life, and I dragged my way home on a painful 1:50:44 run split to clock a finish time of 5:00:54. In a race where about 100 other athletes dropped out, this put me in 41st overall, and 2nd in my age group.
Bet you're wondering what happened to my training partner, James. He took a jellyfish to the face during the swim, could barely see straight, but still managed to finish the bike course before calling it quits and hitting the medical tent for an IV and some treatment for jellyfish stings. And here I thought the only safe place on the entire course was the swim! Not long after crossing the finish line, I joined him in the medical tent for my cramping. It was the worst cramping I have ever experienced in all of my athletic career, probably because I had 4-5 muscles cramping at the same time, all trying to pull my joints in opposite directions. After being force fed bananas and electrolyte drinks proved useless, I reluctantly let the medics give me an IV. Eventually they let me walk/crawl away to pack up my stuff and reunite with my mom and Annie.
At the awards ceremony, I learned that the guy who beat me for the age group took the Kona slot, unsurprisingly. I also learned that Richie Cunningham, the professional male who won that day, had been in the top 5, but never won in St. Croix, in his first 9 attempts. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. This was just my first attempt at grabbing a Kona spot, and while an early season qualification would have been ideal, there are still opportunities yet to come. The race was certainly not fruitless. I had a great time with the people who matter most to me and picked up a little more experience in the pain cave to draw upon later this season. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the pool for a swim set. There are some big training weeks ahead of me, and of course the next race, Eagleman 70.3, and I don't plan on missing a beat.
Sunday came quick. Alarms went off at 4 am, and we were race-site bound at 4:30. Stoked to compete, James and I racked our bikes, suited up, and made our way across the harbor to the beach where our swim started. After watching the professional men and women take off, our wave was the first amateur group to line up. We wished each other luck, got ourselves in the zone, and anxiously awaited the horn. When it finally went off, we rushed to the water and dove in. With the first turn buoy only about 200 meters into the course, it was a crowded pack with lots of rustling, so I tried to just keep to the outside of the main pack, it could be a long day if my face got kicked and my goggles got filled with salt water. When things finally smoothed out, I found my stroke pretty quickly, got into a groove, and worked my way up through the crowd who went out way too hard. For the last 500 meters or so, I found myself in between 2 other swimmers, just on their hips, a perfect place to get a little bit of draft on both sides! I exited the water in 30:47, my fastest non-wetsuit 1.2 mile swim. It was hands down the easiest part of the arduous journey that lay ahead of me...
After stripping my swimskin, cap, and goggles off and donning my cycling shoes and helmet, I rushed out of T1 and onto the 56 mile bike course. The night before the race we had gotten a large storm that brought some serious gravel and sand onto the roads. Sixty percent of athletes picked up a flat tire on the course, including about half the professional field. The race of attrition was on. My plan was centered around two words- patient and conservative. This meant not chasing after everybody who passed me early on the bike and taking the sharp, fast downhill corners easy to avoid a crash and try not to flat. It seemed to really pay off when I got to the infamous climb, appropriately named "the beast." The beast demands serious power to get through, averaging a 14% grade and maxing out at 21%. Naturally, a climb like this turns into a king of the mountain contest for nearly every guy on the course, but I humbly decided to put down just enough power to keep my bike moving in a forward direction. Shortly after the climb, I caught up with just about every flashy cyclist who decided to cook themselves up the beast. My conservative and patient approach didn't give me the sexiest bike split of the day, clocking an official time of 2:39:23, but it left me feeling like I had left enough in the tank to put together a solid finish on the run.
I was wrong. If the bike course wasn't tough enough, the 13.1 mile run course in 86 degrees and 90% humidity was downright brutal. Despite hitting my stride well for the first 3 miles, heat cramps quickly found their way to my legs, breaking the beautiful stride I had worked so hard to perfect all season. Knowing that anything could be happening in front of me or behind me, I had no choice but to trot my way as best as possible to the finish line. It was undoubtedly the most challenging run of my life, and I dragged my way home on a painful 1:50:44 run split to clock a finish time of 5:00:54. In a race where about 100 other athletes dropped out, this put me in 41st overall, and 2nd in my age group.
