Summer Trip, Losing Fitness & a fast Pumpkinman

I'm already three weeks into the school year and starting to get back into the school schedule. After IMLP we had a whirlwind of a summer with a nearly three week trip away from home before two weeks leading into the start of school. Being teachers, my wife and I make the most of the summer, and this year we planned a trip to California, the Canadian Rockies and Kauai. Most of this post will be pictures of the trip with some captions, then a brief writeup of Pumpkinman.

We returned home from Lake Placid on a Monday evening, and very early Wednesday morning we were on a plane bound for San Francisco, where my brother lives. We were there for three nights, staying in a hotel outside of the city, but fitting in lots of activities.

We visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum, and had a great time exploring the grounds - Hannah and Jackson had a blast!

We also went to the California Academy of Sciences, which is a combination of an aquarium and a natural history museum.

My three cousins and uncle & aunt live west of San Francisco, and we met them in Vacaville. Jackson had a great time playing with all of his 'new cousins.' The temperature difference between San Francisco and Vacaville was crazy - 57 degrees ----> 112 degrees!

After San Francisco we flew to Calgary. We rented a car and drove an hour west to the small hamlet of Dead Man's Flats, which is just outside of Banff National Park. This was the third time that Katie and I have visited Banff - it's that beautiful to warrant return visits! The scenery just outside our timeshare was amazing.

We spent most of our week out in the park, visiting the spectacular areas in the park. This included a two hour drive (and then short hike) to Peyto Lake. The color of the water comes from glacial sediment - it looks tropical but is frigid!

On two different days we rented mountain bikes in Canmore. When Calgary hosted the winter Olympics Canmore was the XC Skiing venue, and is considered one of the best xc ski systems around. We biked on the trails there and saw two black bears.

Black bear about 150 feet away!

Hannah really wanted to ride like her bigger brother, but we'll have to wait a few more years for that!

Riding with Jackson through the shooting area on the biathlon course.

We also visited a friend of mine, who was teaching at The Banff Centre, an arts center in Banff. There were lot of Elk wandering around, including this one, which Hannah loved to watch!

While in Canada, I slowly began doing a bit of exercising. After IMLP I took a complete week off with absolutely no workouts. That was a bit odd, as during all of 2018 leading into IMLP I only had two complete rest days. I began using an elliptical machine at our timeshare and swimming in the 20 yard pool there. My left leg still hurt a little, but it was a TON better than during and right after IMLP.

After the week in Canada we headed back to Calgary for the next leg of our trip - heading to Kauai. Here's where we hit a bit of a snag. Our flight from Calgary to San Francisco was on time, but upon landing we were told there wasn't a gate available - that doesn't seem like the best planning! As a result, by the time that a gate opened up and we tried getting to our flight to Hawaii, we missed the connection. We had to wait around 90 minutes in a United customer service line, and eventually got a hotel and food voucher. We were rebooked on a flight the following morning to Denver and then to Kauai. This led to us missing a full day in Kauai, which was a bit of a bummer, but we took it in stride and Jackson and Hannah were troopers. It was a bit hard on the 8+ hours on the plane from Denver to Kauai with Hannah, who wanted to keep moving, but we did survive. The next fight was waiting over an hour in line for a rental car, but we finally got to the next time share in Poipu (Kauai's southern coast) around dinner time. You really can't complain all that much when you are headed to a beautiful place like Hawaii, can you?

On our two previous trips to Kauai we had stayed in Princeville on the north shore, so the location was new to us. There was some great trail running, and my left leg was feeling good enough to slowly ease back into running. 

Due to jet lag, we were up very early on first few mornings and got to see the sunrise.

We visited Waimea Canyon and got to look down on the Na'Pali Coast. The 22 mile hike along the Na'Pali Coast is closed due to torrential rains and mud slides earlier in the year. Katie and I did this hike on our two previous trips to Kauai, but that was pre-kids!

The beach way down there is where we camped many years ago!

One day we saw an awesome rainbow on our way back from a day out.

This is the terrain I did most of my running on. There were several very technical miles of trails just north of where we were staying along the coast. As you can see, the weather was bright and sunny on some days and rainy on others, but always breathtaking! 

 An evening sunset at our timeshare.

Not sure Hannah wanted this hug!

Finding a friendly cat to pet at the Kauai Coffee plantation.

In the middle of the week we rented mountain bikes and rode on a nice trail along the eastern coast. 

Our rental was a white Jeep - definitely a few of them on the island!

