Tupper Lake Tinman Race Report

Well I never got a chance to finish my training camp logs, but here’s the quick recap:

Camp was amazing, Saturday on the bike course rocked, windy, but so much fun, and the scenery was incredible. It was a big confidence boost going into the race next month, just knowing that I had two loops in me, and I still felt okay after. Hanging out with, and meeting/getting to know more people from Train-This was by far the best part of the weekend though. I’m so lucky to have gotten in with this group, they’re all amazing! For that I should probably thank Alexa! Sunday ended with a nice recovery ride with Kim, Mary, and Tim. Then Mary and I went for a swim, which was great. We sat on the beach and talked while we waited for Kim and Matthias to finish up their runs. I had an amazing talk with Mary about Ironman, and a bit of where I want to go starting next year. The ride back with Matthias was great as well. He’s a good car buddy. I’m very glad that he decided to come up, and that we carpooled together.

Now onto the big story for this weekend, my Tupper Lake Tinman race report!

I have some discussing to do with Mary about this race, to try to figure out where things went wrong before I head up to Placid next month. During the race, it was hard to not think “This is just a half, what the hell am I going to do next month if I’m in this much trouble now?” I wish I could say that I successfully stayed positive the whole time, but I didn’t. I am, however, proud of the way that I forced myself to put things back into perspective and pulled myself out of a pretty dark place. But here we go…

Woke up at 5am, was happy for an 8am start time. Thank you so much to Stefany for letting Amanda and I set up our air mattress on your motel room floor! Also, congrats for crushing your race Saturday! It was a bit chilly in the little cabin we were in, but outside it seemed much warmer. It was raining though. I was a bit worried about being cold on the bike, but I’m used to the rain, and this spring I’ve gotten through much colder rain than 63F. Ate breakfast, then headed over to the race site. It was raining pretty good at this point. I tried to stay as dry and warm as I could, and got marked, grabbed my chip, and set up in transition. I then headed back to the car to relax and stay dry. I was feeling pretty good. I felt confident. About 30 minutes before race time, I got my wetsuit ready and on, and then got in my gel at about 20 to go. I headed over to the lake, and watched the sprinters go out. 10 minutes to go. I got in and swam maybe a 100yds or so easy. Hmmm, I’m not feeling all that great in the water; tried not to think about it. 1 minute to go was announced, and I got ready. Off we went, and a bad swim was begun. I couldn’t find a rhythm, I had a ton of trouble sighting the course for some reason, and as such I couldn’t find anyone to settle in and draft off of. It took me until the turn back in to shore to find anything resembling a comfortable rhythm, and I focused on trying to reel back in the group that had gotten away from me. I definitely brought some time back on the way back in, and felt good okay coming out of the water and into transition. I took an extra minute getting my socks on, because I really didn’t want to bike 56, and run 13 sockless in wet shoes. I think it was a good decision.

Swim: 28:14 was good enough for best in my AG and 16^th overall.

T1: 2:16

I headed out on the bike, and again had trouble finding a good rhythm. We rode into the wind on the way out. I had stretches when I felt good, but they were interspersed with times when I felt like I was pushing, and not going anywhere. I was annoyed when I was passed by a paceline of 5-6 guys, but shrugged it off and focused on how I was feeling. At the time I felt like for the most part the ride out was solid. I wasn’t comfortable, but I felt sustainable. I didn’t really look at my watch at all. I try not to look at my data right after races, I like to let things sink in first, and I think it lets me put things into better context, I’ll be doing that later today. On the way out, I was happy with the position I was in, and I felt stong, and I was ready to bring it back, and have a strong run. I don’t know what happened. I think I was maybe a bit light on nutrition, but I wasn’t much behind. I had a little over a bottle of drink in me over the 28 miles out, and 5 shot blocks. My stomach felt solid, which is a big deal for me. After the turn and heading back through Cranberry Lake I thought I spotted Kellman and his neon yellow Fleet-feet kit. The trip back to Tupper, I just struggled. I felt heavy, I started to feel some quad pain that I’ve been dealing with lately, and I couldn’t keep my heart rate up even though my effort felt really consistent. It was pretty demoralizing. By the time I rolled back into town, I hurt, pretty much everywhere, but I never felt as though I had overdone it, nor did I think that I was lacking in nutrition. I’m still not sure of what went wrong, but I’m hoping talking with Mary will help clear that up. T2 was smooth, Amanda asked how I felt I gave her the “no good” look/head shake, and headed out.

