Eagleman Approacheth

I'm now 11 days out from Eagleman, which has been the focus of my training over the past five months. Starting in January, I slowly built the monthly volume from 40 hours to 66 hours. The basic structure of my training stayed very consistent, but I simply increased the duration and intensity of key workouts. I haven't taken a full day off since February - I've found that I do better with active recovery instead of complete rest. 

My basic week has gone as follows:

Monday - recovery run of 7-9 miles

Tuesday - 70.3 focus bike - lots of 80-85% work (1-1.5 hrs) & occasionally a swim

Wednesday - intervals on treadmill or at track (9-12 miles total) & easy bike in May

Thursday - soul crushing intervals on the bike at FTP or higher (1-2 hrs), swim

Friday - easy bike and run

Saturday - long bike w/lots of 70.3 focus (2-3.25 hrs), short run

Sunday - easy swim, long run (12-17 miles)

Heading into Eagleman, I feel like my fitness is good, but not quite where it was in the middle of last summer. However, if I have a good day I feel that a 70.3 PR could happen, which would mean going under 4:21.

I have a series of goals for the race, which are ranked in order of priority.

1) Qualify for the 70.3 WC - this should have happened at Timberman last summer, but a flat ruined that chance - I'll probably need to place in the top 6-7 in my AG based on 75 slots

2) Set a 70.3 PR - this is doable if I have a decent swim and execute a solid run in the heat - the bike should set me up well for doing this

3) Win my AG - this is of course highly dependent on the competition within the AG, but it's been a goal of mine for a while to accomplish this

I've picked up a few 'toys' for the season, chief among them a new pair of shoes. Taking ideas from Thomas Gerlach and others, I modified a pair of Giro shoes to hopefully be a bit more aero and save a bit of time on the bike. I also recently got a Garmin 735XT, which I really like. My first run was a track workout, which can be seen below. Switching between sports is much easier than on my old 910XT, and the size and feel of the watch is much better than the 910. It won't save me any time, but it's less clunky than previous watches I've worn (305, 310, and 910). 

Having a second child has been awesome, but with minimal training for most of the fall, my weight had crept up to close to 180 - YIKES! Starting in February, I made it a goal to eat healthier and focus on quality caloric intake. Over three months I was able to drop around 10 pounds, and I hope to be around 166-167 on race day for Eagleman. Weight was measured at roughly the same time prior to morning workouts.

Another new 'toy' that I acquired was a wetsuit. I actually was growing to like my Roka Maverick Elite that I used last season, but, without meaning too, I found a new Zoot Wikiwiki for 75% off the sticker price. I couldn't not buy it at that price, so I now have a sweet suit to go along with my Team Zoot kit. I've gotten in three OWS in it thus far, and feel like there will be a growth period with the suit. I love the shoulder flexibility, and have been messing with the neck closure to minimize water getting in the suit and minimize chafing on the neck. 

In getting ready for Eagleman I've done a bit of heat/humidity work. Using our basement bathroom with the shower on I've done some rides at HIM effort using HR as my guide. It's amazing how not using fans and upping the heat/humidity causes the body to heat up and power drops dramatically. Below are two screen shots from rides during the same week. Both have the same HR, but power is a bit different. I've seen around a 20% power reduction without using fans and in the bathroom - this is around 70-80 watts!

Below is my final block of training heading into Eagleman. Nearly all of the workouts were done in the early AM hours - swimming being the exception. That is really the only way I can get the workouts in with two little ones! Sleep has obviously taken a hit by getting up so early to fit things in. I also spend time with Katie once the little ones are in bed. That means that when I get seven hours of sleep it's a miracle. Most nights are closer to six hours. Definitely not ideal, but I feel like I'm getting decent recovery. 

A recent workout I did makes me feel good about having a strong bike ride at Eagleman. The main set was 6x (6' @ FTP with 1' recovery around 60%). While hard, it felt doable and it may be a workout I extend to 8x over the summer. My goal time for a bike split at Eagleman is close to 2:10. 

We recently visited my folks, who live on Nantucket. My Dad isn't doing very well, and is pretty much bed-ridden, so it can be a bit depressing at times. He has a combination of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, which means maneuvering and memory are shot. At times he can provide a bit of comic relief with the random things he says. It was nice to see my grandmother who also lives there. She is going to be 99 in October, and Hannah just turned eight months old. Quite a range of ages! 

I hope that my next post will be a positive report about executing a good race at Eagleman!