Soon, our trip came to an end, and it was a very long 20+ hours of flights and airports to finally arrive back home. Just before the start of school we had a combined birthday party for Hannah and me. We both had September birthdays, but it was easier to have a party before school began. Hannah was turing 2 and I was turning the big 40! We had a jumpy house with a water slide for the party, which was a big hit, and I was very happy that nobody got hurt - I'm always worried about smashing heads or something else in a jumpy house. 

After returning from our trip I had decided to sign up for Pumpkinman, a local Half Ironman in southern Maine. I did this race two years ago, but the race was canceled mid run due to a wicked strong thunderstorm (throwing in wicked as we live near Boston). I ended up having a pretty solid race considering my lack of fitness due to little training after IMLP. The bike course is a bit short, so my time of 4:16 is probably five minute quicker than on a proper bike course. I was still pretty happy with my time and I finished third overall behind two friends, Lucas Pozzeta and Colin Cook. 

The post race food is a full Thanksgiving dinner - yum!!!!

I rocked a sweet handlebar mustache for the race - not so popular with my wife so it got shaved off upon returning home!

During the race one person shouted "Go sketchy guy!" I guess the mustache wasn't my best look!

Looking forward, Katie and I are running the Marine Corps Marathon together at the end of October. My goal is to again pace her to an under 4 hour finish. I'm 90% committed to signing up for IM Norway next summer - we already have a hotel reservation. That would be combined with a trip to Denmark and northern Germany, where Katie's brother lives. Until next time....

Ironman Lake Placid Report - DNF

It's now two days after IM Lake Placid, and I'm still trying to come to terms with how my day ended. On the Saturday two weeks before the race I developed an injury on my left leg that was a bit perplexing. I had done a longer ride and run in the morning, and some time in the afternoon the area just above my left ankle felt a bit sore. I initially thought I must have bumped into something - it just felt like a bruise. However, it got a bit more sore before going to bed. On Sunday morning I was scheduled to do my last long run - 2:15 - but I only got about five minutes from home before turning around. I knew something was wrong and running was pointless.

On Monday morning I called a sports podiatrist that I've seen in the past. He has raced Kona twice and has helped me out in the past with a few injuries. I was really hopeful that this would be similar. However, with less than two weeks until the race I didn't know what was feasible. On Tuesday I saw him and we took a few x-rays, which revealed no fracture. Over the next ten days I got three rounds of EPAT (a shockwave therapy to break up scar tissue and promote healing), but the pain was still there. I got the last round of EPAT on Thursday, the day we headed towards IMLP. There was still some pain, but I was still a bit hopeful things would still be ok.

On that Thursday we stayed at a hotel a bit north of Albany after driving for three hours. With two little ones (5 years and 22 months) longer car rides aren't that enjoyable, and breaking up the drive makes sense. Also, with hotels charging 3x the normal rate for IMLP we saved a bit of money by not staying in Lake Placid for four nights. On Friday we drove the last two hours and got Jackson registered for the IronKids run once we arrived. Katie ran with Jackson in the race, which he did great in. He was super proud and, as it turned out, was the only one in our family to finish a race this weekend!

After his race I went over and did the registration thing and then we eventually headed to our hotel - a very basic room for a lot of $$$. I had wanted to stay a bit closer to transition, but prices were absurd, so we settled on the Quality Inn, which was about 1.5 miles from the oval. On Friday afternoon I got in a short swim from our hotel - the water was shallow and a mucky mess, but I swam for 15 minutes.

I'd say that 95% of my workouts this year involved waking up some time between 3:30 and 4:30 am, and on Saturday my body wanted to get up around 4:30 even though I'd set my alarm for 5:00. As a result, I was down at the swim start just after 5:00 to take the picture below. I was the first one swimming the course and didn't have to do any fighting for the cable! I did one loop in 34 minutes and figured about doubling that would be reasonable the following day, which was spot on. 

After swimming I did a quick bike ride, going down the 'Bears,' taking a right onto River Road, and then returning on a reverse of the run course. Everything seemed good on the bike, and I was back at our hotel around 7:00 AM to grab some breakfast before the family was even up. Katie headed out on a run after they got up. A few hours later we headed over to transition to check in my bike and drop off bags. After that it was time for Hannah to have a nap, and I took her to sleep in the car as I drove the bike course. I got a good feel for the hills heading out of town, the descent into Keene, the fast section to Jay, then the climbing to the long out and back, which I felt was the coolest section of the bike course. Lots of winding through some fields along the river and eventually into a densely forested area before turning around. Then it was back out to Wilmington and the climbing section back into town. I felt that the course was pretty good and that most sections were in good shape for a little Sunday ride. 