Bike: 2:33:40

T2: 1:21

The run brought the hurt. The first mile or so I felt pretty good. I had trouble feeling my effort, and I think I took that first mile out a little fast. I didn’t hurt so much for that little while, and I thought I was settling into a good sustainable pace. I was wrong. At mile 2.5 everything came crashing down on me. Whatever high I had been riding left, and I was in a world of pain. I took a minute to stop, and go to the bathroom. At that point I thought I was done. I couldn’t see myself running again. I couldn’t even see myself walking the distance back to transition. I took that minute to talk myself back down. I’ll go through my inner dialogue for you here:

Why am I here? I love this sport, I love what I’m doing right now.

Why am I here? Everyone has a bad race, this is your first, this is where you see how strong you are.

Okay, how can I continue? Keep it slow and steady, get your legs back. Forget about the time, just focus on completion.

I got running again. Set a pace that I knew I could easily handle, I tried to settle in around 8min/mile. I long run that pace all the time. I know that pace, it’s comfortable, it’s my running happy place. I walked for about 15ish seconds a couple times before mile 5, negative thoughts crept back, I pushed them away. By mile 5 I was able to settle in. I still hurt, my focus was one foot in front of the other. I walked aid stations to try to get as much sport drink as I could. One quick note, if your race is sponsored by Coke, you freakin better have Coke on your damn run course! Especially when I need it! I ran the rest of the course, walking aid stations, and just holding on for dear life. I finally made it to mile 10, just a 5k left. I can do this in my sleep. I allowed myself to check out the time, assuming about 30 minutes for the swim, I realized that I have plenty of time to make it sub 5. I even had a shot at my goal of 4:50 if I just maintained. I didn’t try to push it in, I just kept with what was working for me. Run 1-1.5 walk 10-15 seconds of the aid station, continue. Before I knew it I had about 0.5 to go, and I left myself pick things up a little. I crossed the line with the clock at 4:51:20ish My official time ended up a bit slower than that. I think maybe they started us a bit less than 10 minutes after the sprint start.

Run: 1:46:47 (if not for flower city half back in May this would’ve been a 13.1 PR)

Overall: 4:52:15

As much as things went wrong for me during the race, I’m happy with the result. I’m very happy with the result. After, I got a ton of support from my team. The Train-This crew is incredible. I agree with Mary, If I can do that on a bad day, I can’t wait to see what a good day might look like!

I also need to thank Amanda. She's amazing! She rode all the way up to Tupper, and spent most of the day either in the car, or in the rain. She was cold and soggy all morning, and I'm sure that there were other things that she'd much rather be doing then watching me ride and run around some little town 4 hours away. She also bought me a delicious Rolo McFlurry, which was just as god as any AG award I've ever won! So thank you dar, your support is everything to me!

Now it’s time to look ahead to Placid. Just one more week or so of work, then on to a 10 day taper. I’m almost there. I still have my days when I’m scared of the race. I have some goals, but I’ve decided that I’m okay if they don’t happen. I can look back at the little journey I’ve made and be proud of the result. In a month I’m going to be an Ironman. Come hell or high water, I will make my way across that line, I don’t care how long it takes me. I’d love to hit those goals I have, but this season I’m realizing how much I love Olympic and 70.3 racing. I had a bad day Saturday, and I still loved it. We’ll see how IMLP goes and reassess. The plan right now for next year is Rev3 Cedar Point. I may make that the 70.3 though. It’s too early for decisions, I’m a wait and see kind of guy. I’m excited to race mini-mussel coming up and get my sprint on! It’s been almost two years since my last sprint, which was my first ever tri. Then I’m extra pumped to volunteer Musselman and cheer on my buddies John and Seth as they take on their first 70.3.

27 days to IMLP

33 days to Wedding!

Lake Placid Training Camp Day 1!

So I decided to write a log of training weekend in placid, so you all can live this awesome weekend vicariously through my words!

Friday:

Today started with my meeting Matthias at Amanda’s mom’s house in Farmington, it’s a long story why we ended up meeting there, and we’ll just leave it at that. We got on the road at about 9am, and enjoyed some lovely conversation on the way up. About two hours in we grabbed some lunch, and continued on into the mountains. At Tupper Lake I took a wrong turn and we got a nice little drive-through of Long Lake in, it was totally worth the 30 minutes it added to our drive… or not. We rolled in to the wonderfully cheap Alpine Air Inn at about 3:30ish, just late enough that we wouldn’t get to hit the 1hr recovery ride everyone else headed out on. We got everything situated in our room, and hung out a bit before heading down to mirror lake for a swim.