No Surgery! (and spring is finally here)

Becoming a parent shifts things quite a bit, and the focus quickly goes from yourself to your kid(s). A few years ago Jackson, now four, was diagnosed with PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus - a heart defect). We had the option of leaving it alone or 'electing' for a stent to be put in to close the PDA. The 'procedure,' as it was called (we call it surgery), would involve going in through a vein in the leg and 'remotely' putting a stent in a blood vessel in the heart. We had been told that after age two the chance of the PDA closing on its own was very rare. About two weeks ago we went in to Mass General Hospital in Boston for the final echo, chest x-ray, and EKG before a scheduled May 1st 'procedure,' which Katie and I decided was best. At our visit to MGH we found out that the PDA had somehow resolved and the 'procedure' (surgery!) wasn't needed. We were ecstatic, and got Jackson his choice of a toy and ice cream. This had been hanging over our heads for a while, and it's a great relief to not have to put our little guy (and us) through the procedure. He really has no clue as to what was going to go down, but just thinks he went to the hospital to watch a Thomas movie and get some stickers on his chest! Here he is being a happy 4-year old this past week on the beach in Bermuda.

Katie and I are now able to look forward rather than focus on the May 1st date. I wasn't as worried about the procedure as Katie, but I'm just glad that we won't have to go through with it!

When I ended my last post I had been hoping to get outside on the bike before the end of March - yeah, that didn't happen. My first outside ride was just two days ago, on April 23rd, the day after we got back from Bermuda. March stayed quite chilly, and our travel most weekends didn't help with getting out on the bike. In mid March we headed to NH for a weekend to cheer on Katie's cousin Luke, who skis at Dartmouth. He ended up placing 9th overall at the XC National Championships, earning All American status - it was pretty cool to watch! It was a damn cold weekend, as can be seen by how I looked at the end of a 90 minute run in sub-zero temps.

                   

For a while I was 'fighting' a left hamstring issue. It didn't hurt, but never felt right. After two or so months of doing lots of hip and glute strengthening exercises it seems to have finally gotten to the point where I'm not concerned. I'll keep up the strength exercises to be on the safe side. As March wound down, we finalized plans for Jackson's 4th birthday on April first. We decided to collect food donations in lieu of gifts, and Jackson is posing with what was collected and donated to a local food pantry. He seemed to be ok with not getting presents - he certainly has enough toys!

Overall, training has slowly been ramping up. Eagleman is now less than seven weeks away, and over the next five weeks I'll put in my biggest weeks thus far in the year. I should max out at around 14 or so hours before a ten day taper into the race. I've been putting in 5-6 hours of biking a week with 4-5 hours of running. Biking seems to be back where it's been in previous years (solid recent trainer ride), but it's taking a while to get the run back after taking things easy regarding the hamstring (longer run a few weeks ago). I've been able to get to the pool twice most weeks over the past month - once during the work week and once on the weekend. All workouts save for the weekday swim are done in the early morning. I've gotten very accustomed to this routine, and, on the occasion I've forgotten to set my alarm, I've still woken up only a few minutes from when I was planning to get up. Funny how the body knows routine!

The past week (school vacation) we spent in Bermuda, staying at a time share that Katie's folks got in St. George's. I ran and swam each day we were there, totaling 46 hilly miles of running and 15.5k yards of swimming. The funny thing is that the swimming total for the week is more yards than in either January or February! I'm hoping that by the middle of May I'll be able to get into the water at Walden Pond to do a few swims prior to Eagleman. I'm assuming that Eagleman will be done in the swimskin, so it'll be good to get a few swims in wearing it prior to race day. Regarding the swim, I picked up a new wetsuit, the Zoot Wikiwiki. I got an absolute steal on the suit, getting it from someone who does product testing - I think it was the suit that Lava tested in a recent issue. 

     

We had a pretty good time during our six days in Bermuda. Above is the 20m pool where I did my swimming. The hardest part was getting in, as the water was in the low 60's - not a heated pool. Heading into the trip Jackson had the flu, but was on the mend. Once arriving there we think that Hannah got it as well, and we ended up seeing a doctor there. The nights were a bit rough with a sick 7-month old, but I could afford to 'sleep in' until around 6 am most mornings - a true luxury compared with getting up most mornings at home between 4-4:30 am.

I'm going to see how the next five or so weeks of training go before thinking of setting goals for Eagleman. Fingers are crossed that I remain injury free and the remainder of my training heading into the race goes smoothly. Not having to worry about Jackson's 'procedure' is a big relief and one that I hope will have a positive effect on my training going forward.