Bet you're wondering what happened to my training partner, James. He took a jellyfish to the face during the swim, could barely see straight, but still managed to finish the bike course before calling it quits and hitting the medical tent for an IV and some treatment for jellyfish stings. And here I thought the only safe place on the entire course was the swim! Not long after crossing the finish line, I joined him in the medical tent for my cramping. It was the worst cramping I have ever experienced in all of my athletic career, probably because I had 4-5 muscles cramping at the same time, all trying to pull my joints in opposite directions. After being force fed bananas and electrolyte drinks proved useless, I reluctantly let the medics give me an IV. Eventually they let me walk/crawl away to pack up my stuff and reunite with my mom and Annie.
At the awards ceremony, I learned that the guy who beat me for the age group took the Kona slot, unsurprisingly. I also learned that Richie Cunningham, the professional male who won that day, had been in the top 5, but never won in St. Croix, in his first 9 attempts. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. This was just my first attempt at grabbing a Kona spot, and while an early season qualification would have been ideal, there are still opportunities yet to come. The race was certainly not fruitless. I had a great time with the people who matter most to me and picked up a little more experience in the pain cave to draw upon later this season. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the pool for a swim set. There are some big training weeks ahead of me, and of course the next race, Eagleman 70.3, and I don't plan on missing a beat.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Season Opener- HITS Ocala
Last weekend was the first triathlon of the year, the HITS half iron distance in Ocala, Florida. It was great to get away from the cold and indoor training for a few days, brush off some cobwebs, and see my family for the first time in weeks.
The weekend started Thursday with a flight into Orlando, where I met up with my mom and Annie, who also flew in from New York. Once we got back to DeLand, where we were staying for the weekend, I got outside in the beautiful Florida evening air and loosened up the legs with a half hour run, followed by a delicious homemade spaghetti dinner. Friday brought more sunshine, so we took advantage of the weather and lounged on the beach in New Smyrna.
Early to bed, early to rise. Saturday morning we were awake at 3am and out the door at 4. At 5 we arrived at the park in Ocala, where I picked up my race packet and laid out my transition area. After a short warmup run, it was time to put on the wetsuit and head to the water, but I was wet before I got there... around 6:30 we were hit with a torrential downpour. So much for dry socks for the run. Fortunately, storms blow over pretty quick in Florida, and in about 15 minutes the sky was clear as if it never happened.
An abbreviated warmup swim and race briefing later, it was time to go. By the time the gun went, there was just enough sunlight to see the first swim buoy for us to chase after. The water was choppier than expected, but otherwise the swim was uneventful, just the way I like it. My swimming has felt just a touch off this season, so it was no surprise to clock a 30:10 split for the 1.2 mile swim. Into a smooth transition and onto the bike, there was time to make up but plenty of miles to do so.
Ocala flats made for a a great course to drop into the aerobars and hit the power hard. I spent the first 5 miles in my target power range and settling into a good groove, content with the beautiful Ocala scenery, until the second downpour. The rain was just as brutal as it had been before the swim, and now we were cycling through it. Awesome. The only consolation to be had from the weather was knowing that every single competitor was riding through the same rain. At target power, I began to pick off racers one by one. I was very content with my pacing strategy, until eventual winner Stephen Patterson went cruising by me about 10 miles in. Stephen is an incredible amatuer athlete I met last summer at the Skidmore College pool. He has been to Kona multiple times and never ceases to impress me. He is a model athlete whom I aspire to be near as good. With that said, after he made his pass, all I wanted to do was keep up with his cycling pace. Swaying away from my original power pacing, I found myself able to keep Stephen in sight on the 56 mile bike course with a time of 2:18:03, averaging a blistering 24.3 mph! But it did not come without a hefty cost...
Into second transition much sooner than anticipated, my goal was to run the half marathon course at least at a 7 minute mile pace. Knowing that I had pushed the power harder than planned on the bike, I was in for a world of hurt if I wanted to keep to that run. the first 5 miles of running went very well, with all splits in the 6:50-7:00 range. The next 5 miles were a bit tougher, and the extra bike work was really doing a number on my legs, so the pace slipped to 7:20-7:30 pace. Reasonable, I told myself, as long as I kept my legs moving. The last 3.1 miles were just absolute torture. Cramps began setting in, my stride fell to pieces, and all I could do was grit my teeth and dig my way through the now brutal heat (gotta love Florida weather!) while praying nobody saw the bullseye on my back. Over the course of the 13.1 mile run, which I finished in 1:39:31, I passed one runner and was passed by two, falling just one place back in the overall finish. I held on for 8th place overall in a net time of 4:30:59, my fastest half in the first race of the season!
