Well, here it is nearly the end of August, and I haven't done a blog update since mid spring. Here's a quick rundown, race wise, of what's happened in the past five or so months:
Boston Marathon: It was hot! Not summer scorcher hot, but hot for April, and not what 90% of the runners had been training in. At 10:00 AM, when the race began, it was already close to 80%. Expectations of going sub 3:00 were long gone. I went through the half-marathon at 1:32, still on pace to squeak in with a BQ, but the heat got to me in the second half, along with the hills, and my finishing time was 3:12. Even though it wasn't what I was looking for, it was a fun experience.
Nantucket Daffodil 5K: Katie and I traveled down to Nantucket two weeks after the marathon, and did a 5k there. With only 150 or so runners, I was able to take the win in 18:07. My legs weren't back to 100%, but it was still fun to take the win.
Nashua Tri: My first tri of the year was also my first overall win - by three whole seconds! My swim still sucks, but my bike time was solid and my run time was decent. Fun day, and a good way to start off the tri season.
Mont Tremblant 70.3: This race took place a week after school ended. Katie and I drove the seven hours from the Boston area to Tremblant on Friday. The venue was gorgeous, and staying in the pedestrian village meant we didn't have to move our car for three days. The race went pretty well, and I qualified for the 70.3 World Championships in Vegas (cough - Henderson, NV) by placing 6th in my AG and 40th overall. I didn't have the run I felt I was capable of - 3rd place in my AG was only one minute faster, so I feel like I really should have had a better result. Still, qualifying for the world championships was cool, and Katie and I are going to Vegas in September.
Mass State Tri: This was a race in July that I was training through. I didn't taper and placed 3rd in my AG and 12th overall. I had the fastest bike split of the day, but didn't seem to have much left on the run.
AG National Championships: We traveled to Burlington, VT this past weekend for what I felt would be a race of redemption. I did this race last summer, but was very sick with a sinus infection. I went over seven minutes faster this year, and moved my overall placing up over 300 slots and my AG placing from 55 to 24. I still didn't feel like I had a great race - the swim was choppy, I didn't seem to have the legs on the bike, and I only got into a good rhythm in the last two miles of the run. My time of 2:09:45 was good for 158th overall out of around 2000 racers.
Next up is the 70.3 World Championships in Vegas in a little over two weeks. Training has been going well. I've been averaging around 15 hours a week over the summer, and should be close to 20 hours this week. I've been putting more of an emphasis on running, as I'm doing the NYC Marathon eight weeks after Vegas. I'm not really sure what my goal should be for the world championships - it will definitely be hot (the average high for 9/9 is 98 degrees!), so that could play a role. I'm thinking that going sub 4:40 on the hilly course is something to shoot for.
Now, hopefully I'll do a blog update sooner than five months from now!