Maybe it's time for a new bike - here's one I saw in Bermuda. Maybe just slap some aero bars on and it would be ready to race! :)

Winter Update

March has arrived, and that means outdoor riding is no longer a hopeful thought, but a relatively close reality. I'm optimistic that by the end of the month I may get outside on the bike - that would mean a relatively warm early Saturday morning, as I imagine that's the only real time that would fit into the current daily schedule. The schedule is now back to early morning workouts every day and a Thursday afternoon swim. Swimming once a week is not ideal, but it's what currently works. Getting to the pool a second time M-F isn't going to happen unless I take a day off from work. However, my swim has degraded enough that it's no longer degrading - as if that's a positive thing! When home on the weekends (which is rare) I will try to get in a Sunday early morning swim before the long run.

At the end of the season in 2016 I was hitting 100 yd repeats around 1:21-1:22 on a 1:40 sendoff. Now it feels harder to touch around 1:26-1:27 on a 1:45 interval. As has been the case over the last few winters, the swim will come back with a bit more volume. With the warmer weather I plan to eventually get in an OWS on the way to work one morning. Maybe I'll be able to convince Katie that I can swim one more afternoon each week in May leading into Eagleman, but that's probably being overly hopeful.

Run and bike training is going better than the swim, as I'm able to do either in our basement each morning. As a result of less overall training and not being as watchful as I should be, I've put on around five pounds since the end of last season, and am now at around 175 pounds. I'll need to get down to 168-169 by June, but that's doable if I'm a bit more conscious of what's going into the body. As a result of the weight gain, the run has taken a bit of a hit and I feel a little bit more sluggish. I did run a 5k about a month ago and finished in 18:07, so I've still got a little speed in the old body! It was quite the blustery day, so, considering the conditions, I was pretty happy with how the race went. It was a little over 30 seconds off my 5k PR, but that was set 14 months ago when I was focused on breaking my old PR.

Run mileage has been in the 35-50 mile range each week (four to six hours). Around a month ago I felt a slight tightness in my left hamstring, and it hasn't gone away. I felt it a bit more than 'usual' on Wednesday when doing some track work, so I'm taking a few days off from running. The plan is to do all runs at an easy pace for the next two weeks and see if the 'niggle' is still an issue.

In regards to biking, I'm up to around four hours of riding a week and am feeling pretty strong for this time of year. Back in January I finished 2nd OA at the Northeast Multisport TT at Goodale's Bike Shop in Nashua. The Computrainer was a bit overly optimistic with my wattage, but apparently that was true for quite a few folks. The actual wattage according to my Power2Max was around 20 watts lower.

Eagleman is now around 14 weeks away, and the bike volume will continue to increase. This past week was my first two hour ride since September, and I plan to get in two to three hour rides every Saturday (or possibly midweek if needed due to weekend conflicts) for the next 12 weeks or so.

Overall volume this year will be quite a bit less than in the past due to a focus on the family. I envision being able to get in 10-12 hours most weeks, with a peak week in the 13-14 hour range. I feel this should put me in a good position for a strong race in Maryland. I also plan on doing a bit of heat acclimation in the sauna after each swim in the month prior to the race, as well as some rides in the basement bathroom. I did this for FL 70.3 last year and feel that it certainly didn't hurt my performance.

Looking forward, the race schedule for 2017 is beginning to take shape:

May - Fast Half Marathon (Hamilton, MA)
June - Eagleman 70.3 & Cohasset Tri
July - Nantucket Tri
August - Cranberry Olympic
September - 70.3 WC (pending qualifying at Eagleman)

The past week was February Vacation, and we split our time between three days in Maine on Mont Desert Island and three days in Bartlett, NH. Jackson had his first two days of downhill skiing at Cranmore. Here is a parting shot of his first ride up on a chairlift.

2016 By The #'s

Looking back at the previous season I'm a bit disappointed with my race results, but happy with training. More than anything, Katie and I were happy to get through all of her complications and welcome a happy baby into out lives in September. Hannah 'Cupcake' Thomas is as happy as they come and we love having her in our lives!

As the saying goes, when given lemons, make lemonade. I was handed quite the lemon at Timberman with my DNF due to a flat and then having the race called at Pumpkinman to close out the season. However, my training this past year went as good as it's gone. Fitness was high across the board, and I had zero time off due to injuries (knocking on wood as I type!). Here is the breakdown in terms of training volume (just over 580 hours) :

Bike: 5135 miles
Run: 2113 miles
Swim: 320,00 yards

The bike mileage was my 2nd highest yearly total, as was the run mileage. For a year in which I focused on the HIM distance, I'll take it. Part of the increased overall volume was due to including an early season race for the first time, Florida 70.3 in April. I kicked off training in earnest in January and only toned things down in September just before Hannah arrived. My largest training week was just over 18 hours and my biggest month was in July in prep for Timberman. Consistency is what I feel really leads to overall fitness, and I took a total of 12 days off completely during the season, and about half of those were the day after a race. I feel that a short easy workout does more for me than total rest, so I'll fit one of those days in once a week.