Overall it was an excellent race weekend, and even though the race was not executed flawlessly, I couldn't be happier for my friend Stephen, who won with a time of 4:20:36. It's nice to have a low pressure race early in the season to test my Winter built fitness, but I do hope that I will ride more conservatively in my next race to keep the legs competitive come running time. With a month until the next race, 70.3 St. Croix, its time to get back to heavy training and prepare to race hard and smart. I'm already faster than ever, I have a detailed training and racing plan, and I'm just getting warmed up.
The weekend started Thursday with a flight into Orlando, where I met up with my mom and Annie, who also flew in from New York. Once we got back to DeLand, where we were staying for the weekend, I got outside in the beautiful Florida evening air and loosened up the legs with a half hour run, followed by a delicious homemade spaghetti dinner. Friday brought more sunshine, so we took advantage of the weather and lounged on the beach in New Smyrna.
Early to bed, early to rise. Saturday morning we were awake at 3am and out the door at 4. At 5 we arrived at the park in Ocala, where I picked up my race packet and laid out my transition area. After a short warmup run, it was time to put on the wetsuit and head to the water, but I was wet before I got there... around 6:30 we were hit with a torrential downpour. So much for dry socks for the run. Fortunately, storms blow over pretty quick in Florida, and in about 15 minutes the sky was clear as if it never happened.
An abbreviated warmup swim and race briefing later, it was time to go. By the time the gun went, there was just enough sunlight to see the first swim buoy for us to chase after. The water was choppier than expected, but otherwise the swim was uneventful, just the way I like it. My swimming has felt just a touch off this season, so it was no surprise to clock a 30:10 split for the 1.2 mile swim. Into a smooth transition and onto the bike, there was time to make up but plenty of miles to do so.
Ocala flats made for a a great course to drop into the aerobars and hit the power hard. I spent the first 5 miles in my target power range and settling into a good groove, content with the beautiful Ocala scenery, until the second downpour. The rain was just as brutal as it had been before the swim, and now we were cycling through it. Awesome. The only consolation to be had from the weather was knowing that every single competitor was riding through the same rain. At target power, I began to pick off racers one by one. I was very content with my pacing strategy, until eventual winner Stephen Patterson went cruising by me about 10 miles in. Stephen is an incredible amatuer athlete I met last summer at the Skidmore College pool. He has been to Kona multiple times and never ceases to impress me. He is a model athlete whom I aspire to be near as good. With that said, after he made his pass, all I wanted to do was keep up with his cycling pace. Swaying away from my original power pacing, I found myself able to keep Stephen in sight on the 56 mile bike course with a time of 2:18:03, averaging a blistering 24.3 mph! But it did not come without a hefty cost...
Into second transition much sooner than anticipated, my goal was to run the half marathon course at least at a 7 minute mile pace. Knowing that I had pushed the power harder than planned on the bike, I was in for a world of hurt if I wanted to keep to that run. the first 5 miles of running went very well, with all splits in the 6:50-7:00 range. The next 5 miles were a bit tougher, and the extra bike work was really doing a number on my legs, so the pace slipped to 7:20-7:30 pace. Reasonable, I told myself, as long as I kept my legs moving. The last 3.1 miles were just absolute torture. Cramps began setting in, my stride fell to pieces, and all I could do was grit my teeth and dig my way through the now brutal heat (gotta love Florida weather!) while praying nobody saw the bullseye on my back. Over the course of the 13.1 mile run, which I finished in 1:39:31, I passed one runner and was passed by two, falling just one place back in the overall finish. I held on for 8th place overall in a net time of 4:30:59, my fastest half in the first race of the season!
Overall it was an excellent race weekend, and even though the race was not executed flawlessly, I couldn't be happier for my friend Stephen, who won with a time of 4:20:36. It's nice to have a low pressure race early in the season to test my Winter built fitness, but I do hope that I will ride more conservatively in my next race to keep the legs competitive come running time. With a month until the next race, 70.3 St. Croix, its time to get back to heavy training and prepare to race hard and smart. I'm already faster than ever, I have a detailed training and racing plan, and I'm just getting warmed up.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Training Like a Scientist- Jekyll and Hyde
Winter training has been solid. Fitness is improving quickly and I am becoming more and more comfortable with regular, consistent workouts. This past May I graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Exercise Physiology, very cool stuff, but I recently realized that I am rarely applying the principles I learned in college to my career, training, or further studies. With that realization, I am ready to change and begin training like a scientist. My most recent equipment purchase, a crank based power meter, has proved most useful in making this a reality. If it's good enough for Pete Jacobs, 2012 Ironman World Champion, it's good enough for me! I won't bore you to death with talk of functional threshold power, lactate threshold, aerodynamics, power to weight etc., but just trust me when I say that knowledge is power, and many of my early season fitness gains, particularly on the bike, I attribute to the use of the power meter.
