Tuesday, June 28, 2016

I'm Back! Race Report & 26 Days Till Ironman Lake Placid


"Be running up that road,
 Be running up that hill,
 With no problems."
Running Up That Hill - Placebo (Kate Bush - Original)


Holy Crap!!!!

Where does the time go? I can recall shortly after the start of the new year, I changed the blog page to the theme of training for Ironman Lake Placid and here it is just 27 days till race day and my lazy ass has not posted once. Most are probably happy that I have not bored you over the past 5 months with my monotonous daily training regimen!! 

Others may wonder with all that training I do, how can I be considered lazy? Here is how.... First, aside from my training, I am a self-admitted lazy person. I am that person who will drive around to find the closest parking spot to the grocery store. I have a Mio Global Fuse (which tracks my steps) and except for running days, I am lucky if I get 4000-5000 steps a day! My go to defense........I do enough biking, swimming and running that should cut me some slack on the laziness! 

Now it does not explain my laziness with the blog posting.

Have I been training? Yes!

Have triathletes broken some of my unwritten rules of things not to do? Oh hell yeah! Including myself!

Have more stupid professional athletes been caught doping? Unfortunately, still way too many of them for me to ridicule!

Have I thought at times....."Man it has been a while since I have blogged?" Hey, what a surprise, another Yes!

Now, I did manage to get off my lazy ass  to race this past weekend at the Millheim Sprint Triathlon. The race consisted of a 300 yard pool swim, 15.3 bike and 3.1 mile run.

The swim consisted of 2 lengths per each of the 6 lanes with swimmer taking off at 30 second increments. Unfortunately, even though being in 4:15-20 shape, I had to start after all pre-registered and seeded swimmers as the timer had already seeded them. So based on my number I would be the 56th swimmer to start. This made for a fun swim as I had to navigate swimmers and even passed as many as 3 swimmers on some lengths. In the end, I tap the final wall at 4:48 but somehow when results were posted I had the 4th fastest swim.

The run from the pool to the bike was at least 200 yards and my transition was 2:02.

The 15.3 mile bike was basically flat for the first 8 miles with hills over the next 5 miles with a 2 mile downhill to flat return to transition. Once on the bike my mindset was on hammering and seeing how much ground on could make up on those that started well before me. I also knew in the back of my mind that starting 18 minutes after the 1st person, catching everybody would be impossible but it would not hurt to try! I finished the 15.3 mile ride in 40:09 or 22.9 mph. It was the top bike split of the day.

The actual 5K run started at the pool area so my transition time was 1:45.

Once again, not knowing exactly where everybody was I just ran steady off the bike. About a half mile into the run I passed the 1st returning triathlete who started well before me. In my head, I kept trying to figure out how much in front of me and how much time I needed to make up to beat him. While still trying to figure this out, my focus was running down people and passing them all the way to line. In the end, I covered the 3.1 mile in 21:07 or 6:48 per mile. The run was an out and back course with a few small climbs. While I may not have felt fast on the run, I felt incredibly strong and steady given all my training for Ironman Lake Placid. It was the 2nd fastest run split of the day.

Total time 1:09:53.96 - 1st Place Overall

Now back to Ironman Lake Placid Training!


1st Overall Prize - Growler of choice at Elk Creek Brewery