I set two HIM PR's during the season (4:26 and 4:21), but felt I could have been faster had things gone better during my final two races. Looking forward, I'm going to have less training time as the focus is on the family. I'm signed up for Eagleman in June and a few sprints as well. The goal is to qualify for the 70.3 WC in September at Eagleman. Even with substantially less overall volume I feel that this is doable, even on a hot day (are there any days that aren't hot and humid at Eagleman???). 

2016 was a good year, but I honestly am not sure what 2017 will bring. I'm not usually one to be pessimistic, but I feel our country is headed in the wrong direction and is about to have an egotistical demagog become its leader. I truly hope the future will be bright, but we'll have to see how things transpire. At least my kids look at every day with a smile on their face and aren't yet jaded by politics and the mess our country is in - here's a yoga elf to make it all good!

New Baby & Season Ruminations

My last post ended with a consideration of the Philly Marathon, but that ain't happening! I seem to have a foggy memory of life with a new baby, and this being our 2nd, it compounds the attention and time needed to devote to family life. Less sleep and what only seems like 20 hours in a day has led to a drastic reduction in training.

Hannah Breton Thomas joined us on September 16th. She was a surprise in that we didn't know what gender he/she would be. Katie and I just wanted a healthy baby, but Jackson was very insistent that he was getting a sister - he seemed to know! She is now just over two months old, and has become quite a good sleeper. Katie is taking the school year off, and her new job is being with Hannah at home, one she's enjoying.

A few weeks after Hannah was born I ran the BAA Half Marathon. I was hoping that I could hang on to some of my fitness from the tri season, but I overestimated my run fitness. I also had to make an unplanned potty stop, but I was able to be in and out in under 25 seconds - pretty sure that may be a #2 record! To the right are the mile splits - you can see mile 7 for the bathroom break and around mile 10 where the wheels started to come off. I ended up just over 1:23 in terms of overall time - I guess I'll take it on 'baby fitness.'

Soon it was time to start thinking about Halloween. Jackson had decided he wanted to be a construction worker, and I came up with the idea of having Hannah be a traffic cone. We thought it was a funny combo. Katie's mom thought it was horrible, as she wanted Hannah in some cute costume. I ended up finding a traffic cone hat that I cut and modified to work as Hannah's costume. For Jackson's costume we had most of the parts and only had to get him some boots.

            

At the end of October I made a last minute decision to run in a local 10k, which almost went right by our house. It was a two-loop course with both a 5k and a 10k (10k a double loop). I was in the lead from the start and soon after the start of loop #2 a volunteer told me to take a right turn. The first loop hadn't had this turn and I thought she was wrong (I've had two races in the past where volunteers have been misguided and directed me off course). I decided to stay straight and run the same as the first loop. However, at the next mile marker I was 1/10 short, and realized I had missed a short out and back. I continued on and finished short of 10k in 36:35. If I had run the correct course I would have been a hair over 37:00. I talked with the RD, who I know, and is a local runner. I was DQ'd as a result of 'cutting' the course - a bit bummed as I should have listened to the volunteer.
Next up? I had been thinking about a half marathon in a few weeks, but I'm thinking that with only running around 35-40 MPW that I'd probably feel quite crappy and it wouldn't be a fun experience - slogging through a race when not in shape doesn't sound fun. Therefore, I'm planning on doing a 5k on Thanksgiving day when we are on Nantucket visiting my folks. It's a course I've run dozens of times and think that something around 18:00 or a bit higher would be realistic. I've been doing a little track work on Wednesday afternoons to work on my speed. I've also agreed to be part of a 5-person 27 mile race (Mill Cities Relay) in a few weeks time. I'll be running a 5.75 mile leg, and our team is aiming for a time of around 2:40.

Taking a look back at the triathlon season, I have mixed emotions. I feel like I had my best fitness yet, continuing to build on the previous three seasons when I was coached. I used what I learned while being coached to tailor my workouts around my daily life, and it seemed to work very well. I had a successful first race of the season at Florida 70.3 in April with a PR of 4:26, and I followed that up with another PR at the Patriot Half in June in 4:21. I was on track to have my best race of the season at Timberman, but a flat ended the day. The season culminated with a somewhat disappointing result at Pumpkinman, when the race was canceled due to a huge thunderstorm. I ended up finishing up 3rd overall there, but would have been around 4:15 if the race had continued.

