Uphill Both Ways

On my ride last night, I joined up with the Inside-Out Sports ride. On my short warmup ride to join them, I just felt like I was working much harder than I should have been for the speed I was going. I wrote it off as lingering fatigue from my weekend exertion.

Once I joined up with the group, my legs didn't feel any better. I was hanging at the back and got split from the main group by an over impatient driver. Once they had gone on their way to eat doughnuts and torment some other group of cyclists, I gave my best effort but just couldn't bridge the small gap. My heart rate was through the roof and I was getting a little frustrated. I finally flew the white flag when a typically much slower rider easily cruised by me on a slight downhill. My legs never felt good the entire ride and I was starting to have some serious doubts about racing Powerman Ohio this weekend...

...Until I got home only to realize my rear brakes were off center and jammed against my rim!!!!! You'd have thought one of those people riding my wheel early on might have noticed. Now I don't feel so bad about how poorly I was riding, except that my legs were toast this morning.

Turtle, Turtle, Turtle...

...or at least that's what I felt like at the Big Lick Triathlon this past Saturday at Smith Mountain Lake in southern Virginia. The race was very nice and well done. The lake and surrounding country side were a nice place to race. There were plenty of fast people but I defenitely wasn't one of them.

I decided to do this race on Tuesday for a couple of reasons. One, as a gauge of how my training was going (easy, base miles with very little swimming) and two, it was off the NCTS radar to keep myself from putting in pressure on my performance.

The wetsuit legal, 75 degree swim went pretty well. I managed to get beat up pretty good on the first leg of the triangle shaped swim and go way off course on the other two legs. Still came out of the water around 22:3x and made the long run to T-1 with several others.

Once on the bike, I had a hard time making the change to a cyclist. I couldn't get my heart rate down through transition and was passed by several guys in the first few miles. I finally got into a rythm on the bike, passed all those guys back and had a decent ride with the exception of getting stung on my right arm by a bumblebee and then having my left aerobar come loose. At least they provided me some distractions.

I got into and out of T-2 pretty quickly, but that's right about when the wheels came off. My legs felt dead and I was low on energy and out of fight. It was a pretty hilly run with most of the first mile going up. I held out hope that I would start feeling better after that first mile. No such luck. I plodded through what I'm pretty sure is my slowest 10k EVER!!

I ended up 22nd overall behind a bunch of young college punks (it was the mid atlantic collegiate championships) and the genetic freak, Chuck Dumke, 3rd OA 1:58.

Competition...before the race starts

I've got a good idea what my early season race calendar is looking like for 2008, but that's my little secret for now. After that, I'm not sure but I've started looking around for options. A popular race that I've always been interested in is the Eagleman 70.3. I got on the website just to see what the dates was and this is what I found...

June 8, 2008

1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run

Registration is now closed!

HOLY CRAP!!! It's already sold out! Now, this is becoming normal for the big Ironman races but now this is trickling down to shorter races. In December 2004, I sat anxiously at the computer one early morning to sign up for St. Anthony's. At least with that one, the previous season was over. Oh well, I'll keep looking.



This brings me to the fact that I have decided to resume my triathlon career. During my "return to running/find other hobbies," I came to the realization that this is what I enjoy doing the most, swimming, biking, and running. I may not ever make any real $$ doing it but I'll continually be on the prowl for fast times and first place finishes. My return to racing will start this weekend at the Big Lick Triathlon on southern Virginia. It's an olympic distance and I'm not counting on my time being very fast, which I'm ok with (or trying to be ok with). It's off the NCTS radar and I signed up as an age-grouper instead of elite to try and take a little pressure off myself. My training is coming along pretty steady. I haven't done any hard or fast workouts, just what I would consider base miles. It should be a good 'kick in the ass' to go along with the excitment of watching the Duke 1/2 IM last weekend.



Speaking of the Duke 1/2...Alison, who I coached for her first 1/2, had a great race! Her plan was to just go out there and 'do' the race and get the experience before she focuses on time or placing goals. She had great performances in all 3 disciplines and finished 17th overall and 5th in her age group with a time of 5:31!! Incredible on such a tough course. Here's a photo from the race...note: I think she smiled the entire race!

It's RAINING!

So, we are finally getting some rain, real actual substantial rain!! We really needed it badly. I went to swim at Jordan Lake on Thursday with Alison as her last swim prep before the Duke 1/2 this weekend and couldn't believe how low the water was. This storm should bring in some cooler weather for the race this weekend. It will be a fun race to watch, which is what i'll be doing on Sunday.

This past weekend I got the chance to head back to Athens. The Dawgs lost but I did get to see my folks, my grandparents in SC, and to top it off, I finally got to drive my dad's tractor that he refinished!

Time is on my side

This is my first week at work where I now work from 12:00-8:00 on Tuesday and Thursdays. So far, it's great! Tuesday I was able to sleep in and then got a 2 hour ride in with plenty of time to make lunch and even get to work a couple of minutes early. Today, I slept in again before helping time/count for Alison and her big swim workout which she nailed. Then I got in a nice little run. I do end up working later but it's after most people have left the store and I'm able to get more busy work done with fewer distractions. This scheduling will come in real handy once the days get shorter and I want to do a ride or two a week in the outdoors. I'm defenitely luck to have the felxibility at work to do this!
I talked to all three of the "maternal" figures in my life yesterday! My grandmother on my mom's side is recovering quite nicely from shoulder surgery. My grandmother on my dad's side had a birthday yesterday and sounded as cheery and sweet as ever. I don't get to see either nearly as much as I'd like but it was nice to hear there voices. Oh yeah, and I talked to my mom. No special reason, she just likes to talk alot : ).
Alot of the Inside-Out crew is up in Madison for the Ironman this week. This was the last expo I worked last year before making the move to Philly. Wow! Alot has happened in the last 12 months!

Labor Day

It's Labor Day...so, I'm laboring.

This weekend was pretty relaxed which is just how I like it. Saturday I headed out for a 'long' ride in preparation for the start of the college football season. I added in a run just before the Georgia game, which they won and looked GREAT! Go Dawgs!

Sunday started off with a trip to the dog park. Dooley ran around, got barked at, got chased, and did some chasing of his own. After he sufficiently wore himself out, we headed home. Went on a short little ride before parking it on the couch for the rest of the day.

Congrats to Alicia Parr and Stacey Richardson for their 1st and 3rd place finishes at the World AG Triathlon Championships in Germany this past weekend!!

I actually had a decent week of training for the first time in quite a while. I accumulated a whopping 10 hours!! I'm finally starting to feel somewhat fit again. It's nice!