The Timberman 70.3 plan

Well, the plan at least. 

I learned a lot from and have had TONS of time to think about what happened at Syracuse 70.3. It's led to me approaching my training differently (not everything has to be an all out effort), rest days (actually taking them as opposed to not) and food (increasing my caloric intake isn't a bad thing). Hopefully all those things will contribute to a more successful and even more hopefully, enjoyable race come Sunday. So that being said I wanted to capture my "race plan" to put me in the right frame of mind and give me something to review post race. 

The swim: The only thing that DID go well at Syracuse was the swim. A 2:23-100 pace for my first 70.3 swim wasn't bad (wasn't great either). I'm no Andy Potts so I don't expect to take a ton of time off my swim in a couple months but I have been working hard on form and not fighting through the swim. I'd like to do the 1.2 mile swim in 42 minutes flat. 

T1: Make sure I catch my breath and settle down coming out of the water. On the run into transition, sight where my bike is, get my wetsuit down to my butt and get to my spot. Focus on staying calm, getting my wetsuit off, getting on my helmet/sunglasses/shoes, unrack my bike and get to the mount point for the bike. 

The bike: my goal here is to constantly take in a steady steam of fluids, calories and salt tabs to stave of dehydration or caloric deficit. I know there's a killer hill at mile 11 so it's key to get into a good rhythm/pace, get through that hill and maintain 23 or 24mph out on the flats by the speedway. I need to make sure I'm drinking plenty of fluids (refilling my aero bottle with water grabbed from aid stations) and prepare for the climbing on the way back. A 21mph average pace would put me at a 2:40 bike and set me up well for the run. 

T2: The key here is to dismount the bike safely, and get to my spot without incident. Grab a gel for the run, shoes on (socks and shoes seated properly because if not 13.1 miles will destroy my feet) and get out of transition smoothly. 

The run: I know the heads of my quads are going to kill me after that 56 mile bike. It's a 2 loop course so I want to focus on "settling in" for the first mile or two to get my legs into running. The course has a downhill on the other side of the 2 mile mark to the turn so I want to use that to my advantage to get around a 7:45min/mi pace. I want to take on water and coke on early to see how I feel. With the first loop done (you run by the finish) its about maintaining pace to the turn. That last 3+ miles back is all about emptying whatever I have left in the tank. As the course flattens and then declines to the finish I want to be running as fast as possible and maintain good footing on the grass into the finish. An 8 min/mile average pace would get me home with a 1:45 half marathon and a 5:12-70.3 finishing time. 

I smile big for the finisher's picture, get my medal and rejoice. That's what I'm hoping for anyway. Let's see what happens on Sunday. 

The Marshfield-Duxbury Triathlon...left me scratching my head

I honestly wasn't planning on racing. I had done Mill City in Lowell the weekend before and although I didn't do exactly like I wanted, I was happy with my result. So I figured a weekend off wouldn't be a bad thing. But enter a new friend with entries to a triathlon and the decision was made (it also really helped that it had an ocean swim and even though I live in Massachusetts, most Tri's around here are lake swims).

Now Marshfield-Duxbury is not close to my home. Its about a 90 minute drive from my house. Throw in that transition for the race closed at 7:30 am...and it became a 4am wake up kind of morning. I never cease to be amazed that I can barely drag myself out of bed to get to work at 9am but I seem to not only have no problem with early mornings but I happily pop up on race day.

Getting to the race was quick simple enough, partly because there was NO traffic at 4:30 am! Although there was a bit of a hiccup at sign in. The race didn't have us as registered (the reason given that we registered so late) but Bill Burnett, the race director for Streamline Events was on the ball and got us squared away (he really is a great guy and can bee seen doing any/every job at his races)!

