Twin Lakes tri was this past Sunday 6/25. I took 4th overall and 1st in age group. Perfect conditions with temps in the upper 50s at start. I wore a wet suit despite warm water. Overall, I'm very happy with my race. Felt good even though my time was slower for every event compared to the last TL tri 2 years ago. My swim was 30 sec slower and my bike was 2 min slower and I was a little slower in T-1 and the run. Overall, I was 3 minutes slower than 2 years ago. I guess that's not too bad going from 57 to 59, but does this mean I'm getting 1.5 minutes slower at this distance every year? That's depressing!June 27, 2017
Palatine Twin Lakes Tri
Twin Lakes tri was this past Sunday 6/25. I took 4th overall and 1st in age group. Perfect conditions with temps in the upper 50s at start. I wore a wet suit despite warm water. Overall, I'm very happy with my race. Felt good even though my time was slower for every event compared to the last TL tri 2 years ago. My swim was 30 sec slower and my bike was 2 min slower and I was a little slower in T-1 and the run. Overall, I was 3 minutes slower than 2 years ago. I guess that's not too bad going from 57 to 59, but does this mean I'm getting 1.5 minutes slower at this distance every year? That's depressing!
June 20, 2017
Next race coming up in 5 days: Twin Lakes. This is a small, low key event with a 700 yd swim, 14 mile bike and 5 mile run. I'm feeling a bit over-trained despite not really training much last week. I did get in a 50 mile ride out to Johnson's mound on Sunday,but that was about the only hard w/o since the Batavia race.
June 12, 2017
Batavia Duathlon
I'm really happy with yesterday's race! I don't think I've felt this much pressure in a long while, but in the end, I squeaked out a win. That makes 7 years in a row that I've won my age group (one of those years was in the Triathlon, but the other 6 were in the Duathlon). 2011-2nd overall, 2012-5th overall, 2013-Tri-6th overall, 2014-3rd overall, 2015-won overall, 2016-2nd overall and 2017-4th overall. I've slowed down from year to year, but still hanging in there! This is the biggest win of my life- Mid East Regional Championship! This was also the closest age group race for me. Bob Jones, who is always fast was right behind me every step of the 2nd run, but I hung on.
I think that getting a sports watch and hiring a coach for the month of April was a key for me. That got me thinking a lot more about pacing and training at higher intensities. My build up to this race was perfect: slow steady increase in distance and intensity with swimming in there to help take some of the stress off the running and biking musculosckeletal systems. I also think that running the Batavia half-marathon in April was a key because it gave me confidence that I can still run fast and provided a great stimulus for my CV system while still giving me plenty of time to recover. Then the week before this race I took in very easy. A 50 mile fairly hard ride on the Sunday before and then a 7 mile low-moderate intensity run on Monday and then really easy the rest of the week with only swimming (2K yards only) and very easy biking. On race day I felt rested and ready to go!
In the race, I checked my watch early and often in the first run with the goal of running 6:15 and that is exactly what I ran (12:30 for the 2 miles). Then I pushed hard on the bike and even began to get cramps toward the end. Starting the 2nd run I had some calf cramps on both sides, but I took it very easy for the first mile (7:30 + min /mile pace), but then was able to pick it up as the cramps subsided. By the end of the run, think I was back around 6:45/mile. I knew that Bob was right behind me on the run because I heard people cheering for him at the turn around, but I never looked back!
I think that getting a sports watch and hiring a coach for the month of April was a key for me. That got me thinking a lot more about pacing and training at higher intensities. My build up to this race was perfect: slow steady increase in distance and intensity with swimming in there to help take some of the stress off the running and biking musculosckeletal systems. I also think that running the Batavia half-marathon in April was a key because it gave me confidence that I can still run fast and provided a great stimulus for my CV system while still giving me plenty of time to recover. Then the week before this race I took in very easy. A 50 mile fairly hard ride on the Sunday before and then a 7 mile low-moderate intensity run on Monday and then really easy the rest of the week with only swimming (2K yards only) and very easy biking. On race day I felt rested and ready to go!
In the race, I checked my watch early and often in the first run with the goal of running 6:15 and that is exactly what I ran (12:30 for the 2 miles). Then I pushed hard on the bike and even began to get cramps toward the end. Starting the 2nd run I had some calf cramps on both sides, but I took it very easy for the first mile (7:30 + min /mile pace), but then was able to pick it up as the cramps subsided. By the end of the run, think I was back around 6:45/mile. I knew that Bob was right behind me on the run because I heard people cheering for him at the turn around, but I never looked back!
June 9, 2017
Friday, June 9th. Batavia triathlon and duathlon are in just two days. I feel pretty good. Still very nervous that a bunch of really fast people are going to show up and kick my butt. I have to be careful not to make my most common mistake: going out too fast. This is especially problematic when there is a fast crowd at the front. The good thing is that this year I have my Vivoactive and I can keep an eye on the pace and I won't have to wait until the 1 mile marker to see how fast I've been running. My plan is to stay under 6:20 for the first mile and 6:15 for the second. Will see how it goes!
June 5, 2017
Yikes, only 6 days to the race! I've done this race at least half a dozen times and I'm still really nervous. No matter how well I've done in the past, I always feel like that doesn't matter and that I'm starting from scratch! I can't assume anything and I could just fail miserably! Also, I keep thinking that this is a regional championship and some really fast people are going to come out of the woodwork and kick my butt! I've trained as hard as I've ever trained for a race (hopefully not too hard), so its not like I slacked off. But the one difference is that this year all that training was in pain (right ham sting, hip and SI joint pain) and I'm definitely slower. All I've got to do now is rest up, but I hope I can relax and stay calm this week....
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