That afternoon we went to the pool at our hotel for a bit and then headed back to the room for a pretty early bedtime. I was in bed around 8:15 and luckily the kids slept pretty soundly. It took a little time to fall asleep, but I slept well and got up when my alarm went off at 3:25. I had decided to change up my race morning breakfast from the past. I had been going with a TON of applesauce (like 6 cups!), but I decided to keep it simple with a bagel, Powerbar, a handful of raisins and a Gatorade. That was around 800 calories to start the day, and over the next few hours I took in another 600 or so Calories in the form of another Powerbar, Cliff Bloks, Gatorade, and one gel. 

I left our hotel around 4:00 to walk to transition, but after only a few minutes someone stopped and offered me a lift. He wasn't racing, and was out looking for coffee, and I greatly appreciated to lift! As a result of getting a ride, I got to transition before it opened, got body marked, and entered at 4:30. I got my bike set up with nutrition, spare tube, computer and water. I made another nutritional decision to go away from a complete liquid Infinit diet to having a concentrated 1000 calorie bottle, two packs of Cliff Bloks and  Powerbar. This totaled a bit over 1600 calories, and I think that it worked great. In the past I've had to visit the porta-pottie on the run, but that didn't happen (although I only did one loop I didn't feel any need to stop for #2). 

I left transition around 5:30 to go drop off special needs bags and eventually head down to the swim start. My left leg felt 'ok,' but I still had no clue about how the day would go. Eventually I got the wetsuit on and got in the water for a brief dip, but it was a bit of a joke to actually get a swim warmup in with so many people in the water. Getting down near the front of the swim start was a bit of a challenge, as it was a complete bottle neck. I ended up jumping the fence rather than trying to fight through well over 1000 people. 

I decided to put myself near the front of the 1:01-1:10 crowd, knowing I'd fall somewhere in the middle. I ended up doing the first loop in 33 min and the second in 35 for a 1:08 swim. This was about 90 seconds slower than my last IM, but with about half of the swim training from pervious year, it's a fair trade off. Running to transition, my left leg definitely hurt quite a bit, but I put it out of my mind and was soon trading my wetsuit for a helmet and bike shoes. Leaving transition I was 54th in my AG, but in a good spot to start hunting folks down. 

For those not familiar with the bike course, it can be split into a few distinctive sections. There's some climbing out of town for around 10 miles, a very fast downhill section into Keene, a fast section from Keene to Jay, a good climb up to a longer out and back, the out and back section, then all of the climbing returning to the town of Lake Placid. The profile and splits tell the story of how much variation there is in speed over the course.

After around five miles of biking the forecasted rain began. It actually held off longer than predicted, which was nice. However, with the rain came some pretty gusty wind, and the downhill sections got pretty sketchy, especially the first part of the descent into Keene that goes by a long lake. At the top of the descent I was right at 240 AP and by the bottom I was at 210 - lots of coasting! Upon reaching the bottom it was time to cruise for around 8-10 miles, which went quickly heading to Jay. I was making pretty good time and averaged around 26 mph in that section. There is then a pretty steady climb to the turn to the longer out and back. 

The out and back section was a great place to gauge where I stood, and I counted around 45 or so folks ahead of me, but I was eating into the AG field. After making the turn and heading back it was time to cruise for a little more time before the climbing began. Soon it was into and out of the town of Wilmington and onto the last section of the loop. Those last 11 or so miles include lots of rollers with a short out and back into the Whiteface ski area parking lot. This section didn't have great pavement, and I ended up loosing my BTA water bottle. As a result, I went around six or so miles without water. I did take a few sips of my concentrated Infinit bottle to get a bit of hydration in there. I was making pretty good time and by the time I returned to town I'd probably passed around 20 or so more folks. 

After leaving town the second time the rain and winds seemed to intensify, and it was beginning to take longer to overtake other athletes. There is a short out and back into the Olympic bobsled area, and upon leaving someone shouted out that I was 23rd OA. By the bottom of the descent into Keene I had passed four more folks so I knew I was 19th OA. I continued to cruise along in the stretch from Keene to Jay and did some trading back and forth with another rider. My power was a little lower than on the first loop, as at times I had to freewheel to stay in a non-drafting spot. It would have been very easy to draft for several miles, but I didn't even consider it. Somewhere in the section between Jay and the return from the out and back I moved into 2nd in my AG and into the top 10 of the amateur field. Sam Gyde (a decent athlete!) was well ahead of me in my AG. I later found out that he was injured and never started the run - maybe I should have done the same. As a result, when I began the run I would be 1st in my AG.