Looking towards next season, I'm leaning towards racing Eagleman 70.3 to start the tri season in early June, with the goal of securing a slot to the WC in Chattanooga in September. I would probably do one or two shorter races over the summer. Fitting in the training volume from previous years won't be possible, so I'll be creative in fitting workouts in, and I'll probably end up doing more quality workouts and less 'base' mileage. I'm thinking of something like alternating bigger run and bike weeks - 6 hours biking and 4 hours running, then flip the next week to 4 hours biking and 6 hours running. Two swims a week is all I could fit in during the school year. Over the summer I could probably squeeze in an early morning swim at Walden Pond once a week. We'll see how it turns out!

                    

Pumpkinman Reflections

Cliffnotes: PR swim, PR bike, race cancelled halfway through run due to crazy thunderstorm.

I went into Pumpkinman a bit bitter after my DNF at Timberman and felt like I had some good fitness to set a nice PR. I was up a bit after 3 AM and on the road around 4 AM for the hour and twenty minute drive to southern Maine. The weather forecast was a mixed bag. It was going to be relatively warm and very humid - good for a fast bike time, but not the best for the run.

I was racing the Elite wave and thought I might have an outside shot at third, which would be a $250 prize. I had found out just a few days before the race that Lucas Pozzetta, a friend who won this race last year, going sub 4:00 in his first HIM, was racing. A few other faster folks (Doug MacLean, Robert Hollinger, Ray Botehlo) were racing, so I knew I'd have to have a solid day to make the podium.

The race began with a two loop swim in a small pond. Right away a small pack pulled away and Lucas pulled away from them, swimming a 23. I was on my own for the whole swim, but feel I did my best job of sighting this season. When I stood up just before the swim exit and saw something like 30:50 on the clock I was psyched. The official swim was 31:03, a PR by around 30 seconds from the WC at Tremblant a couple of years ago.

The next part sucked - a steep hill climb to transition. I decided to take the wetsuit off before the climb, so my 'hill climb' time wasn't great. However, I was out and on the bike with just over 33 minutes on the race clock. Goal one complete!

The bike course is a mix of recently paved roads along with some pretty crappy sections. Using 85% of FTP, Best Bike Split had me right around 2:09 for a bike split on the slightly short (just under 55 miles) course. I settled in and was feeling pretty solid, starting a bit below goal wattage, and building for the first half hour. My HR was still quite high, as it usually is for the first several miles on the bike, but eventually settled into the mid to low 150's.

The course goes out and does two loops before returning to transition. Each of these two outer loops has two decent climbs followed by equal downhill sections. The end of the bike course is mostly downhill, helping to gain back a little time and speed. After an hour or so I was sitting right at 282 watts, which was what I was shooting for. However, around 1:15 into the bike I reached for my rear water bottle only to realize I'd lost it, probably on some of the crappy road. I was out of water except for my concentrated bottle of Infinit. I knew there was at least 15 or more minutes before the next aid station, so I dialed things down a bit as a result. Looking below, that was right around Lap #8 (I do laps every 4 miles in races) - after that point the watts dropped a bit. I was able to get another bottle with around 35 minutes left in the ride, but I knew I was probably going to come off the bike a bit dehydrated. I had left a full water bottle in transition, and the plan was to run out with that. At the end of the ride I finished with a split of just over 2:10 on 272 watts - my 4th 70.3 this race and all have been at 272 AP! I guess that's consistency - splits have been 2:10 - 2:15 on those watts.

I knew I was in 5th coming off the bike and that three of the four guys ahead of me could probably run faster. Just as I was coming into T2 Robert Hollinger and Tim Russell were heading out - about 2'30" ahead of me. Robert was top amateur at Timberman a few weeks earlier and ran a 1:18 here last year - no chance of catching him. Tim was my goal. I wasn't sure where Ray was, but saw him walking back to transition within my first mile. 

That first mile clicked by in 6:43, right where I wanted to ease into things. Then suddenly, and with no warning, the whole inside of my right leg seized up. It was like it had turned into a log - loosing that bottle on the bike probably didn't help! I stopped for around 15-20 seconds trying to massage it, then began walking gingerly. After a minute or so, I eased into an uncomfortable jog, and within another minute or two was back around my goal pace of 6:30-6:40. However, it cost me quite a bit, and that second mile was a 7:44 - yikes!!!!

I was able to get the average pace back under 7:00 and passed Tim Russell somewhere around the five mile mark. Soon after that was the turn around for the two loops and I saw Doug MacLean, who had been around 5 min behind me off the bike. It looked like he'd cut maybe two minutes into me over 6 miles or so. I was confident that things were turning around, though. I was feeling much better and was feeling like a solid negative split run (like Patriot earlier in the year) was in the cards. However, moments later the heavens opened up, the wind began to howl and a crazy-ass thunderstorm arrived. A minute or so later I learned that the race had been cancelled. It was probably the right call as there were decent sized tree limbs coming down and in the road. Many folks were still out on the bike course, and I couldn't imagine what that would be like. 