Clean layout with my lucky charm visor

Set up in transition was not only a breeze but since we registered late, and got a high number the rack spot was in the corner of transition by the bike out. It was a great spot! Quick to the bike out/in point and great sighting to the run out gate. I do love having a clean and orderly transition area and after seeing the successful pro's lay out their gear the same way I realize its not because I'm a neat freak, its because it just makes sense. Bike setup, last minute porta potty trip and all that was left was to get on my wetsuit and hit the water for a quick swim before the start. That still sounds funny to me, "a quick swim before the start". There was a time that I was so anxiety riddled about the swim that I would pace back and forth until the last minute when I had to wade into the water for a start. Now I want to get in and swim a hundred to "warm up and relax".

1/4 Mile swim: 8:53, 2:00min per 100
Of course...another race...where my age group was PACKED! It was a beach start so I figured since we'd have to wade into the water/dolphin dive, I tried to be toward the back. The gun goes off and we all go. Most guys went running into the water. It was shallow for a while so I dolphin-dived in and shallow stroked until I got far enough into the surf to swim normally. I rn into the same problem that I had the week before at Mill city...I was swimming over guys. Not just to the turn buoy either but through the whole swim!which I really don't understand, I didn't start at the back of the pack. Well, keep swimming man, keep swimming! I will tell you I find ocean swims challenging, especially when the water is choppy. There were times i was stroking in the air because I was lifted so high out of the water by a wave. Not world ending but different and that occasional mouthful of salt water doesn't down as easily as pool water. I will say that a 2min-100 was a little disappointing. I felt like I was pushing much harder. Maybe it was the waves, maybe it was the rain. Oh ya, did I forget to mention it was POURING rain the whole swim?! Good times (Note to self; seed yourself toward the front next time. It'll give me feet to hop on and "push" me through the swim). Not great but good and I can build on my placings on the bike and run. There was a lengthy run out of the water, up a hill and into transition. But, as I mentioned earlier, that corner transition spot worked out great. Quickly out of my swim gear, throw my bike gear on and I was out of transition in good time.


T1: 1:28

11 mile bike: 30:50, 21.5mph pace (I'll get to this at the end)
The bike course was relatively flat and fast minus one hill around the middle of the course. I have to say that I thought I felt good and was riding well. Every time I looked down at my PolarRCX5GPS I saw 23 or 24mph. That is EXACTLY what I wanted to be riding! I only had 3 or 4 guys pass me (they didn't put AG markings on the calf at this race so I had no clue their AG...I hate that) and I rode down a bunch of folks. Yes it was pouring on the bike course but I LOVE that. Most people ease off in poor conditions but after years of training and racing in all sorts of conditions...and never having crashed, not because of my poor handling skills anyway (knock on wood) I just chew up bike courses in bad weather. I focused on turning a big gear at high rpms, standing up to power through the hill and chasing down people. Other than the rough road getting out of and back into transition, I felt like I was hammering and maintaining great speed through the course. I knew the run, although short, was going to be on the beach so I was pushing hard to get home. My favorite line of the day was a photographer out on the course who pointed me out to another guy and said "that guy looks f'ing angry". Bwahahaha! I'm ALWAYS angry when I race: at the course, at other people, at the weather, at myself. Its what pushes me through. I have my own angry mini coach in my head telling yelling at me to work harder. Back into transition, drop the bike and get out on the run.

A cool "race day" collage

T2: 44 seconds

3 mile run: 22:23, 7:08min mile
Like I said, the run was out on the beach. It was early in the morning but its sand nonetheless. I climbed the mini hill out of transition, tried to get close to the water on hard packed sand and get my legs to moving. A quick glance at my watch and I saw a 7:30 pace...too slow...need to pick it up. It was an out and back course along the beach, which I thought I could see the turn so I picked up the pace. I saw the leaders coming back to the finish and thought I was finally having the race I wanted...until I realized what I thought was the turn around was actually the 1 mile marker! Sonuva! Ok, deep breath, you're still up front (I thought), no one has passed you, so keep looking for packed sand, get to the turn and bomb to the finish as fast as you can. I caught 2 of the guys that had passed me on the bike earlier, could see another in front of me and was running negative splits. Good, get him in your sights and run him down...which I did about 10 feet from the finish to cross the line in 1:04:17.