The lake had the lines in, and was all set up for what looked like crew, so we swam along the buoy lines all the way to the other end of the lake. My swim group consisted of Mary, Ken, and Don. Mary drafted off me the whole way. This was impressive, because I sprinted the whole thing, and didn’t breathe once. Or, I put in a nice medium effort, and made good time down. One of those two is true, I won’t say which one though. We waited for Ken and Don to come in, and chatted for a bit. Mary made me show her some of my water polo “ups”. She was impressed (as she should be!). The swim back went pretty quickly, passed a few people a long the line. I pushed a little harder for most of the way back. Ken and Mary came in just a few meters behind me. We all headed back to the motel for showers, and to relax before heading to dinner.

Dinner was at a place called Milano. It was very good. I got some tortelloni with tomato basil cream sauce, and grilled chicken. I got to know Kim and Travis better. They’re great. We all had a lot of fun, and some interesting conversations. For example, how exactly is puffed corn different from pooped corn? It’s clear they’re different, but how do they puff puffed corn. Kim said it’s something like *puffffff*. That answer didn’t really satisfy. After dinner we stopped at Rite Aid where I picked up some tooth paste, (I always forget something!) then headed back to the motel. I missed Amanda so I gave her a call, and talked to her and Pretson a bit. Then I headed down for a chat with Kim, Mary, Ken, and some others. It’s now 9:46 and I’m more than ready for bed! So it’s time for sleep! 112+ miles on the bike tomorrow, followed by a 30 minute run, and a swim in there somewhere as well. Lake Placid was beautiful tonight, hopefully it is tomorrow too!

37 days until IMLP!

Keuka Race Report

What a crazy weekend. Crazy fun, though. Began Saturday with an hour-thirty ride, in the rain... again. I think that standing in the parking lot of the park unpacking my bike, feeling those first raindrops falling, ties with the last mile of my run yesterday with the most mentally tough parts of my weekend. I've had about enough of the rain. It took everything I had to talk myself onto my bike. I knew if I could just get started then it wouldn't be so bad. I ended up putting in about 26 miles of easyish endurance. I felt strong, and that got me excited for the race coming on Sunday.

Headed down to Canandaigua to stay the night for a shorter drive to Penn Yan in the morning. Got up at 3:45 and showered, laid down a bit, then got back up at 4:30 to get ready to go. I was excited to wake up to almost no wind. Good to go for the race wheels! Made my smoothie for breakfast, and left for Keuka, a bit late around 5:40. Arrived at the race at about 6:20 after parking and everything. Saw Kim and her boyfriend Travis as I got my stuff out of the car. Headed down to where transition was set up. Found out that registration was all the way across campus (yay) and headed over there to get set to go. Saw Ivan at registration, chatted for a bit, then back to transition to get everything set up. Stood in line and got body marked. Chose the wrong line. For some reason there was three markers for the line on either side of mine, and one for mine. That always seems to happen though, got tired of waiting, and just walked up to the next available person. At this point it was about time for transition to close, and I felt not so good. Cue severe intestinal distress. I'll spare the details, but I spent long time in a port-a-potty. Seeing as I have a irrational fear of public bathrooms, you know it was bad when I'm willing to use the port-a-potty.

Anyways, I made it down to the beach about 30 seconds before my wave was supposed to start. Forgot my garmin. The state troopers that were supposed to staff the bike course weren't there yet, so I had a few minutes to calm down, and get ready to go. My wave went off, and I started fairly strong. I looked to see who was going to be leading, then found them and tickled their toes for the next 1.4km or so. About half way through I saw I was being drafted off of too, he decided to take the lead after the second turn, and I just stayed where I was. I was pretty happy with the pace, and I wasn't pushing myself very hard, so I was content. Typically there's at least one good swimmer who's not so strong anywhere else, so I took that gamble. We cruised into shore, and got up, ran up the stairs, and I noticed it was Travis. He slipped across the mat just before me, but the jokes on him, because I'm still listed as placed higher in the swim than him! We fist bumped as we headed into transition for our good swim.

Swim: 21:27 1:25/100m, or 1:18/100yds (for Alexa!)

As I headed to my transition spot I saw the kid who passed us in the swim. He was barely like 1/4 out of his wetsuit. That gave me a pretty good indication that I made a good call not pushing too ahrd to catch him, he wasn't a threat. Travis was about two slots down from me. I had some trouble getting my left foot out of my wetsuit, and ended up leaving transition a bit behind him.

