Steelhead, which is one of my favorite races, was unfortunately turned into a TT start on the bike just like New Orleans 70.3 was this year.
I arrived on Friday afternoon to make sure I would be able to hop in Lake Michigan to get in a little open water swim in my wetsuit. I did a nice and easy 25 minute swim and then met up with my homestay before heading to down town St. Joseph to grab some dinner with Nick Waninger and his friend. The swim seemed a little choppy, but nothing that seemed to hint at the fact that the swim might be cancelled.
Saturday morning, Nick gave me a call and we met up to go for a little bike/run warmup before going to grab some lunch with Eric, Beth, and Jamie at Panera. We heard a little talk going around that there were rip current warnings for Lake Michigan and that the swim was looking very doubtful for Sunday's race. Later in the day at the Pro meeting, they told us more of the same and that if the swim was cancelled, we would start in TT order on the bike in reverse order of our race numbers. After the meeting, I hit up a blueberry farm with my dad and brother, who were in Michigan for work and just stuck around to watch me race, and bought 5 pounds of blueberries and one of the best blueberry scones I've ever eaten.
After a good dinner at Chili's with Dad, Ben, Jamie, Eric, and Beth, I went to my homestay's, got everything set out for the morning, and was off to bed.
Sunday morning actually seemed kind of calm when I woke up but I guess it was the calm before the storm. When I arrived at the transition area, the Lake looked like a washing machine and the winds were howling. They had already cancelled the swim when I got there at 5:30. So, instead of setting up my transition area and then walking 1 mile down the beach to the race start, I just hung out with the other pros that arrived WAY too early for the TT start from the transition area. At 7:15, the first pro was off. Since I was #12, I had a little while before I was to start since there were 39 guys on the start list.
Somewhere around 7:25, I was sent off. I had a few guys up the road that I was aiming to catch pretty fast, but with the wind direction, I knew I shouldn't push too hard too early because we had a head wind for the first 10 or so miles. But I knew this meant we would have a tail wind for the last 15 miles of the ride. About 12 miles into the ride, Daniel Bretscher caught me who started 30 seconds behind me. When he passed, I bumped my wattage up 5 - 10 watts and kept him close without drafting. I passed him back and shortly afterwards Chris Legh and Zack Ruble both passed me. Again, I bumped up my effort to keep them close, which I was able to do. We passed a few guys over the next 10 - 20 miles and a few of those guys jumped in and started to ride "a little close." Before we knew it, we were in a group of 8 or so guys. Chris Legh was the strongest cyclist in the group and was pushing the pace up until 35 miles or so. He actually gapped the group several times, only to have one guy chase him down and bring the rest of the group with him. I made sure to ride at a legal distance behind the guy in front of me, and I would pass them when I felt they were slowing so that I could push the pace. I never knew when an official was going to ride by us so I made sure to keep my distance. After catching some more guys, and having a group of almost 15 or so coming into T2. I was off my bike, had a good transition, and was off on the run. Here is my Garmin file for the bike.
Once on the run, I came out just behind Chris Legh and I was wearing my Garmin 310Xt for the first time in a 70.3 race so I made sure to pace myself instead of going out too hard. I was also wearing my HR monitor so I made sure to keep that in check on the hills. I ran a good pace for the first few miles but let Legh get a little up the road. I was running with Bretscher and Jeff Paul for a few miles before Paul fell off. Bretscher and I ran side by side and really pushed each other. It took us a few miles before we were able to reel in Legh but we held about the same pace for most of the run. Right around the 9.5 - 10 mile mark, Bretscher put a little gap on me and I wasn't able to answer. Legh then pulled away a little but nothing significant. It stayed that way for the rest of the run and that is how we crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, they both started behind me so I knew they had beaten me by more than just that small distance between us at the finish. And there were also some guys that started minutes behind me that crossed the line within seconds of me, so I was just hoping to finish inside the top 8. Here is the Garmin file from the run.
My dad and brother weren't far from the finish and my bro had his iphone with the results pulled up. I quickly saw that I biked a 2:06 and change and ran a 1:15 and change, but that only got me 12th place. I was extremely happy with the effort as I averaged over 300 watts for the first time in a 70.3 and also ran my best 13.1 miles off the bike. There were some fantastic finishes by some of the guys that beat me and congrats to all who participated. Beth, Eric, Jamie, and our Master's swim coach Meagan all had fabulous races and no doubt would have finished even better if there were a swim.