One thing I'd kind of forgotten about the IM bike is that there are lots of mental ups and down - lots of times where the legs hurt, then a few minutes later they're completely fine. There were quite a few times where I asked myself if I should even start the run - 'what was the point?' I asked myself. The end of the second loop was pretty lonely except for some stragglers finishing their first loop. I saw quite a few folks walking their bikes up the hills - smarter gearing would have definitely helped them out! Heading back into transition it was pretty much me and lots of slower folks. Soon I was getting out of the shoes and into transition. Looking at my bike data it does look like I did favor my left leg a bit, as a 46/54 power split isn't usual - generally 49/51 or 48/52 is the norm, with my right leg being a little more dominant.

As my feet hit the ground I had some pain in my left leg, but told myself it wasn't that bad. I grabbed my run bag, and went into the tent, where it was me and one other guy. I did a complete change, opting for a tank top and tri shorts. I was in and out in a little over three minutes. It was pretty cool to be the only runner around (with only a handful of folks up the road), and I got lots of cheering. The leg was feeling sore, but run-able. The first few miles went by pretty quickly, and I was soon turning onto River Road. After a few downhill miles this section of the course is relatively flat with a few little rollers thrown in. The pace was in the 7:30-7:40 range and I kept telling myself that everything would be fine.

After a little time on River Road Heather Jackson passed me in the opposite direction in the lead for the pro women. A few minutes later the second place woman and I passed. Then I counted five AG athletes - that was it. I was 6th overall amateur and feeling pretty good. Stay strong, I kept telling myself. The turn around came at mile 5.5 and soon I saw other AG athletes behind me. About halfway back on River Road I as passed by someone in my AG. However, it was at least a mile or two between me and the next athlete in my AG. I knew I was in a good position if my leg remained in a 'manageable' state. I exited River Road and began the ski jump climb, and then the relatively flat section towards the 'Lisa G' hill into town.

Climbing up that hill was a bitch. It's a steep hill, but the steepest part (until the turn onto Main St.) is soon behind you. However, you have to keep climbing all the way up to Mirror Lake, where it flattens out for the out and back section. I saw Katie and the kids as I passed the gas station across from transition. Once at the lake I assessed my leg and still was feeling ok. At the special needs area I grabbed my secret weapon (seen below), and chomped down on a few fish. Soon I got to the turnaround and headed back along the lake. I was feeling better than expected and realized I was only a bit over one lap away from reaching my goal.

However, things have a way of coming to a crushing halt, and as I headed down the 'Lisa G' hill at the start of my second loop my left leg began to hurt a ton. My gait was almost instantly affected and my positive thoughts from just a few minutes before quickly were dashed. At the bottom of the hill I stopped to try and stretch and briefly massage the leg, then began 'running' (hobbling) again. I quickly realized I'd come as far as I could and the injury was finally getting the better of me. I made it to around 13.6 miles before I realized it was either walk or drop out. 

In 2014 I had an IT band injury heading into the Boston Marathon and made it to around mile 17 before the pain forced me to stop running. At that point my only option was to walk to the finish, as Katie was waiting there for me and I had no way to contact her. This race was different, and I had no desire to simply finish, walking the last 12.5 miles. I had to make the difficult decision to get off the course and walk back up the hill into town. Knowing the position I was in and 'only' needing to average around an 8-8:15 pace to probably get a KQ was very tough, but I feel it was the correct decision. I eventually found Katie and the kids and broke down. I had put in so many training hours, put my self in the position I wanted, and couldn't reach my goal.

I've had plenty of time over the past two days to reflect on the day, and looking at results, the last KQ in my AG was a 10:05 finish. That means that over those last 12.5 miles I could have run a 8:30-8:45 pace and still finished in 3rd in my AG. Of course I can speculate all I want and maybe I could have managed that pace after getting through the initial pain and just tolerating it. However, I thought of my family and the long three week trip we're about to embark on and being hobbled along the way when I need to help out, and that would have been selfish on my part.

In the end I'm ok with how the day turned out - I really didn't expected I'd get as far as I did on the run. Of course, without the injury going into the race things probably would have gone differently, but I'll never know, but I felt like I was in shape for mid 3:20's run. It was a good experience, and I gave it all I had. I'd like to think I'll give a KQ another shot, and I've casually suggested IM Norway (June 1st) next summer to my wife. My brother in-law lives in Hamburg, Germany, which isn't very far away, and we've already talked about visiting him next summer. For now, I'm going to let my leg get completely better before I consider my next move. It's time to be a good father and husband and spend as much time with my family over the remainder of the summer. I took too much time away from them to devote to training, and it's time to give back, get healthy, and enjoy life. 