As important as pacing and knowing your body helps you race, I'm still a firm believer that some performance variables are immeasurable. Specifically, no matter who has the higher FTP, the athlete who races with the most passion has the better race day. Period. For those of you who are not familiar with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, here's a quick overview. Dr. Jekyll is a brilliant, upstanding professor of medicine and chemistry, but all the brains and academic achievement in the world can't fulfill his more primititive desires, which are dominance and sex. He proposes that human nature is a two sided coin, and that while we put on our proper faces to agree politely with society, there is a subdued side to every man that wants to break free, kill its enemies, and fulfill desire. Dr. Jekyll develops a medicine that brings this inner beast to life, allowing his primitive self, Mr. Hyde, to do as he pleases. Uninhibitted, Mr. Hyde gets everything he wants, without any regards to the well-being of other members of society.
There is no place where the lessons of this story are more real than in sport. This past Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens won the superbowl by thinking like Dr. Jekyll, then playing like Mr. Hyde. Without a smart and calculated strategy, the game would have easily been handed to the 49ers. With that said, if every move was overthought, especially on defense, the quick 49ers offense would have flown right by them everytime. The key is balancing emotion and arousal with caution and strategy, and releasing the beast as necessary. This is how I plan to race the 2013 season. Pacing will be carefully calculated, but when it comes down to win or lose, the beast has to come out. Sometimes you have to just grit your teeth and push harder than the competitor, no matter where the heart rate is or how many watts you're pushing. Nobody cares which racer has the highest lactate threshold, they care which one crosses the finish line first.
The first race of the season is fast approaching, HITS Ocala on March 23. The data will bring me to the starting line prepared and with a plan, but only the animal inside of me will be able to bury my competition. I'm trying to hit 12,000 yards in the pool, 200 miles on the bike, and about 40 miles of running for the next few weeks of training leading up to Ocala. Just know that when March rolls around, I will be ready. Will you?
As important as pacing and knowing your body helps you race, I'm still a firm believer that some performance variables are immeasurable. Specifically, no matter who has the higher FTP, the athlete who races with the most passion has the better race day. Period. For those of you who are not familiar with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, here's a quick overview. Dr. Jekyll is a brilliant, upstanding professor of medicine and chemistry, but all the brains and academic achievement in the world can't fulfill his more primititive desires, which are dominance and sex. He proposes that human nature is a two sided coin, and that while we put on our proper faces to agree politely with society, there is a subdued side to every man that wants to break free, kill its enemies, and fulfill desire. Dr. Jekyll develops a medicine that brings this inner beast to life, allowing his primitive self, Mr. Hyde, to do as he pleases. Uninhibitted, Mr. Hyde gets everything he wants, without any regards to the well-being of other members of society.
There is no place where the lessons of this story are more real than in sport. This past Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens won the superbowl by thinking like Dr. Jekyll, then playing like Mr. Hyde. Without a smart and calculated strategy, the game would have easily been handed to the 49ers. With that said, if every move was overthought, especially on defense, the quick 49ers offense would have flown right by them everytime. The key is balancing emotion and arousal with caution and strategy, and releasing the beast as necessary. This is how I plan to race the 2013 season. Pacing will be carefully calculated, but when it comes down to win or lose, the beast has to come out. Sometimes you have to just grit your teeth and push harder than the competitor, no matter where the heart rate is or how many watts you're pushing. Nobody cares which racer has the highest lactate threshold, they care which one crosses the finish line first.
The first race of the season is fast approaching, HITS Ocala on March 23. The data will bring me to the starting line prepared and with a plan, but only the animal inside of me will be able to bury my competition. I'm trying to hit 12,000 yards in the pool, 200 miles on the bike, and about 40 miles of running for the next few weeks of training leading up to Ocala. Just know that when March rolls around, I will be ready. Will you?
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