Now I'm back to training and working on my normal schedule. My next "big" race is the Rev3 South Carolina race and I'm not exactly sure what is next up. Thanks for reading.
Tony
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Giant Eagle Tri RR
This past weekend was the inaugural Giant Eagle Tri in Columbus, OH. They offered 30k prize money to the Pro's which was paid out to the top 7 athletes. I was excited to race an Olympic distance race which I haven't done since Rev3 Knoxville in May. I also decided to make it a short travel weekend like I did for Muncie 70.3 since this race is so close to Lexington.
I just chilled out Friday here in Lex instead of driving up 2 days early. Saturday I woke up and did a little shake out run before hitting the road to Columbus. I practiced my aero position on the way up and made it to Columbus in record time.
Once at the park, I picked up my packet, chatted with our team director, then hopped in the water for a little swim. It was crazy warm and super shallow but no big deal. I grabbed a little lunch at Panera, came back for the Pro meeting, then headed to my homestay's house. I stayed with Dan Wesley who just opened up a Retul bike fit shop in Columbus and he and his wife were super nice and helpful and I was very grateful to be able to stay at their house. If you life in that area and need a bike fit, check it out. www.triformancesbr.com
After some light conversations and a little dinner, I was off to bed. Unfortunately, it didn't mean I was going to sleep. I had one of those nights where you are wide awake and you can't do anything about. It may have been the 3 large teas I had at Panera for lunch, but I just could not fall asleep. After managing a few hours of sleep, I woke up at 4 to get my usual pre race breakfast down. With the unique set up of a point-to-point triathlon, I had to drive to the finish line/T2 area to park and then take the shuttle up to T1 which was roughly 15 miles away. After a late departure and a very slow drive, the shuttle made it to T1 at about 6:15 only leaving me 45 minutes to do ALL of my usual pre race stuff including bathroom, prep bike/nutrition, body marking, pick up chip, pump up tires, check in swim bag gear, swim warmup, etc, etc, etc.
Anyways, I made it and at 7am we were off. They had to change the swim to a 2 loop swim due to the small swim area in the lake. We only had about a 50 yard swim to the first turn buoy but there were only 20 - 25 of us so I figured it wouldn't be too horrible. When we hit that buoy, it was nothing like an ITU swim and I didn't have anyone grab my head and push me under which was nice. The bad part was I was on the feet of several super swimmers and I didn't need to be there. After swimming a 200 yard PR (I'm guessing), I maxed out and was in trouble. The next turn buoy was roughly 250 - 300 meters into the swim and I had already lost contact of the lead pack. Luckily, when we made our 3rd left turn, it was in about 2.5 - 3.5 ft of water so I started to dolphin dive to try and catch back up. I did 10 - 20 dolphin dives and caught back up to the group as they were all still swimming. Unfortunately, all of those dives spiked my HR once again and I did not stay in that pack for long. The 2nd lap was just about the same and I came out of the water just over 18 minutes with several guys in my sights. I had a good T1 and was off on my bike.
It took a few miles for me to get my HR down from the swim and for my legs to come around, but after about 5 miles I felt fine. I pushed roughly 320 watts and tried to keep it in that range. I figured I would be able to go a little harder but that just wasn't in the cards. I focused on staying in the aero position and not wasting too much energy by spiking my wattage out of turns or by pushing a little too hard on hills. I believe this helped as I caught 4 guys in the first 10 miles and then another guy at around the 20th mile. I wasn't sure what place I was in or how far back I was but I just kept pushing. Here is the Garmin file for my ride.
I came off the bike, had a great T2 (missed the fastest T2 by 1 second) and took off on the run. I heard the announcer say that I was rounding out the top 5 so I figured there had to be a few guys close, but I wasn't sure.
I was wearing my Garmin 310XT for the first time in a race so that I would "pace" myself a little better as opposed to just taking off and then holding on for dear life like I usually do. I could see someone up the road but there was also a 2k walk / 5k run going on at the same time and when I caught that person, it was someone who was doing the 5k run (walk). So as I saw more people, I just figured it was all people in the 5k, but I did see 1 guy who looked like he was wearing a tri suit and I was barely gaining ground on him so I pushed to catch him. I was right, and right at about the 5k mark, I caught him. I was now in 4th and could actually see 3rd just up the road. I kept pushing and gained a few seconds per kilometer on him but the wheels started to fall off with about a mile to go. My HR jumped up a few beats higher and I was slowing down. I never got that close to 3rd place and I crossed the finish line in 4th. This was equal to my best placing at a Pro race and I was very pleased with my effort. Here's my Garmin file for the run.