Making the pass from 4th into 3rd a bit before Mother Nature got angry:

I soon got a ride back to transition from Kurt Perham, a local tri and bike coach, and found out that results would be based on aqua-bike times. As I was in 5th at that point I grabbed a bit of food and headed home. Later in the day Lucas, who had been in the lead at the time of the cancellation, let me know that results for the Elite wave had been decided to be based on placement on course during the run when the race was called. That meant I was given 3rd and $250 - my first winnings in a triathlon - yeah for me!! 

I'll take that, but really wish that mother nature hadn't shown up. I'm pretty sure I would have been able to hold onto 3rd and would have finished with a time of around 4:12, which would have been a nice PR to end the year on. 

Next up? Tomorrow Cupkcake is coming to stay! Katie's c-section is in the morning and Jackson will become a big brother! We're psyched after all of the complications that Katie went through to be at the end!

I am signed up for the BAA half marathon on October 9th - not sure how run training will fare with the new addition to the family. I'm toying with the idea of running the Philly Marathon and giving a sub 3:00 a shot. We'll see how the next few weeks go, and maybe if the legs are feeling up to it and the new arrival is a good sleeper, I'll give Philly a go. 

Pumpkinman Goals

All of my focus this racing season was towards Timberman, and it was both frustrating and disappointing to end up having a preventable bike issue near the end of the ride. With three weeks between Timberman and Pumpkinman I was able to get in some decent training, including a 3 hour ride the Saturday after Timberman followed by a 14 mile run the next day. I felt great and think that deciding not to do a second loop at Timberman was a wise choice in terms of recovery.

I'm going into Pumpkinman knowing it's a pretty fast course (with a slightly short bike leg - by a mile or so). My first goal for this last race of the season is a HIM PR. That would mean faster than 4:21. However, I feel that if things fall into place I could be closer to 4:10 than 4:20.

The swim is in a small pond and is two loops. I'm racing in the Elite wave and will probably end up swimming the 1st loop mostly on my own. I've felt good lately in the water and would love to have a sub 31 min swim. Best Bike Split has me right around a 2:09 bike time on 280 watts. If the weather is good (thunderstorms are a possibility), and baring any bike issues, I should have a sub 2:10 bike.

My A goal is to be coming off the bike in under 2:45, which should set me up for a good run. I felt strong on the run at Timberman, running 6:30ish pace for the first loop there. I know I can run that pace, and if I'm able to run close to 1:25 my finishing time should be close to 4:10.

We know things don't always go according to 'plans,' so my B goal is a finish time under 4:15. This could be something like 31-32 min swim, 2:10 bike, 1:27 run, and 4-5 min for transitions.

The C goal is still getting a PR and around 4:20, however, I feel that things would have to go bad in some way to be around this time.

On a different note, we are less than a week away from 'Cupcake' arriving! Katie's c-section is scheduled for September 16th, which also happens to be her mom's birthday. We are excited and Jackson is looking forward to becoming a big brother.

What Could Have Been.......A Long Training Day At Timberman

When you play with fire you sometimes get burned, and my rear tire took the heat! The seatstays on my bike are quite narrow and I knew that going with a 24mm Force rear tire was a bit of a gamble. I messed with the clearance several times prior to the race, trying to get it perfectly centered. However, the tire managed to rub a few times too many (probably on the harder efforts on the hills), resulting in a flat tire just after mile 50. It occurred on a steep downhill, and I was lucky to come to a stop about 2/3 of the way down the hill (just prior to the split for Ellacoya State Park and Gunstuck).

I'm pretty sure that people back at T2 could hear me swear out loud right after it happened! "Ok," I thought, "Get this fixed, and you're still only a few minutes down from where we want to be." However, it wasn't that easy, and it ended up being a little over 40 minutes until I was rolling again.

This season I went from a Powertap rear wheel with a cover to a disc, switching to a Power2Max crank-based power meter and a HED disc rear. I love the new power meter, but one thing I hadn't considered in switching over to the new setup was the length of the valve stem on my replacement tube. My former rear race wheel was a HED 9 with a cover. My front is also a HED 9, so it made sense to carry one spare tube with an extender. I used the same replacement tube as in the past, and I was able to quickly get the extender off the valve, but the valve stem proved to still be to long to get my CO2 chuck into the disc opening to inflate the tire. I cut my finger trying to inflate it and wasted my two CO2's hoping to somehow get a little air into the tire to get back to T2. Standing there I saw all the folks zoom by who I'd passed earlier on.