T1: 1:10

Travis freakin took off on the bike. He dropped me pretty early, but I took my time and stayed strong. I got some nutrition in, and set a solid pace. I was caught by Nick Brodnicki about 5ish miles out, and then again by another guy. I didn't get caught up in racing them. I just kept my solid consistent push. There wasn't too much to talk about for the bike. I was pretty zen. I kept my cadence consistent, and my effort high, maybe a little beyond what I thought of as sustainable. Jeff Henderson passed me on the way up skyline. He was booking it. That guy can ride. At the turn around on skyline I was running about 6th (not including later waves, just people in front of me), I picked up two on the way back to transition. This is including almost being run off the road by some jerk in a truck. Just after that Curbeau came up to me, and I rode into transition a few seconds behind him.

Bike: 1:09:15

At this point I also noticed that I was only a few seconds behind Travis as well. Somewhere out there I must have pulled him back a bit. Took off the helmet, slipped on my running shoes, grabbed my visor, and headed out. I was a few steps behind Curbeau, Jeff Henderson, Travis, and some other guy. I started my run pretty solid, and settled into what felt like a strong pace. Kim yelled to keep Travis in sight as I headed out, that wasn't going to happen. I settled in behind Jeff Henderson, and stayed relatively in contact with him until just after the turn around at 3.1 miles. Through then I felt solid. My pace felt strong, and I felt good. No GI issues this time! From there, I gradually started to hurt more and more. By mile 5 it was BAD. I just focused on doing everything I could to maintain until I was over that line. I made it, barely. My goal going in had been 2:15. I crossed in 2:14:48.

Run: 42:19 6:50 pace
Total: 2:14:48 12OA, 2AG

Overall, I'm really happy with my performance, I've made huge gains since last fall. I'm racing well, and feeling strong. I'm excited/scared for Placid. Some days it's hard to tell which one I'm feeling more!

Coming into the home stretch! I have training camp coming up the 17-19th. Tinman the 25th, mini-Mussel July 16th and IMLP July 24th! Then the weeding July 30th, then The honeymoon after! Lots of fun times on tap!

One block left before IMLP! 48 days to go!

Pictures to come shortly!

Fly By Night Race Report

Well I haven't updated in a long time. I've been pretty busy, we'll just leave it at that. I did, however, have a chance to head down to Watkins Glen to rock the racetrack for Fly by Night. Amanda got some great photos so I'll share some of them here. Also, my buddy from water polo John Liobe ran his first du and did awesome! I think he's going to have a solid day at Musselman in a little over a month. John Ghidiu also gets a mention here for doing awesome! He'll be rocking IMLP with me. I should also mention my fellow Train-This-ers who all had great races Rich Adams, Kristin Mullaly (who you can should check out at her blog) and Donna H. Now onto my day:

Tried to take it easy all day. Amanda and I headed to my parent's house at about noon, where I spent about an hour or so double checking all of my gear, and making sure my race wheels were ready to go. We left from canandaigua at about 3:30ish. The drive went pretty well, I could feel my nerves growing as we got closer. I finally settled down into a bit of a zen state when we rolled down the hill into the Glen. Got to the track, begrudgingly paid our $5 per person, and parked. I headed to the registration tent and found Mary and Luc nearby. We chatted, Luc is freakin awesome, and seriously like the most polite 10 year old kid I've ever met. As I chatted with Mary, she told me she was excited to see how I stacked up against Curt, I took this as a hint that I should keep an eye on him. As I went over to register, Amanda stayed with them and quickly became friends with Luc.

I headed back to the car, got my gear all set, and headed over to the track to wait for transition to open. I ended up with a spot right near the timing/announcing tent, so Mary had a front row seat to my transitions, talk about pressure! I took a quick/easy lap of the track, just to check everything out, and get the course in my head. It was a bit windy for the deep wheels I was running, but I found I was okay if I just stayed strong. Got back to transition, and found that my spot had been taken. Someone put their bike right over my shoes and visor, did they not see them? Did they think they were just free shoes? I don't know, but when I got back, some people helped my push the bikes around me down a bit so I could have my spot back. This is a big deal for me, because I have a hard enough time finding my transition area when I know exactly where it is, the last thing I need to do is move it at the last minute. The pre-race announcement consisted of informing us that the run course was different, I didn't care too much I just follow the people in front of me. Maybe someday when I'm Travis Kuhl, I'll need to worry about stuff like that. Not yet though.

I lined up, and found John Liobe near the start. I talked him through a bit of a race plan, as he was pretty nervous. Before I knew it it was 5 minutes to go, then 2 minutes, then time to go! I started off quick, I wanted to find Curt quickly, and stay near him and see where that got me. I'm glad that I did this. I started a bit faster than I really wanted to, but before long we were heading through a tunnel only wide enough for one person at a time. I'm glad I made it there in the front, and didn't get stuck as the main pack came in. I eventually settled in on Curt's shoulder and rolled through the first run strong.