After the race, I got my award then headed back to my homestay's to clean up then hit the road. Once I was ready to leave, I figured it had been too good of a day so I figured I would back into a sewage drain and give myself a flat tire. I have never changed a flat before (on my car) and this happened to be right in front of my homestay's house. Dan came out and happily gave me a hand. Luckily, this happened where it did as I did not have a jack and he did. We put my spare on and I was on my way at the max speed of 50 mph (I only drove 60 - 65 the whole way back). So, I got back in Lexington about 1.5 hours later than I had planned but I did make it back so I wasn't worried about it.
Next up, Steelhead 70.3 and then.....
Thanks for reading.
Tony
Monday, July 25, 2011
Brick Run after Long ride this past Friday
I'm just trying a few things and this is my first of several workouts that I'll post. I just got a new Garmin so I figured I could share some cool info. This was a 7k (supposed to be 8k but temp's were around 100 degrees so I cut it short) @ a strong pace or roughly half marathon race pace. I did a 4 hour ride preceding this run with some race pace efforts.
Let's see if this works
Tony
Let's see if this works
Tony
Another Post?
Well another solid week of training has come and gone. I am finding myself on another Monday where I'm just chilling and watching a little "Bones" on tv. I realized that July is almost over and I've only posted once during this month. Nothing too exciting has happened since Muncie but my training has been going very well. I got in a very solid training week after Muncie and enjoyed a recovery day on Sunday the 17th by going to the Red's v. Cardinals game in Cincy with my girlfriend and her friends from home. We had a blast and enjoyed some great baseball even though the Reds won.
This past week I got some really good workouts in dispite the heat. I was waking up early to get the hard workouts in and just suffering in the heat for the easier workouts. I think the week caught up with me as I melted on my long run yesterday. Not sure if I was just worn out from the week of training or if the heat was taking the extra energy out of me. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning and a short shake out run in the rain just to help loosen the legs up from last week's work.
I'm looking forward to racing this weekend in Columbus at the "Giant Eagle Triathlon." I haven't raced an Olympic distance triathlon since Rev3 Knoxville in May. Let's hope I can get the leg turnover going this week in time for the race on Sunday.
Tony
And being the track nerd that I am. There was a new AR ran in the 5k recently by Bernard Lagat and you should check out the race. He is a phenominal athlete and I really appreciate a great performance, in any sport. Here is the video.
http://youtu.be/C5eJbkC4iuE
This past week I got some really good workouts in dispite the heat. I was waking up early to get the hard workouts in and just suffering in the heat for the easier workouts. I think the week caught up with me as I melted on my long run yesterday. Not sure if I was just worn out from the week of training or if the heat was taking the extra energy out of me. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning and a short shake out run in the rain just to help loosen the legs up from last week's work.
I'm looking forward to racing this weekend in Columbus at the "Giant Eagle Triathlon." I haven't raced an Olympic distance triathlon since Rev3 Knoxville in May. Let's hope I can get the leg turnover going this week in time for the race on Sunday.
Tony
And being the track nerd that I am. There was a new AR ran in the 5k recently by Bernard Lagat and you should check out the race. He is a phenominal athlete and I really appreciate a great performance, in any sport. Here is the video.
http://youtu.be/C5eJbkC4iuE
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Muncie 70.3
This past weekend I made my first trip up to Muncie, Indiana for the Half Ironman race that has been held there for the past 32 years. I have always heard great things about it and since it is now an Ironman owned event, I figured I would go race. I drove up Friday morning and actually came into town on the bike course so I was able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I drove straight to the race site and got in a little bike ride and open water swim before heading to my homestay's house. Thank you to Karen Wenger and Al Smith for hosting me and Casey for the weekend and giving a place to sleep. After the Pro meeting and an amazing dinner that was cooked by Karen, we sat around and relaxed before going to bed.
Saturday morning was a little different than most race mornings as I got to sleep until 5:15am since the race didn't start until 8am. This was extremely late compared to most 70.3 races. I ate a little food, then headed down to the race site. After racking my bike, I got everything set up and headed down to the water. I was anxious to try out my new Profile Design speed suit as I have never used one before. The water temp was well over 80 degrees so we were definitely not using wetsuits.
At 8 am, the gun went off. I got a pretty good start and was out well. After a few hundred yards, I settled in on some feet and felt good about my position. I got a little too comfortable and I lost those feet. I immiediately put on a surge to get back on but it was too late. I was by myself for 300 - 400 yards before a group of guys caught me. I just sat in that group all of the way until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a few guys who usually out swim me but also a few guys that I normally out swim so I guess it was where I should have been????