Eventually, I managed to cross the street after gathering up my stuff (tire levers, wasted CO2's, tube, etc). I got to the bottom of the hill and around the corner there was a bike tech guy right there. Why couldn't I have flatted 1/2 a mile later!! At that point in my head I was done and just wanted to get back to T2. I explained my situation, but he didn't have a crack pipe. After calling a few other folks, he determined someone was a few min down the road with one. He drove off on his scooter and returned in a bit, and was able to stick a spare tube with a short stem in the tire and get it inflated. I made sure to put the wheel in as centered a position as possible, then made my way back to T2.

I had been right on pace for around a 2:14 split, having gone through 50 miles in 2:03 - around 275 watt average at that point. I ended up getting back to Ellacoya State Park with a bike time of just over 2:55. During the spin back to T2 I decided to do one loop of the run course at goal race pace and save my run legs for Pumpkinman in a few weeks time. I took my time in T2, having some water, using the porta-pottie, and then headed out for the run. The run felt real good, and I feel I could have maintained the pace. Honestly, I didn't want my name put with a race time that I felt wasn't my standard, but I also knew the recovery would be much quicker if I didn't put in another hard 43ish min effort to shred the legs.

Here is my timing info after finishing the first lap of the run:

After finishing the first loop I took off my timing chip and returned it to a volunteer near the finish line. Inside, I was upset, but knew there was nothing to be done except move on and learn from my mistake. I'll be putting a 23mm Conti 4000S back on the rear, as it has a bit more clearance. It's not quite as fast as the Force, but it will give me more peace of mind.

Going back to the start of the race, I swam a 32:37, which I felt put me in good position (40th in AG). Had I biked in the 2:14-2:15 range I would have been in good position to be close to winning my AG - I would have needed a run of around 1:27. The top two guys in the M35-39 both finished with a 4:20. 32+2:14+1:27 + 4' (transitions) is a 4:17. Add a couple of minutes, and it's still under 4:20 and wins the AG.

I'll take the frustration and put it towards Pumpkinman, which is a course that's a good bit faster than Timberman. Best Bike Split had me at 2:14 for Timberman, and has me just under 2:10 at Pumpkinman. My goal there is going sub 4:15.

Training over the next few weeks will ramp up a bit more than planned. My plan had been to take a pretty easy recovery week, then put in a 13 hour week, then a 9-10 hour week leading into Pumpkinman. I honestly feel fine and my legs have a typical bigger training weekend feel to them. I'm taking today (Monday) off, but plan to ramp things up pretty quickly. Tomorrow will be the regular swim and run, run with some race pace on Wednesday, and some sweet-spot work on Thursday. I'll do around a 3 hour ride on Saturday and 14-15 miles on Sunday and see how the body is feeling at that point going into the last two weeks before Pumpkinman.

On the baby front, Katie is quickly approaching the due date! 'Cupcake,' as Jackson refers to him/her (we don't know the gender), is due to arrive on September 23rd. However, with Katie's complications, we have a c-section scheduled for September 16th. If Cupcake decides to come a bit early I may not be doing Pumpkinman, but that would be perfectly fine with me!!

Looking Towards Timberman

Timberman 70.3, my A race of the season, is now just over four weeks away. I've remained injury free (knocking on wood), and training has gone well. I visited my folks on Nantucket last weekend and did the Nantucket Triathlon. This used to be a two-day affair with a sprint on Saturday and an Olympic on Sunday, but they did away with the Sunday race due to dwindling participation. I didn't taper much going into the race, only taking it easy on the Thursday and Friday.

Looking at who was racing, I felt I had a decent chance of winning. However, Beau Garufi was a last minute registrant, and he kicked my butt. I crossed the line in 2nd place, but was in no-mans land for the run. I came off the bike three minutes behind Beau, and about two minutes in front of the guy behind me. However, some younger guy had a smoking fast run from a later wave and beat me for 2nd OA by 5 seconds. It's hard to run fast when there's nobody around, and the lesson was learned (again) that you need to push hard. I easily could have run a bit faster and should have taken 2nd OA, but I finished in 3rd. Either way, it was a fun race. I managed to take the bike course KOM by 2 seconds from Lucas Pozzetta, who set it last year. Here are a few free photos from the race (only bike photo has me in the background coming into T2!).

                       

Training has been going well, and one thing I've been doing the last few weeks is a back-to-back hard workout on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday has been a track day and Thursday has been intervals on the bike. Yesterday was 3x20' @ 95% on the bike, and I was at 324-327 watts on each one. My HR stayed under 160, which was a good sign. With my power goal at Timberman being around 280, I'm hoping the HR will stay nice and low so I can have a solid run. The Wednesday track workout this week was 3x2 miles a bit quicker than open half pace. The miles all ended up averaging around 5:55 pace.

