It's good to be back.
That is, it's good to be back in racing shape. It's been a long year thus far, mostly due to two bouts with injury (hamstring and calf) that eliminated about 3 months of running from my training. Still, I raced earlier this year though not in top form, and while I achieved results that were OK, I clearly was not firing on all cylinders either in training or racing. But after months of PT, pool running, massage, and extra amounts of swimming and cycling, I was able to finally put in two months of HARD training, courtesy of my coach, Ray Kelly, to prepare for the series of races in August and September...starting with yesterday's Mossman Park City Olympic Tri.
Park City is just about the flattest race there is. It's also a 5-lap bicycle/2-lap run course, which isn't everyone's favorite, but I enjoy that style of racing. I'd been putting in a LOT of work and was walking around starving and exhausted most of the past few weeks. I enjoyed working out hard in all three disciplines, but I'd forgotten what it felt like to be in the midst of that sort of build, but it all was coming together as I got ready to race. Sessions that included numerous run/bike bricks and transitions as well as a lot of power on the bike helped. By race time, which was 6:30am (ugh) on Saturday, I felt ready and relatively rested.
The swim looked easy - swim way right, turn left, follow what looked like a straight line for a while, make a sharp left, swim in. I was the second wave, and while I was startled by what seemed like a quick start after the first wave, I took off. I also saw people in the first wave (2 minutes ahead?)...walking. It seems the tide was WAY out and as I was swimming, I did notice that my hands weren't very far from the sandy bottom. Nearing the first buoy, I did stand and dolphin a few times, but went back to swimming so as not to tire out my legs. After the buoy, the water deepened, and though I swam a BIT left of the middle buoy, I stayed on course and had a strong swim. Indeed, it was a PR swim for me in 21:21 (including the run from shore to T1), 20th overall and in the top 7%. The hard swimming has totally paid off this year as all of my swim finishes have been top 10% for the first time ever.
Into T1 and relatively quickly (1:00+) out and onto the bike (note - not putting on socks helped here but hurt after my run racing flats ripped up my feet - more on this later). The road was pretty clear for the first lap and I stepped on the gas. I was aiming for close to 1:00:00, so I had 12-minute laps in my mind, which meant 24-25mph. I tried to stick between 24 and 25, but I was under and over throughout the first few laps, and as the crowd of people entering the road on bikes increased and I started to feel the ride, the speed came down just a bit. NO ONE passed me, however, which made me happy, and the turns were not an issue at all even with the crowd. I finished the bike in 1:02:09 (sub-1:02 without the run to the timing mat), another PR on the day. I ended up with the 9th fastest bike overall (top 3%), and was happy having hit my goal.
In and out of T2 in under 40 seconds and onto the run. I felt comfortable at the pace I started (which felt like it would be low to mid 6s per mile), which was good. I looked ahead to try and tell how many were in front of me and if there was anyone I could target, but only saw one or two people. I figured that was good in that there'd be few ahead of me. As I got toward the turnaround on the first loop, I discovered a lot more people on the road than I'd thought and went "uh oh" and figured I'd need to pick it up, which was sort of my intent after the first loop. Good idea - but not happening. I went through 2M in 13:00 and was somewhere between happy and worried...happy that 6:30s felt relatively easy but worried that the effort only garnered 6:30 pace. I was 19:40 at 3 miles and realized that I wasn't going to be picking up the pace and instead tried to maintain where I was. This became hard to do and I lagged in the 4th and part of the 5th mile. Friends ahead of me yelled encouragement (or joking insults meant to encourage), which helped, and I tried to pick up the pace. I could see I was gaining a bit on some ahead of me, but not much. The finish line was - unfortunately - visible for the last mile and a half, and it felt like it would never come. I kept trying to pick it up, but aside from tired legs, my increasingly bloody feet (I didn't look down but I could feel several areas on both feet that were losing skin) were hurting. Fortunately, I didn't see anyone close that was in my AG, so I just held on and pushed a bit through the finish. This was a tough run and showed I have a lot more work to do to try and get back under 40:00 (distance...strength...tempo). I was 42:22, or 6:50 pace, WAY slower than I intended (6:30s or better). I took my shoes off immediately after crossing the line and walked painfully back to transition to clean up.
It took a while, but I ultimately found out that I'd won my AG -- there were so many people that miscounted their bicycle laps that the finish results were pretty skewed at first. That makes it 4 of 5 AG wins this season (the 5th was a 2nd place), so I'm holding pretty close to my goal of age group wins in every race this year. It is a bit ironic that my swim and bike performances are now overshadowing my runs, and I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not. I AM happy to report that Ray's planning (augmented with just a bit of my over-zealousness) has paid off well. I PR'd on the bike riding less miles than any year in recent memory at the same time as I have come back up the curve on the run pretty quickly. I think I run more often than Ray wants and ride a bit farther as well, but psychologically and (I think) physically, I need to do that. The best thing for me, though, is to finally be race sharp and able to push hard in racing and training in all three disciplines. Bad news -- if I thought it was going to get any easier at 50, THREE guys in 50-54 beat my time yesterday. Indeed, I believe all but 2 of the first 12 finishers yesterday were over 40 (the other two were in their 30s), which is pretty amazing considering the times (even despite the flat course).
Up next: Nation's Tri in Washington, DC on September 8!