Any ways, I ran into T1 and was out onto my bike. I had a much better transition than I did in Kansas and also Muncie has a much easier first few miles on the bike to get warmed up than Kansas did. It took me a few miles to get warmed up but once I warmed up, I was moving pretty good. I passed a few guys that I came out of the water with and made a move to catch 2 guys that were just up the road. I exerted maybe just a tad too much energy in catching those guys too fast, but it doesn't matter now, I caught them. Me, Joe McDaniel, Zach Ruble, and Daniel Bretscher all stayed pretty close for almost the whole bike leg. We were only about 1 minute or so down from the "main" pack and at both turn arounds we were maintaining this gap. We had a nice little tail wind from 33ish miles up until 45 - 47 miles. It was great to have a nice tail wind during this section. Mike Caiazzo flew by us around the 45 mile mark and kept going. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished 2nd overall.
I came into T2 with the same 3 guys that I had been riding with for most of the bike leg and we were in spots 9 - 12 overall. I had a good transition and was off running. I felt alright, but not normal for the first 1.5 miles. Then it hit me. My legs already felt like jello and it felt like my quads were going to cramp at any second. I backed off a little and tryed to maintain my pace. I could see the "main" pack just barely up the road. They maybe had 1 - 2 minutes on me and I felt that with my running ability that I should have been able to catch at least 3 - 4 of those guys. Well, the wheels fell off and I just went slower and slower. I did catch 1 guy but only to be passed by another. I was sitting in 10th place for most of the run leg and not making up any ground. Once I had covered 5 miles, I had to walk a little. I started walking 30 seconds per 2 miles of running. That plan worked and got me to the finish line even if it wasn't as fast as I wanted to go. Brent Poulsen flew by me around mile 10 and I was able to hold on to 11th postion for the rest of the run.
This was my best swim/bike combo of the year but unfortunately the heat got to me on the run and I just melted. This was my hottest race of the year and I believe I was a little too excited to start the run. I should have been a little more patient and settled into a slower pace to start the run. Maybe I could have held this slightly slower pace and ended up running faster in the long run.
Anyways, I had a decent result given the conditions and was extremely pleased with my bike leg as I have never gone that fast for 56 miles before. Next up is the Giant Eagle Triathlon on the 31st of July. Then Steelhead 70.3 on the 14th of August.
T-Bird
Saturday morning was a little different than most race mornings as I got to sleep until 5:15am since the race didn't start until 8am. This was extremely late compared to most 70.3 races. I ate a little food, then headed down to the race site. After racking my bike, I got everything set up and headed down to the water. I was anxious to try out my new Profile Design speed suit as I have never used one before. The water temp was well over 80 degrees so we were definitely not using wetsuits.
At 8 am, the gun went off. I got a pretty good start and was out well. After a few hundred yards, I settled in on some feet and felt good about my position. I got a little too comfortable and I lost those feet. I immiediately put on a surge to get back on but it was too late. I was by myself for 300 - 400 yards before a group of guys caught me. I just sat in that group all of the way until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a few guys who usually out swim me but also a few guys that I normally out swim so I guess it was where I should have been????
Any ways, I ran into T1 and was out onto my bike. I had a much better transition than I did in Kansas and also Muncie has a much easier first few miles on the bike to get warmed up than Kansas did. It took me a few miles to get warmed up but once I warmed up, I was moving pretty good. I passed a few guys that I came out of the water with and made a move to catch 2 guys that were just up the road. I exerted maybe just a tad too much energy in catching those guys too fast, but it doesn't matter now, I caught them. Me, Joe McDaniel, Zach Ruble, and Daniel Bretscher all stayed pretty close for almost the whole bike leg. We were only about 1 minute or so down from the "main" pack and at both turn arounds we were maintaining this gap. We had a nice little tail wind from 33ish miles up until 45 - 47 miles. It was great to have a nice tail wind during this section. Mike Caiazzo flew by us around the 45 mile mark and kept going. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished 2nd overall.