I have two more bigger weekends, and plan on getting in 3:00 - 3:15 rides w/5 off the bike on Saturdays and runs of 16 and 17 mile runs on the two Sundays. I really feel that I'm capable of being right around 4:20 at Timberman, and maybe sneaking under that time if things go real well. I know there is at least one stud, Matt Migonis (who beat me by 10 minutes at Patriot), who should beat me soundly. The real goal is a 2017 70.3 WC slot, and I feel I'm in that neighborhood.

Patriot Half Recap

It's been four days since I competed in the Patriot Half in East Freetown, MA. This race and location is a little sentimental because it was the location of my first tri back in 2011. At that time, the race also included a sprint. I remember finishing up the sprint race and watching some of the lead bikers in the half fly by and trying to imagine what it would take to get there. Fast forward six years, and I was one of those faster bikers, hopefully inspiring some folks just starting out in the sport.

By the numbers, I bettered my time at FL 70.3 by 4 1/2 minutes, setting an 8 minute course PR.

I was definitely hoping for a faster swim and run, but I'll take the PR and move forward. I made the choice to start in the elite wave, secretly hoping to crack the top two, which had prize money ($300 and $200). Being six minutes down out of the water didn't help. I felt like I swam decently in terms of pacing, but my sighting wasn't great, and I kept drifting left a bit. Coming out of the water, I knew I had some work to do.

I tried to make T1 pretty fast, but the wetsuit took a bit longer than I would have liked, getting hung up on an ankle. Out onto the bike, I put my head down and targeted wattage around 275-285. My HR remained high for the first 20 or so minutes, then began to settle. I had half a Powerbar stuck on my aero bars, but after taking one bight the rest fell out of my hand on a bump - 100 calories down. I had an 800 calorie bottle of Infinit, so I knew I needed to take it all in, which I was able to do during the bike leg.

The bike leg at Patriot is two loops, and I went past transition right at 1:06 on my bike computer. At that point I was averaging 282 watts. My HR was back in check, but my legs didn't seem so happy, so I made the decision to back off a bit on lap #2. As a result, my second loop was around 90 seconds slower, and average power came in at 272 watts. However, my legs felt great coming off the bike, and I think backing the power off a bit was the right call. As you can see from the screen shot below, the power dropped a bit around the midway point (Garmin was set to lap every four miles).

Heading out on the run, I knew I was in third place. I also knew there were some real good runners behind me. These included my Team Zoot teammate Colin Cook and Craig Mitchell from Tri Tech Elite. Within the first mile of the run I began to have a side-stitch on my left side. During the bike I had simply forgotten to take in my SaltStick caps except on one occasion, and I also forgot to grab them coming off the bike - not a good start to the run! Several years ago I had issues with side-stitches and upping the sodium had helped. I remembered that breathing in and out on when the left foot hit the ground was a technique that helped alleviate side-stitches. I began doing this - the side-stitch didn't go away, but the pain lessened a bit. However, my pace wasn't what I wanted - I was hovering around 7:00 pace, far from my goal pace of 6:3x pace. 

For several miles I had a battle with my side-stitch. Whenever I forgot to breathe both in and out on my left foot fall the side-stitch would begin to come back. Somewhere around mile 6-7 it seemed to go away for good. It was also around this time that Craig Mitchell caught me. I gave him kudos on the run and he returned the favor on my bike. He slowly pulled away till he had a 100 yard lead, but then I was able to hold that distance. As the miles went by this distance maintained, and I tried pushing a bit more at the end. At the finish, he beat me by 20 seconds. I was definitely happy to have negative split the run and finished feeling strong. I'll definitely make a point of focusing on the sodium intake on both the bike and run at Timberman where the competition will be fighting for those 70.3 slots. Below you can see around the midway point where I began feeling better - pace got a bit quicker and the HR went up as I got the upper hand on the side-stitch.

Crossing the finish line, I was excited to have set another PR, but also a bit frustrated with the cramping and self-inflicted damage because of forgetting the SaltSticks. 

I now have eight weeks until the A race of my season, Timberman 70.3. With the progress I've made this season, I feel that going sub 4:20 is realistic there. I'll need to have a better swim - low 30's, a bike time of 2:15-2:17, and a run in the mid 1:2x range to get it done. The school year is also complete, so I'll have more time to spend both with my family and to get in some solid training. I'm thinking of doing the Nantucket Sprint Tri, which is in mid July, and visit the folks for a few days. There won't be any taper for that race other than a few easier days leading in if I decide to do it. The body is feeling good and recovering well after Patriot - it's time to get back at it and enjoy the summer!