Race Report Or Doper Bashing....Hmmmmmm Maybe Both?????

"Well you can fight or you can run,
  Hide under a rock till the war is won,
  Play it safe and don't make a sound,
  But not us we won't back down
  True believers all the way,
  You and I..."
True Believers - The Bouncing Souls

Decisions, decisions, decisions.........

Do I write my race report from today's race?

Or in light of recent events, do I post about my biggest pet peeve in athletics.....Dopers (Salazar)!

Or......Do I somehow manage to cram both into a short blog post???

Or do I write two blogs and channel my best Keith Olberman and write a "Special Comment"?

Since I am leaning towards the latter option, I will begin with my race report......

Yesterday, I competed in my second triathlon of the season at the Mason Dixon Sprint Triathlon. It is a low key race which consisted of a 1/2 swim, 18 mile bike and 5K run (at least listed as these distances).

Swim - 12:53 (15th fastest)

Not much to see here...........The swim is the swim but I was happy that my times have been consistent with 12:53 this week and 12:51 last week for 1/2 mile swims. Like last week also it was about a 60-70 yard to my bike in transition. I could probably be a little faster but my transition was 2:14, including the time to wrestle out of the wetsuit.

Bike - 51:54 (2nd fastest)

The bike is a hilly two loop course and was actually 18.3 miles. I have ridden this course previously so I knew what expect in terms of climbing over the two loops. In all there was 1224 feet of climbing over the 18.3 miles. Different from last week's hilly course, this course had longer stretches of flat sections where you had some time to hammer! The 51:54 over the course works out to 21.2 mph. Out of the water I quickly passed people but near the end of the 1st loop riders seemed few and far between. Not knowing my exact position out of the water, I began to wonder....was my swim that bad and everybody got away or is it that my bike is going that well?  Coming into transition I realized that my bike was going that well....... I was actually able the number of bikes racked as I ran into T2! My transition from bike to run was  considerably faster this week and I was off the bike and out to run in 50 seconds.

RUNNING OUT OF T2 (NOTICE THE EMPTY BIKE RACKS)

Run - 18:35 (3rd fastest)
As you can see by the time, there is no way the course was a 5K but in the end it is the same course for all. The run was a trail run with only the finishing 1/2 mile on the asphalt of the parking lot. I exited transition just slightly ahead of the eventually winner and I could hear him on the trail right behind. About a half mile into the run, he came up on my shoulder as the trail opened wide enough for two people. Over the next 1.5-1.75 I ran on his shoulder or just off his shoulder letting him do the work, at the same time we passed two runners on the course. On the only hill he made a surge but knowing we had close to a mile left, so I kept the intensity the same and it formed a small gap. This gap seemed to stay about the same distance the remainder of the way to the finish line. I finished in 2nd place, just 8 seconds from winning! Weirdly, it was the 2nd weekend in a row that I finished 8 seconds behind the place in front of me. My overall time for the race was 1:26:24.

RUNNING WITH EVENTUAL WINNER (ABOUT 1 MILE INTO RUN)

Coming off these two races, I am very excited for my training as I prepare to race some longer races in the later part of the season. Most likely, my next race will not be until July and quite likely the Anthracite Triathlon (Olympic Distance) in Jim Thorpe, PA on July 19th. I will use that race as preparation for what will most likely be my 70.3 race in August.......Challenge Pocono! I ultimately, like the title of the blog, want to end my season complete a full ironman distance race and of course sprinkle a few shorter races in between those two races. Stayed tune as that announcement could be coming soon.......... Till then here are my latest (self-congratulatory) training totals!

31 Weeks

Bike - 4282 miles/ 203.03 hours/ 21.09 mph

Run - 715 miles/ 95.16 hours/ 7:9 per mile

Swim - 63 miles/ 30.59

Total - 5060 miles/ 328.78 hours

Per Week - 163.22 miles/ 10.61 hours

So the journey continues........... my journey

"But if you’re all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
  We’re going nowhere slowly, but we’re seeing all the sights."
"The Ballad Of Me And My Friends" - Frank Turner

Looking for "Special Comment" within the next few days.....

RUNNING TO THE FINISH LINE IN 2ND