Dave’s Triathlon Journal

The reality of competing in an IM has hit me square in the face several times over the past few weeks as the training sessions get longer and longer.

This past weekend, Memorial Day weekend I might add, I had on the schedule a 5 hour bike followed by a one hour run. Each of these individually I’ve done many times, putting them together…this was the first.

I did a century ride at the beginning of this month and found out rather unpleasantly how many calories I can’t take in on an hourly basis. So, for this session I kept it to 300/hour using a mix of Hammer Sustained Energy and Perpeteum. What a difference. Yes I felt tired after the bike but I was able to do a 9:20 mile for an hour on a pretty warm day and after pushing relatively hard on the bike (I ended up averaging about 18 MPH over a pretty challenging ride). For me, this was pretty good.

What I was even more impressed with is that I went to a Memorial Day party right afterwards until 11 that night!

That day for me was a mental barrier that I can get my running legs after a long day in the saddle. And, from what I have heard and learned so far, Ironman is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

Last Sunday was the first race of the year. It was a small tri in Marlborough, MA and it was a sprint distance. It was great to be there, for a few minutes prior to the start I just sat at my transition area and soaked it all in. There is something about being surrounded by a bunch of like minded people getting ready to compete. I loved it!

This was the first tri I did with a pool swim. While it wasn’t as chaotic as a mass start or even a wave start with 30 or 40 other triathletes but it wasn’t easy either. We started in :15 intervals by the athletes estimated swim time. You didn’t have to be too far off on your estimate to either be overtaken or take over someone else, which isn’t easy in a lane already filled with swimmers going both ways!

The bike was rolling with absolutely terrible roads and the run was very rolling on great roads with the last mile all downhill.

I had my best result to date by placing 4th in my age group and 17th overall! Granted it was a small race of about 250 racers, but hey, I felt good about it.

For the past several posts I’ve been wishing for sun. And, it finally came. Along with it came a 78 degree humid day which I also happened to have schedule a 2 hour afternoon run.

The mid to high 70’s is normally comfortable conditions, except for when it is the first warm humid day of the year. I felt OK for the first hour or so then I slowly started to deteriorate. I had all six fuel belt bottles filled with either water or calories and took in about 10 electrolyte tablets but I don’t think it was enough.

In a way I’m glad the weather was warm and humid and that I pushed through the run. Who knows what race conditions will be like over the next couple of months!

The rain has finally stopped, for now. I’m supposed to go on a ride today followed by a short run. The challenge that I’ll have is finding a place to ride for 2 hours. Almost all of the major routes, and minor routes for that matter, are closed due to flooding. Today’s ride may consist of several laps around the block!

The week has been challenging. The pool I usually swim at is next to a park that is flooded and thus has been closed for the last two days. I was able to find a pool that had time at 8PM the other night. This workout was right after three hours on the trainer. It was definitely more of a mental exercise that a physical one.

Here’s hoping for sunny weather!

Rain is wreaking havoc on my training schedule!

Biking is tough for obvious reasons, but the not so obvious reasons are that most of the roads in the area are closed because of flooding. I think the trainer and I will be getting very close the next few days.

You would think that swimming would be immune to the pitfalls of New England weather?! Not if the pool sits next to a river which has flooded the parking lot. Today I begin to hunt for a new pool.

The timing of all of this is not good. I had a great training week two weeks ago which was capped off by a century ride around Southern NH. This past week was a recovery week so I'm ready to get back into the heavy training, until Mother Nature dropped 10 inches of rain on us over the past few days, with an end barely in sight.

Everyone, start praying for sun!

Yesterday I picked my new Serotta CXII (a.k.a. 112, appropriately) and boy is it pretty! I ordered it close to six weeks ago but it is a custom frame and took some time to build, particularly in this busy season.

In mother nature's way of expressing her irony, today was about 45 degrees and rainy and even with a brand new bike begging to be ridden it was just a little too unpleasant to do so.

I did ride it for about 15 minutes at the shop after making the final adjustments yesterday which was enough to feel how perfect a fit it is for me. I can't wait to get it out there for some longer distances, which there will be plenty of I'm sure.

I have to give some kudos to Fitwerx in Waitsfield, VT. This is were I was fitted, ordered the bike and had it built. They did an awesome job. It is a three hour drive for me to get there but it was well worth it.

Now, everyone pray for sun!