Run 1: 12:41

Transition I tried to go smooth and quick. Visor off, helmet on. Shoes off, bike shoes on. Off I go to the mount line. My bike shoes didn't want to clip in here, so I built up some momentum without them clipped in. Clipped in and rolled off.

T1: 0:43

Felt strong on the bike. I started picking off some of the quicker runners, especially on the first climb. Gained some more ground heading up the long climb of the back straight, and picked off Curt. Rolled on through the descent, and picked off more riders on the other climbs. Rolled through lap one feeling great, not overly pushing, but staying strong. Headed by transition, and headed back out for lap two. Headed up the first climb and..... lost my chain. Yay! Curt rolled by and said something encouraging or compassionate, I can't quite remember. I got it back on, and was on my way again before long, focused on staying calm and not panicking. Got back on and rolling again, with about 30 seconds lost total. Focused on trying to stay calm, but strong, and reel in the guys I lost. I saw Curt up ahead on the back straight and started reeling in the group he was with. Through the back straight, descent, then big climb. Towards the top, I caught and passed Curt, he gave me some encouragement, and I focused on trying to put as much time into him on the bike as I could. I saw how strong he was on the first run, and he had me scared.

Bike 1: 27:54

Headed through transition smoothly again. I loved the shout outs I got from Mary every time she saw me. Got my running shoes and visor on, and headed off. Yelled to Mary as I went "Dropped my damn chain"

T2: 0:41

Through transition, Mary announced Curt was following me by about 30 seconds. I focused on keeping as much of that as I could through this run leg. I think I took in a little too much fluids on the bike. I went for half a bottle per bike leg, but I don't think I had quite enough time to absorb all that much. As such, my stomach did not like this run all that much. I focused on settling into a strong pace, without pushing the limits too much. I tried to find the line and toe it as close as I could, without upsetting the system. I think it worked out okay. I came back into transition a little in front of Curt.

Run 2: 13:23

Again, nice and smoothly through transition. No problems clipping in this time. It was time to fly!

T3: 0:47

I saw on my first bike leg that I had the ability to put some time into my opponents, especially on the climbs. I tried to use this to my advantage, I think it worked out pretty well. My pace was a little slower than the first bike, but I felt strong, gained some time on the guys I recognized were near me heading into the last run. I felt like I put some good time into Curt, and was hoping it was going to be enough to hold him off on the last run, especially how my stomach was feeling on the earlier run.

Bike 2: 28:13

Final transition, had to make it quick, and roll on out for the finish! I knew that at any second I would hear Mary announcing Curt on his way into transition. I ran out praying that I could hold on to what I had so far, and knew that I was going to have to make myself hurt.

T4: 0:32

Make myself hurt is what I did. Unfortunately, it didn't take much to do that. My stomach was in revolt. I never threw up, but I had trouble pushing the pace I wanted. As I rolled out of transition and up a bit of a knoll overlooking the track I thought I saw Curt about to roll into transition. I felt good about the lead I had on him, and was confident I could hold onto it, even if it might be close. I was passed a few times, and tried to hang onto the shoulder of a guy I had battled with a bit on the bike. I couldn't hold onto him though, and had to let him slip. I gave it everything I could to bring it home, and hold off the guys that I knew were coming up not too far behind me. Up over the ramp, and around the tight turn, then down the finishing chute. I felt great about my performance. It wasn't without it's flaws, but how often does everything go the way you plan it? I made do with what I had, and I think I did pretty damn well.

Run 3: 13:36


I headed over to where my family was sitting, which was also next to where Mary was announcing from. She told me she was really happy with my performance, that made me feel better about the mistakes. We waited for Curt to come through. It didn't happen for a while, I started to worry if something had happened to him or something. Turns out that he inadvertently took an extra lap on the bike. We probably coud have figured that out earlier, if we had seen this picture:

Yes that would be Curt coming into transition, as I was coming into the finish chute. I think that Mary was focused on me finishing, and we missed him heading through. I feel bad, last year I very nearly took an extra bike lap as well. I barely caught the turn into pit row at the last second, so I know how easy it is to make that mistake on that track.