Training, Quassy & Placid Thoughts

It's been nearly four months since I wrote last, and at that point it was winter. Today the temperature is supposed to get into the mid 90's, so definitely a bit of a change! But back to the winter....a bit after completing the Hyannis Marathon we had the good fortune of being able to attend a Celtics game courtesy of my wife's cousin. He rowed in college and was in the same boat with the owner of the Celtics. We went to the game with them and we were able to go onto the court before the game and sit in the 2nd row behind the basket for the game. The picture here is of Jackson playing with his 2nd cousin at center-court! It was a pretty awesome experience. Those NBA guys are darn big! The Celtics ended up edging the Raptors, and it was a great game to watch.

A few weeks later we headed to Bermuda for April vacation. Being teachers and sharing vacations is a great thing! We stayed with Katie's folks at their time share in St. George and had a wonderful time. The weather was a bit warmer than last year, and we were able to get to the beach a few times. I swam each morning in the 20m pool and logged just over 20k yards in six days. 

Two weeks before heading to Bermuda my left IT Band felt a little sore, and having experienced a 6+ month debilitating bout of ITBS several years I decided to take it easy. I took a week off completely from running and got in about 270 miles of biking. While in Bermuda I began to ease back into running, capping runs at around 40 minutes. I was doing a variety of stretches and exercises with cords for the IT Band. Fast forward to today, and it seems like I dodged a bullet. I was able to slowly ramp the mileage up, getting in five weeks around 40 mpw heading into Quassy after some unstructured weeks of running. 

In terms of overall training, I've decided to follow the mantra that IM racing is all about the bike. I've been logging my biggest bike volume ever and got in just over 1,000 miles in May. Running is back to around 5 hours a week, but swimming is still hard to fit in. I've averaged around two swims a week since getting back from Bermuda, and know this isn't ideal for IMLP. With this being the final week of school, I should be able to swim three times a week over the next five weeks heading into IMLP. Based on pool swims and my swim at Quassy, I feel like I should be close to times in the past - hopefully in the 1:05-1:07 range.

My first race of the year was the Rev3 Quassy Half. Three years ago I was ready to do this race, but had a running injury going in, so it became an aqua-bike. This year I felt great heading into the race and thought I'd be in a good position to contend for the OA podium. Bike fitness was great, my run was returning and my swim would put me in an ok position. However, during the week leading into the race my rear shifter (SRAM R2C) began acting up, and stopped working. I scheduled VeloFix and my buddy Gunther to come have a look. On the day before the race I got the news from him that the shifter was a no go - a 'wave' washer was broken, and there was no way to fix it. On to plan B - throw the race wheels on the road bike and give it a go. The only good think about this option is that Quassy has around 4,000 ft of elevation. Even so, the difference according to Best Bike Split would be around six minutes on the road bike. 

In the swim corral right before the race I was chatting with my Team Zoot teammate Steve Vargo, who ended up as the overall winner. I told him I was going to shoot for the top bike split on the roadie. After a decent swim based on my minimal swim training (33 min), it was on to the bike. Turns out it wasn't such a bad idea to hammer it on the roadie, and I was able to best the next best time by just over 1:30. On the climbs I passed everyone I encountered, but on the downhills, and slight ups and downs I gave back loads of time. No matter how aero I attempted to get, there is no way to replicate riding on aero bars when all you've got is the drops. 

 

The bike numbers ended up as 263 AP, 281 NP. I lost a considerable amount of power over the past 30 or so minutes, as the course has a net decent at that point. However, without the tri bike I lost a good chunk of time over that time period. I finished the bike in 2:28, but know with the tri bike it would have been a lot closer to 2:20. Oh well - lemonade from lemons, right? Out and onto the run.

From the outset of the run I just wasn't into it mentally. Not having the tri bike and not being in the position I was capable of was a bit demoralizing. The bike course is pretty up and down, and the run certainly didn't disappoint on this front. There was over 1,000 ft of elevation on the run, with the first two or so miles being down, followed by lots of steep ups and down on the two loop course. Around mile seven I unfortunately had to visit the porta-pottie for #2. Trying to get a sleeved suit down and then back up when it's soaked isn't exactly a quick process. Next time I'll began taking it off before getting on the throne! I kind of mailed it in a bit after the deuce break. I knew my goal of the possible overall win and podium was gone, and I thought that if I backed off on the run a bit I'd be able to recover quicker and get right back into training for Lake Placid.

My run time of 1:36 was pretty crappy, but actually two minutes quicker than Eagleman around the same time last year. That course had about two feet of elevation - combined for the bike and run! It was the heat last year that did me in. As I crossed the finish line I had no clue where I was placement wise. It turns out I finished 7th OA and 1st in my AG in 4:41. I was eight minutes off the win - with the tri bike I would have been right up there and had far more motivation on the run. However, my legs certainly felt a lot better than when I've pushed the whole run in a 70.3, and I was able to get back to training pretty quick. The Wednesday after the race I was able to get in four hours and feel pretty good.