I was gassed and happy with what I thought was a great performance. It was a big race, over 400 people, so I thought with the good bike, catching folks on the bike and run and given the conditions, I would end up pretty good overall. And then...the results got posted...not in the top 20 or so like I hoped...but 50th overall (54th after the final results posted) and 9th in my age group. Looking up the the breakdown of the legs I only rode a 21.5mph average, not the 23 or 24mph I thought. I was really disappointed. Like I said, I felt good and even though it was a good field I expected to place higher. I can't figure out for the life of me what happened on the bike. I literally was standing there at the results posted scratching my head. Maybe if I was in front on the swim I would come out with and be pushed by the leaders. Maybe I read my speed wrong. Maybe my "pushing hard" wasn't pushing hard enough...

My friend Bryan sent me this quote from Friel, "If your last race wasn't what you wanted, learn from it, throw it away and move on. It's not easy. But it's necessary". So I'm trying to learn and move on. I'm hoping to put together all the peices at Timberman 70.3 in two weeks.

A funny thing happened on my ride the other day...

I often get home, change clothes quickly and head out for a quick spin on my "lollipop route" (an 18 mile loop that uses a town square as my turn around, hence lollipop) in order to take advantage of the nice New England weather (now that the sweltering heat has past) and longer daylight hours. While I often see other cyclists out on this route on the weekend, I rarely see them during the week.

Hopped my wheel even though I was wearing THIS jersey

So as per usual, I get home, grab my Cervelo S5 (I love that bike, I ride it and feel like a pro...not a fluffy guy stomping the pedals) and head out for a double loop of my ride. About 5 miles in I happen to pass another cyclist stopped at a side road, give the obligatory 2 finger cyclist wave and kept going...until I happened to glance under my left arm at the sound of what I thought was shifting to see the front wheel of that cyclist overlapping my rear wheel. Ok, well I did just come through a stop light, maybe he just got up to me and will pass...so I focus on my rpms, pick up the speed...only to see him tuck right up behind me AGAIN!  Not cool dude, not cool. That is the cycling equivalent of somebody jumping in your lane at the pool, start swimming away but never ask to split the lane. A for-serious faux pas!

So I look over my shoulder and ask "are you just gonna sit back there and f'ing draft or are you gonna take a pull?!". To my surprise he responded with "...no,  figure I'll just let you pull me home...". Um, dude, are you kidding me?! A quick chat and I find out that this is his "rest day" and he has a long commute that he rides back and forth...oh ya? well I raced yesterday and I'm still squeezing gas out my legs. There's such thing as a free ride dude, take your turn or get bent. And, and, and...he still just sat on my wheel saying that since I was turning 22mph and was a young guy he'd just "ride me home". Oh hell no! I'm no Chris Froome but I jumped out of the saddle, got up to about 25mph and flat blew him off my wheel. So first off I got to feel like the cool kid (kid, I wish) becuase I had the power to stand up and blow him off my wheel and secondly I was happy to enforce a little cycling etiquette. Sit on a wheel? Not mine dude, not mine...

Triathlete life...

Ah, the life of the triathlete...

What most people don't understand is that we rarely do any type of training "spontaneously". I just love it when a friend goes "well I think I'm going to do a spin class at 7am tomorrow, why wont you ever come along?". Um, probably because I have a real ride scheduled on the day or a long run or long swim that you have NO interest in because its over the one hour of exercise you allot yourself each day.

We live by our planned out schedules that dictate our training as we ramp up for an upcoming race. Yes, there is a little wiggle room but if there's a 70.3 or 140.6 on the horizon...forget it! So what normally happens (iat least what happens for me) is that I pack my truck up on Sunday night (now Monday since I'm a lucky government employee who has to not work one day a week, and not get paid, because of the furlough. I hope you can hear the sarcasm when I say "lucky". I need my job and it's full pay. How else am I supposed to support my training and racing lifestyle?!) with all my gear for the week and have a "rolling support car" for all my training. That way if its a nice day at work I can get in that run or ride before heading home. Or, maybe I can squeeze in a swim at the YMCA near work instead of the one past my house...or if I feel like throwing in a Bikram Yoga class for recovery I have no excuses because clothes for the practice and after are already packed. Really, that's what it boils down to...setting yourself up for training with no excuses. How can I not get my training in if everything I need is at my fingertips?! So, the truck is packed, another week of training lies ahead and a race is on the horizon...ah, the life of the triathlete.