It was then time for a bit of a cookout. My parents brought hot dogs and we relaxed some and ate. My stomach was a bit queasy and I didn't eat too much. Had my recovery drink, and some cold water. Also a cupcake. I never feel so bad that I can't go for a cupcake. After a while, I wandered back to the track to check out the results. I thought that I had done pretty well, and the results solidified that. 9th overall. 3rd age group. Then I looked up the list a little bit. The two guys in front of me were also my age. 7 more seconds, and I would had 2nd. 30 more and I would've had 1st. It was then I thought back to that first bike leg, and that damn chain. Oh well. It was still another great performance and result for me. I can't wait to get back out there next week at Keuka. I'm also excited that the lake seems to be warming up. I don't so much like it when my best discipline gets cut because people don't like to swim in the cold! I had enough winter swim practices in high school when the pool heater had broken to handle some chilly water. I swam yesterday morning and today at Kershaw. I felt good in the water. I think I can do well next week! Then it's on to my final training block before IMLP. Things are ramping up.

Also training camp in just a few weeks! That's going to be a good time!

55 days (HOLY CRAP!) to IMLP!

Flower City Challenge Race Reports

River Challenge Du:

Woke up a bit before 5am, too excited to sleep anymore. Went out and chilled in the living room for a while before preparing the breakfast prescribed by Mary. The protein-banana-applesauce smoothie. Drank most of that, and some perform. Double checked that I had everything ready to go. (Forgot recovery drink, had to stop at Hess on the way to the race for some chocolate milk) Headed for GVP at about 6:10, arrived at 6:20, including the aforementioned stop. Ate a bit, set up my transition area, and proceeded yet again to try to relax. Mosied around with Amanda for a while, before taking my gel at 20 minutes to go, and heading for a short easy warm-up. With about 5ish minutes to start, I got to the start line, found Tim, and chatted a little. He informed me that he hadn't been feeling great lately. I was sure he'd be fine. Lined up next to Mike Hoffman, and Tim, and off went the gun. Started strong, I felt great.

As per the plan, I went out strong, but felt I could go faster. The few times I could see the field ahead I guessed I was around 15th. I was happy there. I wasn't pushing too hard, and knew I could make a move later if I had to. I cruised on into T1 feeling awesome. Visor off, helmet on. Shoes off, grab bike, run, mount.

Run 0: 20:52
T1: 0:40

Got on the bike, slipped my feet into my shoes, and got those pedals spinning. I felt strong on the bike, I passed a few on the few fairly small climbs there were. Cruised down east river, made the turn on Erie Station, and things started to go a bit downhill. My breakfast smoothie wasn't sitting so well anymore. Around mile 11 I threw up a little bit, and kept pedaling. The climb up to the intersection with Scottsville Rd wasn't too bad, and I was looking forward to a tailwind on the way back. The wind's pretty much always from the south, right? Not this day! I turned onto Scottsvile, and into a headwind. It wasn't much, but the way I was feeling, I didn't need to have to put in any extra effort. I headed back towards the park, taking small sips of my perform every so often, hoping my stomach would settle down a bit. No such luck. Threw up a few more times heading up Scottsville. I was able to keep my effort up, but I did not feel good. I turned onto Elmwood, slipped my feet out of my shoes, and headed into transition. Went okay, my fingers were just chilly enough, and my fine motor skills just depleted enough for me to have a heck of a time getting my shoes on. Grabbed my visor, and headed out.

Bike: 56:33
T2: 1:03

Headed back out for the shortened second loop. They cut out about 0.4 miles, to help out those who had planned to paddle, but now had to run. My stomach was in knots. I pushed as best I could with how I was feeling. I threw up two more times in the first mile or so. Didn't stop though. Definitely was time to HTFU. It wasn't too bad, just a little bit of upset stomach. I passed tow on the last run, and was caught by one. So I was pretty happy. I came through the line to Amanda's cheers. Still felt pretty sick, but that was mostly replaced with relief. I was happy about being able to push through the issues I came across, and happy with my time. The field was pretty quick, and I fared well.

Overall Time: 1:37:39
14th OA, 2nd AG

Me and my little flower award!


Then time to head home, and take a good nap, and recover for the half today!



Flower City Half Marathon:

Up again at 5. Felt good considering the day before. I ate my much smaller portioned breakfast, and felt much better than yesterday! I sat and relaxed for a bit, and thought about the race ahead. The plan had been to make a race day decision. I had talked with Mary Thursday night about what we both though I could do for this race. It all depended on how I had recovered from Saturday though. We were both certain that I was capable of a 1:30 half, the question was: could I do it after racing the day before? I spent the morning basically analyzing how I felt every step I took. I was a bit sore, but that was to be expected. I had a couple of options, I could line up with the 1:30 pace group, if was was feeling good. Or I could start out at a 7:15ish pace, feel it out for a few miles, then go if I wanted. Amanda and I headed downtown at about 6:20. We arrived at 6:30, parked, and headed to the Blue Cross Arena. We found Alexa, Solveig, and Ken, and chatted for a bit. Then we jogged back to the car to discard our warm-ups, and get our gels in. My mom called, and let us know that she was there, and looking for us. I told her to sit tight, and we started to head back to the start area. We got to the parking lot entrance, and found Alexa trying to get her garmin to find signal. Then the three of us headed out for a short warm-up. Alexa asked why I was carrying my phone still, and if I planned on racing with it. Then a minute later my mom called again, thus validating my having my phone! Thanks mom! Amanda and I found her, I gave her my bottle of perform, my car key, and my phone for her to hold for me during the race (what else are moms for???). As I gave all this to her, I made my decision. Just before I gave her my phone I sent a text to Mary. "I'm going for it."