I came into T2 with the same 3 guys that I had been riding with for most of the bike leg and we were in spots 9 - 12 overall. I had a good transition and was off running. I felt alright, but not normal for the first 1.5 miles. Then it hit me. My legs already felt like jello and it felt like my quads were going to cramp at any second. I backed off a little and tryed to maintain my pace. I could see the "main" pack just barely up the road. They maybe had 1 - 2 minutes on me and I felt that with my running ability that I should have been able to catch at least 3 - 4 of those guys. Well, the wheels fell off and I just went slower and slower. I did catch 1 guy but only to be passed by another. I was sitting in 10th place for most of the run leg and not making up any ground. Once I had covered 5 miles, I had to walk a little. I started walking 30 seconds per 2 miles of running. That plan worked and got me to the finish line even if it wasn't as fast as I wanted to go. Brent Poulsen flew by me around mile 10 and I was able to hold on to 11th postion for the rest of the run.
This was my best swim/bike combo of the year but unfortunately the heat got to me on the run and I just melted. This was my hottest race of the year and I believe I was a little too excited to start the run. I should have been a little more patient and settled into a slower pace to start the run. Maybe I could have held this slightly slower pace and ended up running faster in the long run.
Anyways, I had a decent result given the conditions and was extremely pleased with my bike leg as I have never gone that fast for 56 miles before. Next up is the Giant Eagle Triathlon on the 31st of July. Then Steelhead 70.3 on the 14th of August.
T-Bird
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Vacation time
I'm now back in Lexington after 2+ weeks of traveling. I started the trip on the Thursday before Kansas 70.3. We drove to St. Louis, stayed the night, then traveled on to Lawrence for the race. After the race, we drove back to St. Louis and stayed two nights with Casey's family. Tuesday came around and we came back to Lexington. Wednesday came and we were off to the Lake for a family reunion. We spent several days at the Lake just relaxing and enjoying a few short and easy trail runs. It is always great to see my extended family that I don't get to see very often and to eat all of the amazing baked goods that everyone brings for snacking. We had some fun laying by the pool and enjoying time out on the boat. Very early Saturday morning, we hit the road from the lake to meet up with my dad's side of the family for our trip to the beach. By 3pm that day, we were in Destin, Florida. We spent a very nice week in Destin before traveling back to Kentucky this past Saturday. Unfortunately my car broke down in Bowling Green so Casey had to pick me up to get me back to Lexington, but I did eventually make it, haha.
Florida was amazing and it was nice to get in some good training on the beach. The weather was extremely hot and humid, but I guess its good for a short amount of time. My hardest run workout of the week was performed at 5am as I was trying to beat the heat. I did some early bike workouts as well as I had to ride on a busy road so if I didn't go early, then I had to fight with very heavy beach traffic for 12 - 14 miles of road. Swimming was the easiest of the 3 disciplines as I had a nice outdoor pool to swim in, and the heat wouldn't affect me as much as the other 2 sports. I did several runs in the afternoon when the "feels like" temperature was well above 100 so that made for some "not-so-easy" easy runs. What always makes vacation fun is being able to spend time with my family as we all live in different locations and of course all of the good seafood. I had Lobster twice (which is my favorite seafood) and then several different types of fish that were freshly caught and prepared.
But it is good to be back and to have a normal routine again. I have Muncie 70.3 coming up in about 10 days and then the Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio on the 31st of July.
Tony
Florida was amazing and it was nice to get in some good training on the beach. The weather was extremely hot and humid, but I guess its good for a short amount of time. My hardest run workout of the week was performed at 5am as I was trying to beat the heat. I did some early bike workouts as well as I had to ride on a busy road so if I didn't go early, then I had to fight with very heavy beach traffic for 12 - 14 miles of road. Swimming was the easiest of the 3 disciplines as I had a nice outdoor pool to swim in, and the heat wouldn't affect me as much as the other 2 sports. I did several runs in the afternoon when the "feels like" temperature was well above 100 so that made for some "not-so-easy" easy runs. What always makes vacation fun is being able to spend time with my family as we all live in different locations and of course all of the good seafood. I had Lobster twice (which is my favorite seafood) and then several different types of fish that were freshly caught and prepared.
But it is good to be back and to have a normal routine again. I have Muncie 70.3 coming up in about 10 days and then the Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio on the 31st of July.
Tony
Monday, June 13, 2011
Kansas 70.3 RR
After a couple of solid training weeks, I was ready to race. I felt like a bum during my taper this past week as I was doing a lot of nothing. I am reading a great book that I got for Christmas entitled "Unbroken." Anyways, last weekend I decided to compete in a local sprint Tri to get in a solid effort 1 week out from Kansas and I knew it wouldn't take too much out of me. After some difficulties with the course, I did manage to pull out the win but I could definitely tell I needed to rest more as I didn't feel great in either the swim, bike, or run.
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
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