I wouldn't say I have a "mantra"

If I had a "mantra" its probably Nietzsche's "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger" (on a side note, I feel like I'm getting pretty strong from the ridiculousness that is my life!).

But I do believe this is true for how to approach life. I have NEVER had the top of the line of anything my whole life. Instead of dwelling on that...I focus on making the best of what I do have. No, its not a "settling" thing or a "lie to yourself" kind of thing. Rather, its realizing that what you have (and the fact that you can indeed have something) is pretty great. There are always others that have less than you. Whether its food, a home, a job, their health or for us triathletes...the type, amount or brand of gear. Rather than dwelling on "only what you have"...relish that you have it. Enjoy it and if you want something greater, take positive steps to make it a goal and move forward in order to get it. No one has done anything great while being held down by negativity. Think about it...

The Lowell Mill City Triathlon...a bridesmaid again

I have been trying to be smarter about training and racing after my Half Ironman debacle. That means the dreaded...more days off...eating more...sleeping more...and its damn near killing me!

But I wanted a good result at the Mill City Triathlon. I had hoped that a couple weeks of training smarter and not harder might pay off. Its great event that although local. still gets a great turn out.  I signed up for the Sprint 3 years ago...got 1st in my age group. So, because I know the course and race better...and I went into a new age group last year (ugh), I wanted to sign up again and see how I'd fare. I ended up getting shaving 5 minutes of my course record, 16th overall and 3rd in my age group. Not too shabby. So instead of bumping up to the Olympic this year I decided to do the sprint again and give it the 'ole college try to pull out 1st in my age group, a better time and a higher overall finish.

Nice and clean layout

I normally get to race sites with LOTS of time to spare but the morning of the race I got there a little later than normal and felt a rushed getting set up and gettingm y race day rituals in (I am a creature of habit you know) including that all important last trip to the portapotty. Luckily, set up in transition took a whole 5 minutes. I mean at this point I could do it with my eyes closed (as could anyone that done a few dozen). Which was great because it gave me some time to get my in my wetsuit and hop in the water to get a short swim in. It was really nice that on top of J being there, Jen, Lisa and twitter friend Allison were also racing. It was so great to have a group of people to hang and chat with on race day. That NEVER happens.

I was in the LAST wave...so I got LOTS of time to swim in the water and relax. I dont know if that is a good or bad thing but I tried to visualize a fluid stroke, solid kick while keeping my arm/shoulder from dropping when I breathe.

1/3 Mile swim - 13:48

Hell yes I bought this! I look legit!

We finally queued up for our in water wave start. As is the normal case, the wave was full...so I got myself near the middle and waited for the start. The gun sounds and I quickly start looking for a pair of feet to jump on. To my surprise, not only can I not get on a pair of feet...but I'm swimming over people?! I kept focusing on a smooth swim stroke and keeping the dreaded left shoulder "dip" while swimming...and kept passing people. Look, by no means do I think I'm a great swimmer but me...ME?! I'm swimming past people?! Believe it or not I was actually smiling on the swim. Maybe all that pool time is paying off. I hit the turn buoy comfortably and I guess either the current or my joy of swimming kicked in because I felt like I made it to the water exit rather quickey. Out of the water and into transition.

I will admit that riding the high of the swim and thinking that I might be Michael Phelps-ian now made me lose track of where my bike was. Even though my wetsuit was down around my hips, it didnt come off easily (now that I've torn it I try not to just rip it off) and getting out on the bike took a little longer than I wanted. Finally in my cycling gear I headed out on the course.