I lined up with the 1:30 group, just behind the start line. I pushed all the doubt I may have had to the back of my mind, and promised myself that no I wasn't allowed to think about yesterday until I was done. Alexa was in the 1:40 group right behind me. I wished her luck again, and told her she was going to rock it. The gun went off, and it was game time. My pacer took off, much much faster than I had expected, I tried to pick him back up; but by the half mile mark, when I checked my garmin and it read 5:50 avg pace, I knew that I couldn't keep it up. I let him go, and settled into a good 6:40ish pace. I knew I would need to put some time into my average before the climb up to highland, and into the cemetery.

I ran for a few miles with a nice guy, and chatted a bit. We were both holding steady at 6:40, but i had to fall in behind him to grab a drink , and wasn't able to reel him right away, and didn't want to push just to have a buddy to talk to. I making my way down East, I saw my teammate Rich, and gave him a wave. He gave me a cheer, which always puts a little pep back into your step. Turned down Brunswick st. and laughed at a dog with a sign around it's neck saying "Run like you're chasing a cat."  That stuff takes my mind off the ache, and lets me pick it up a bit again. I headed down park, and saw a guy I met yesterday named Diego. (Diego volunteered at the Du yesterday, and loaned his bike to a girl who was doing her first Du, and flatted just after leaving transition. We started talking to him after the awards when I was cleaning up my transition area, and Amanda was telling him how nice it was of him to do that.) He remembered my name, and cheered for me. Definitely helped! Headed further down park, turned onto Goodman, and looked at the climb ahead. It's a tricky hill. It looks bad from the bottom, but you don't really feel like you're climbing until you're like halfway up. The hard part is when you're at the top, and turn right into highland, and get to climb some more! I passed a bunch of people heading up the hill. I donated an extra gel to a kid I saw struggling, and figured it was his first half. It was, and he hadn't eaten anything. I hope I was able to save him from too bad of a bonk.

I headed through the park, and was still feeling good. A little dull ache in the legs, but not too bad. Headed into the cemetery, and passed a few more people on the first climb. The cemetery is the worst part of this race. It never. Freakin. Ends. I pushed through as best I could. Tried to keep the pace around 6:50. Ran one 7:00, and one 6:40. Average preserved. Exiting the cemetery, I definitely started to feel it. I tried to relax into the slight descent to the entrance to U of R. Eased onto the river trail, and just focused on bringing it home. 5K to go. I just had to maintain. 2 miles to go. The strength is starting to fade. One to go. Definitely hurting. I lose it for a bit on this one. Let the pace drop too far. I get the focus back, and push down Exchange. Under the bridge, I see the finish. I give everything I have left.

I took the risk. I knew there was the possibility of a massive flame out. I raced hard yesterday, and there was every reason for me to not go for it today. I didn't care. I wanted it. I wanted it bad, an that's what got me through.

Old PR: 1:49
Today's result: 1:30:35 63rd OA.

84 days to go.

Race Weekend!

Two races this weekend, and I'm beyond pumped! Today's the last day of my taper week, and I'm going crazy with pent up energy! But today is a day off. The important thing to do today isn't to go out and tune up my run, or even spin on the bike. Today my workout is on the couch, with my feet up, and my mind focused. For the past week, I've been going over the details in my head of what I think I can do. I got my race plan from Mary yesterday, and after a little email back and fourth trying to nail down some smaller points for Sunday, I'm really happy with where I stand.

Tomorrow morning's the du. 3/20/3. I can't contain myself over this one. It's my first multisport race of the year. The "official" start to my season. As much as I love the ironman training, I can't describe how good it feels to just take the brakes off. I have an idea of where I want to come in. I know what it's going to take to get there. First 5k strong, but managed. Build on the bike (Appa's ready to fly!). That last 5k? Balls to the freakin wall. I'm looking for a negative split here. The course is flat. There's like 20ft of elevation gain. I want to freakin fly, and I'm going to. I haven't put in a 5k since Jan. 1. Since then though, I've run Johnny's (5 miles at my Jan1st pace), and Spring forward (9 miles at my Jan 1st pace). Yeah, both of those longer races I held the same pace as my (so far) 5k PR. I want to tear this up! I want that last 5 to be blazing fast (for me), and it will be. In Mary's words, I'll be running it like I'm not running a half on Sunday.