Speaking of that training, I'm feeling pretty good with just over five weeks to go until Lake Placid. My bike fitness seems great, and I have plans to try getting in one or two more 100 mile rides - so far I've done one. Most of my long rides have been in the 3-4 hour range and have had an average power of 10-20% more than I'll aim for on race day. My run is also coming around. After feeling no ITB pain at Quassy I've gotten in 16.5 and 18 mile runs over the past two weeks. The HR has stayed pretty low and the pace has been inching a bit faster. If I can keep the injury bug at bay, have no more bike issues, and get in some decent swim yardage I feel that my result at IMLP can be a good one.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

It's now the end of February, and it's getting to be time to begin thinking about the upcoming race season. I always like to look back on the previous year around this time to assess how things went and what I can do going forward. Overall, 2017 was a pretty good year in terms of triathlon and training. I was able to meet my goal of qualifying for the 70.3 WC via Eagleman in June, and I had a respectable showing at the race in September. In August I set an Olympic PR of 2:02, and I finished the year ranked 2nd in my AG in Massachusetts by USAT. Above all, I feel I was very consistent in my training, only missing a few workouts. Below is my training volume by month, building into the season, and peaking over the summer.

In terms of total hours, I averaged just over 11 hours a week. I biked 5300 miles and ran 2300 miles. My swim volume wasn't stellar (245k yards), but part of that can be attributed to my pool being closed for updates in November and December. I've recently begun swimming twice a week, and it's taking quite a while to get back the swim. Currently my pace per 100 is a good 6-7 seconds slower than at the end of the racing season - yikes! It'll come back, but won't be fun. 

In my last tri related post I'd mentioned considering a marathon, but was probably leaning towards not doing it. However, I decided to go for it, as I haven't run an open marathon in about five years, and would like to run Boston in 2019. I didn't do a real marathon training plan, but consistently ran 50-60 miles per week from mid September onward. I peaked at 68 miles per week and have gotten in a lot of runs in the 17-18 mile range. My longest run was 21 miles in Bartlett, NH. I parked at Attitash and ran a double out and back up towards Bretton Woods. It was a snowy morning, and the footing wasn't great, but I was still able to get in ten miles around goal effort.                                                                                                                            

In addition to doing a decent amount of running, I've been biking 3-4 hours a week. Most has been pretty easy, but I have mixed in some Vo2 stuff and some sweet-spot work. I always look forward to the Northeast Multisport indoor TT, which is near the end of January. This year was pretty competitive as usual, and I ended up finishing up 3rd overall. It was pretty tight at the top, and I was only 12 seconds off of first place. I actually managed to put out more watts than expected, partially due to another rider in my heat, who I ended up edging by a second. It's amazing what you can do to your body if you go to that dark place. 

Over February vacation the family headed to Arizona. My only previous time in Arizona has been the Phoenix airport, which doesn't exactly count. We stayed in a time share just south of Sedona, and the scenery was amazing! I was able to run on the trails every morning except our last one, and we got in a trip to the Grand Canyon as well. As this was my final taper week before the marathon, I was able to bank a lot of sleep, averaging over nine hours each night. We only set an alarm on the last morning when we were leaving! It was nice to be a bit without a 'game plan,' and just see what each day brought. With Jackson not yet five, and Hannah being 17 months, we couldn't do many outdoor activities, but we did manage a few shortish hikes. Below are some pictures from the trip, that really speak to the beautiful landscape that was all around us!

I was able to take a short video of the single track I ran on, and on my last day on the trails I encountered some piggies at the trail head parking lot. 

We flew home from AZ on Saturday, and Hannah decided to make it an extra long day! She only decided to sleep during the last 20 or so minutes of our flight from Houston back to Boston. As a result, it made a long day of travel seem incredibly long. We managed to be in bed by 11:30 pm, and my alarm was set for around 6 am the following morning to get up for my marathon. The race was in Hyannis, a 90 minute drive away, and the forecast was far from ideal. Windy, rainy, and temps around 40 degrees. With weather being something out of one's control, I approached the race with a positive attitude. This race has a very popular half marathon, that routinely has 4k plus runners, and a marathon that is two loops of the HM course, and which only has 200-300 runners. I knew I'd have lots of company on the first loop, but would be very lonely on lap two, and that's what transpired.