T1- 2:08

13 mile bike -36:54, 21.3mph
I know this bike course pretty well. No real hills but rolling throughout so my goal was to get a good solid cadence, stay above 20mph and ride down everyone in front of me. I also wanted to make sure that I was hydrating. It wasn't as hot a day as Syracuse but I decided to make a concerted effort to hydrate/replenish salt when racing from then on because I normally cross the finish line coated in salt.. So I made sure to constantly drink from the 22oz, 3 scooped Clif electrolyte drink while out on the course. Then...I got passed by guys on bikes. What?! It literally made me pause while I was riding. All the guys started in the same wave...so...I swam faster than these guys out of the water and now they're catching me on that bike?! I was angry I was being caught but happy that that's not me coming off a terrible swim and having to ride folks down for a  change. Aggravating and satisfying at the same time. Guess I have become a better swimmer. Ok, back to the ride. I picked up the rpms and headed into transition.

T2 - 59 secs

4 mile run - 30:37, 7:39min/mile
Learning from my earlier T1, getting off the bike and out on the run went smoother and faster but I noticed a pinch in my left shoe. Figuring the shoe will "settle" as I ran, I just got out on the course. I've been trying to modify my run on triathlons bringing my torso more upright, arms higher and generating a quick turnover (ala Chrissy Wellington) in order to recover quicker from the bike and get to real speed out on the run. Running to the first mile marker I as on a 7:45 pace...way too slow...and I see nothing but women in front of me. Yes, I got angry. How in the world did all these women get in front of me?! So I increased pace and started picking them off. One, good thing because I wanted to increase my pace anyway...two, I'm an idiot because I was in the last wave...EVERYONE is in front of me. And another grin creeps across my face. Bonehead.

Ok, keep getting faster and run down everyone you can. The one thing I hate about this run course is that after the turn at 2 miles to come home, there is a speed stealing set of turns to take you off the road and under a bridge (they have to do that because they can't shut traffic coming off the aforementioned bridge. Yes, I know its safer but I hate having to change gears to navigate the "offshoot"). With that behind me, I focused on a guy in the distance and spent my time running him down before the finish. The outside of My left foot was really starting to hurt me as I tried to pick up the pace towards the finish. I glanced down at my shoe to see it bloody both on inside at the arch and outside near the pinky toe (after taking the shoe off at the finish I saw that the tongue hasn't seated correctly and I tore off a couple good chicks of skin) so now I was even more motivated to get done with the run. Pumping harder I crossed the finish...ending up with a time of 1:24:53. Although originally posted at 12th overall, after all the final results were posted I fell to 21st overall...and 3rd in my age group (again). Not bad. Not as good as I hoped because adding insult to injury and checking my times I was a minute slower on the course from last year. Ugh. But...still a good result and a "good race" to help my rebound from Syracuse and get in the right mindset for the Timberman 70.3 in the coming weeks. Not to mention that even though it was sprint, I took it as an opportunity to work on pre/during/post hydration and nutrition and my plan worked. Now...back to training...

Just Do It!

Yes, I know its a hokey motto but some days it just fits. I host a run club every week. I can always count on the fact that no matter the weather, my peeps Natascia and Cassie will always be there to join me and push me on the run. This week was no different. In the midst of 90 plus degree weather and heat advisories not only did I get messaged that they'd be there...but that they wanted to get there early to get extra mileage in! What? Like I gonna say no!

After coming in from our first "lap" to see if anyone else was there to join us for run club (no one showed up), the three of us took a quick sip of water and headed out into the inferno again. Was it hot? Yes! Muggy? Yes! Would I rather have been eating cake in air conditioning? HELL YES! But I thank these girls for giving me the push to get out and log the miles. We registered negative splits and the last 1/2 mile was run at race pace! Not to mention, after having to deal with the ridiculous heat of Syracuse for race day...I need to get out and run (smartly mind you) in the heat. Having great training partners pays off. Thanks ladies!