Sunday is a whole different beast. Mary and I both have the same goal for me. Even without my telling her, we had the same goal. We know I can do it, the only question lies if I can the day after the du. The question there really lies in my recovery. I'll be spending a bunch of time Saturday with my feet up. I'll be making the call race morning. Do I want to go for it, or do I feel like I can just put in a strong effort. At this point either way is going to be a pretty good PR for me. Honestly, my mind's already made up, and I think you can guess what I want to do. I won't let that overcome how I'm feeling Sunday morning though. There's bigger things at stake this summer than some little half-marathon PR. There's an Ironman on my horizon, and everyday  brings it a little closer. My goals for that can't afford to lose days/weeks to flaming out in an early season half.

I'm ready to go! I can't wait for the gun(s)! I'm pumped to head out for the first time in my Train-this kit. I want to represent! I want to show people how awesome my coach is, my team is. By doing awesome myself!

86 days.

Taper Week

So it's taper/recovery week. I feel pretty good about finishing up my first build block. Although I had some issues with my last two long rides, so I'm not super happy about that. Two weeks ago I was thwarted by the weather, and then a polo tournament and didn't end up getting the whole allotted time in. Then came this weekend. After my great long run Saturday, I was excited for my Easter morning long ride. I had planned two laps around canandaigua lake. I was hoping I could get it all in in the 5:30 that I was scheduled to ride. I started off around 8am, and the weather was nice, things were a bit damp, but it was at least fairly warm. I made my way from my parent's house down to east lake road, so I could hit the climb over bare hill, and up out of vine valley, before heading down to naples, and back up the west side of the lake. I made it to just before the climb up bare hill and it started to rain. It wasn't too bad though. I was warm, and determined to press on no matter what! I felt great on those first two climbs, and felt like I tore down to naples pretty quickly. I pressed up the big climb out of naples (I'm going to be seeing this route a lot considering the profile of the placid course) and was still feeling really good. I made my way up west lake road, and over a couple smaller climbs there, and made it back to my parents' house to refill on nutrition and head out again. I hit the ~54 mile halfway point at 2:50ish. A little behind schedule. In light of this, I thought it would be a good idea to take the route to naples skirting the climbs, but still about the same distance, to free up some extra minutes. I made it a few miles from my parent's house, and head a terrible noise. Thwop, thwop thwop thwop. Hmmmmm, oh look my tire's flat. Crap. I get it changed out with the replacement tube in, and find that the stem is too short, I can get the pump over it, but it wont seal, so I can't inflate it enough. Crap. I hitched a ride back to my parent's house feeling pretty defeated. What's the silver lining you ask? It stopped raining. Three hours of chilly wetness, and it decides to give up when I have to call it quits. Damn mother nature, she's a jerk. I got home and texted Mary, to ask her if I should add some time to my t-run to compensate. She's awesome, easter morning, and she still got back to me! She said no, just do what I was scheduled for, so Amanda accompanied me on a 30 minute run.

In other news, we officially booked Dinosaur BBQ for our wedding food! I'm pretty pumped about it! Amanda called last night, and the lady was super nice. So we officially can feed our guests! Since she finished up with classes, she's been doing a lot of wedding planning work too. With the food taken care of, we finally have all the big stuff covered. All that's left are the smaller detail stuff. She's found tons of really cool little favor and decoration stuff to make just to put the finishing touches on. She's amazing, she keeps finding bike themed stuff for me that fits into the whole vintagy barn/picnic aesthetic that she has going so far.

With not a whole lot left to cover, I'm starting to think about coming up with an itinerary for the honeymoon. We're doing 2 days in Toronto, 3 days in Amsterdam, and 5 days in Paris. Amanda really wanted to go to Amsterdam, she mostly just wants to visit the Van Gogh museum there; so I have to come up with some other things to do there. Then on to Paris! I've been wanting to get back there for the past like 8 years! I'm really excited about it. I just finished reading a book called The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. He's a pastry chef that's been living there for the past 6 years. It was a really funny look into Parisian culture through the eyes of someone trying to fit into it. I definitely recommend it. Plus there's some pretty cool recipes at the end up each chapter, and a list of all his favorite chocolate, and pastry shops n the back. We will definitely be visiting some of these in our time there!

89 days to IMLP!
95 days to the wedding!