The weather pretty much sucked from the outset. There wasn't a single point where the rain really let up, and there were lots of sections with strong headwinds. There were also a few sections, especially on the second loop where we had to run through several inches of standing water - not fun when you're freezing! It didn't seem like we got that much of a push from tail winds, but that could be due to trees along portions of the course. My goal was to go out around 7:00 pace, and then try to hang on and possibly negative split. I felt real good through the half-way point and was right around 1:32 at that point. Without doing a true marathon plan, the lack of mileage caught up to me in that last 10k, and I had a pretty serious fade. Mile 20 was around 6:55, and three miles later I was struggling to hold onto a 7:30 pace. I ended up finishing in 3:07, which still gets me a BQ. In 2019 I'll be 40, and the qualifying time is 3:15, so that should be enough 'wiggle room' to get in. 

The plan for the upcoming season is starting to come together. I'll be starting things off in early June with Rev3 Quassy. I raced there a few years ago, but was injured and didn't do the run. If things go well, I feel I can be close to 4:30 on the course, which should put me near the front of the race. Quassy will be a good tuneup for the main event in July, IM Lake Placid. I'm really looking forward to IMLP, and the plan is to do a lot of hill training on the run. I know I won't be able to devote as much time to IM training as I have in the past, so I will need to maximize my training time, and hope it's enough for a great result. After Placid the family is heading off for an extended trip. We hope to visit my brother and other family members in the SF area, and then head to the Banff area in Alberta for a week, followed by a week in Kauai, HI. All told, we'll be away from home for nearly twenty days. 

I'll take some recovery time on the trip, but then plan to get back into things, focusing on running and swimming. Some open water swims in Kauai could be fun! I plan on racing the Mt. Washington bike climb in mid August - it won't be ideal to be off the bike for a while, but I'll have access to spin bikes, and will try to get 2-3 of those rides in each week when away. After Mt. Washington I'd like to do do 70.3 Maine. Depending on how IMLP goes, I may book a return trip to Hawaii or may try Pumpkin Man again in early September. 

Five Years Ago

Exactly five years ago on a Friday I was sitting in a professional development meeting at my school when I got a text alert about a shooting. Unfortunately, having gotten many of these alerts over the years, I didn't think all that much of it. However, as the day progressed and information came out that it was at a school and we learned of the atrocity that took place in Sandy Hook, it hit me hard. I'm an elementary school teacher, and I couldn't help but picture myself in the massacre that took place. By the time I got home I was pretty much a wreck, and had been thinking about what I would have done had it been my students in that situation. At the time, I was not a parent, but my wife was pregnant, and we were expecting our first child four months later, so I was also looking at it from the view of a parent-to-be.

As a history major in college, I spent a little time learning about the the Constitution, and knew that in the coming days after what took place in Conneccticut there would be a discussion about the Second Amendment. Over the years, the NRA, and gun proponents have taken it to mean that everyone has the right to have a gun. However, in my mind, the exact wording doesn't exactly imply that:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

We don't exactly have militias running around, do we? We have a free country, and the 'Right' has twisted this statement into something that I believe it is not. As a result, gun laws have become extremely lax in many parts of our country, and death from gun violence is the result. Compared to other first world nations, the number of deaths as a result of guns is astronomical. The often used line is 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Well if this were the case, wouldn't there be an equal number of people being killed in some other first world countries? There isn't!

I honestly, thought that having an entire classroom of first grade students along with several educators killed could be a turning point in the 'gun debate.' I was hopeful that our country could turn a tragedy into real change. However, since Sandy Hook nothing has taken place in terms of gun control. We've had many other tragic massacres since then - Virginia Tech, Orlando & Las Vegas - and the only thing happening is that this is almost becoming the 'new norm.'

It doesn't have to be this way. I'm not against having a gun for hunting or even for personal protection if it is stored and locked properly. But all too often we hear stories of kids finding loaded guns and either shooting themselves or other kids. Background checks seem like common sense, and the majority of Americans, even those who own guns, feel this way. Mental health screenings would also add a layer of protection. Ultimately, the best way to prevent more tragic events like Sandy Hook from taking place is to severely tighten gun restrictions and ownership. Semi-automatic assault riffles do not have a place in our society.

On this anniversary of Sandy Hook, I am guardedly optimistic that we, as a nation, can make change. These are deaths that can be prevented. The US is on pace to soon have gun fatalities surpass the number of people killed in motor vehicles. The car industry is doing everything they can to make cars safer and limit fatalities. Shouldn't gun manufactures and our government do the same?

This isn't my typical blog post, but I felt like I had to put this out there as an educator, parent, and someone who cares about our country. We can make America great again by lessening the thousands of senseless deaths that occur each year due to lax gun regulation and the NRA lobbying for less stringent gun laws. This honestly seems like common sense, and I can't understand (other than $$$$) why this can't be done. 

Fall Training - Run Focus

After finishing up my race in Tennessee I decided to shift the focus back to running for a little while. I know I will need to have a strong run at IMLP to meet my goals, so I decided to put in a little block of run focused training to lead into the winter. I signed up for a mid November half marathon - signing up for a race always helps me have an end goal, and gives me a little kick in the but motivation wise during training.

I built the run mileage up over two weeks to around 50 mpw and held it at 50-57 for eight more weeks. Just before Halloween my Mom came to visit for a weekend when Katie was signed up for a local 10k race. The race nearly goes right by our house, so with my Mom there we decided to take advantage of her help watching the kids, giving me a chance to run as well. I did a harder track workout a few days prior to the race, so didn't really know what to expect.

This was the same race that I was leading last fall, but missed a very short out-and-back, ending up in a DQ from the race. This year I finished up third OA in 37:34, which is exactly one minute off my 10k PR from five years ago. I was hoping to be a bit closer to 37 minutes - I guess I'm always hoping things will go a little better than they usually do. High expectations are a part of who I am.

Leading into the November half marathon my legs were feeling good, but I didn't really feel like my fitness had improved much over the past nine weeks or so. My goal was to shoot for pretty even splits, then try to have a strong finish. We visited my folks on Nantucket the day before the race along with Katie's parents, making for a long day of travel. Getting home Saturday night the forecast wasn't looking stellar for the Sunday race. A windy, rainy day was forecasted for Sunday.

I got up around the normal time - 4:30ish - had a quick breakfast, then was off just after 5 am. The race was in Cambridge, MA starting and ending at the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall. I parked in a lot, got my race bib, and then had around 90 minutes until the race began. I ended up doing around 2.5 miles of warming up, then tried to stay in the lee of some buildings before lining up for the race. This race was only in its 2nd year had a field of 5,000+ in the first year. There were nearly 50 people under 1:20 in the first year, so I assumed the same this year. I think I ended up self seeding myself too far back at the start, and, as a result, did a ton of weaving through slower folks over the first two miles. This two miles were both around 6:10, but I felt I could have been a bit quicker on the same effort without all of the weaving about!

After getting to the Charles the course started a switch off from paved trails to dirt trails. This continued for the middle portion of the race, and several of the dirt sections were quite muddy and slippery, definitely causing my middle miles to be a bit slower than I'd hoped for. As a result, miles 3-11 ended up averaging around 6:20 pace. The return section of the race along the Charles after recrossing the river had quite a bit of headwinds, and were very exposed. I was running with a few other folks, but could feel them fading. I ended up pushing on by myself and was able to finish pretty strong. The very last section, turning away from the river, was on a dirt path that was pretty much completely submerged - good times!! I didn't run xc in high school, but I feel that a few sections of this race had a xc feel to them.

In the end, I was able to sneak in under 1:23 in and official time of 1:22:49, which is about two minutes off my half marathon PR from four years ago. Surprisingly, my legs felt great after the race. I guess the higher volume led me to be able to run pretty consistent splits - maybe my speed didn't improve much over the nine weeks, but the endurance seemed to get a bit better. One positive takeaway is even though I finished 77th overall, there were only four folks older than me who beat me. 

I'm toying with the idea of registering for a February marathon to test the fitness, but not looking forward to the longer runs of around 20 miles. I'm hoping that this time will get me into the NYC marathon (which allows half qualifying times) for next fall. I guess I'm leaning towards not doing a marathon, but continuing with run mileage in the 50-60 mpw range with the hopes of getting down near 1:20 in early spring - possibly a March race - before IM training kicks into full swing!

In terms of general training, I've been averaging 10-11 hours a week. With a run focus, it's meant 2-3 rides and about one swim each week. The rough plan is to slowly begin ramping things up around February, and at that point I'd switch over from focusing on the run to bringing in more biking and hopefully two swims a week. I feel like I'll need to be swimming 3x a week from May on, and one of those will be an OWS at Walden Pond either on the way to or home from work. 

I'm also planning on tackling the Mt. Washington bike climb, which is in mid August. I've been getting the CAAD 10 road bike geared up for that race. So far, I got a new P2M power meter with a 50/34 chainring, a WiFLi Force 22 rear derailleur along with a 11/32 cassette. I picked up some climbing wheels - Alto A26 - which come in at just over 1400 grams, and I also got a Dash saddle. All told, the bike is around 16 lbs currently. I have some Speedplay Zero stainless pedals ordered, and with a few more race day adjustments - like taking off the rear brake - I hope to get the bike weight down around 15 lbs. I know this is by no means light for a true climbing bike, but it should help. It would also help if I can get my weight down. Lots of people obsess over bike weight, but it's so much easier (and cheaper) to drop body weight. I hope to be close to the hour mark if the race day weather is favorable.