What Was Your Work Out Today?

Haven't been reporting since I've had a bit of a health setback. I had an old cyst on my back rupture and get really angry! Long story short, had to have it removed last week (went under, not local). Decent sized incision in my back (around six inches across). They glued it back together because it was only right below the skin, so not too deep or involved.

I'm under doc's orders to not "get too sweaty" but I'm walking and doing really, super easy cardio right now. Can't lift just yet. Hope to get back to that soon. Also, can't swim right now either. Hope to get back in the flow soon.

Also looking forward to hearing the triathlon report from @djproulx! You all are doing great!

Just drove home from Geneva, NY this afternoon after completing IM 70.3 Musselman event on Sunday.

Race report follows. Short version: I completed a 70.3 distance triathlon. It hurt. A lot. But I didn't die. Recovery now underway.

Pre Race Details: Weather called for rain chances all weekend, with heavy clouds and 70 temps forecast for Sunday. Downpours likely to start around 10am. This made athletes focus on gearing up for weather by packing a second set of socks, wind/rain vest, warming sleeves, separate run shorts/tops, etc. Several big concerns were cycling safety as well as mitigating the risk of severe chafing from riding and running in wet clothes and shoes. Aquaphor, plastic gear bags, etc were topics of conversation at 5am in transition as 1800 of us got ready to swim.

Pre Race & Swim: This was the 20th anniversary Musselman Race and both Ironman staff and the local volunteers had every detail covered perfectly. The only thing they couldn't control was the weather. The flat calm lake at 4:30am became a bouncy chop when the gun went off at 6:30am. The triangular 1.2mile course required a counterclock wise swim. I had lined up near the back of the pack (43-46 minute estimated swim group) to avoid the most crowded conditions. What I didn't consider was that the wind blown chop pushed the less experienced swimmers around, causing many to zigzag into each other. This made it hard to take a straight line. I didn't want to push during the swim, knowing I would be energy starved later in the race.

Given the very warm water temp of 76.0 degrees, I also chose NOT to wear a full wetsuit, opting for just SIM shorts for buoyancy. This was a mistake since I needed to work harder to stay on course in the chop and push my way around quite a few swimmers. End result was an hour swim, not 45-50 minutes, but at least I came out of the water feeling fresh. Given my limited swim volume, this result wasn't a catastrophe. I gave my swim performance a grade of "C-".


Bike: This was a highlight for me. One of my regular training friends who raced it before (and did again on Sunday) raved about the bike course for its easy elevation profile, good pavement and long strait away stretches. She advised that I'd have trouble holding back on the course given the opportunities for real speed. She was right. My plan was to finish around 3:05-3:15, or about 17.5-18.0 mph.

The rain held off and it was dry pavement and light winds to start. The first 15 miles of the bike course held most of the climbing, so I focused on not pushing too hard to get around the many slow cyclists. (I started and ended the swim near the back of a pack of 1800 people, lol, so I had a lot of folks in front of me)

As I hit a backstretch along neighboring Cayuga lake, the wind picked up and we had to work uphill against a stiff breeze. I decided to use that climb to really start moving through the pack. I didn't have to spike my power above 250w for very long, so it was a controlled effort.

Once up the hill around mile 25, it was ALL fun. The long straight roads through the dairy country were a terraced net downhill and I really bore down. Using gravity and staying locked in my best aero posture, I went by dozens of riders on each descent. These were not steep hills, but there were a few half mile stretches where I averaged between 27-32mph while not using a lot of energy. My best five mile split was done in 13:05, or around 22mph. This was a blast, since I wasn't pushing at my maximum, simply using conditions to get free speed. I backed off for the last 10minutes of the ride to spin out my legs and get in as much fuel as I dared before coming off the bike. Finished right around 3:05:30, about 18mph. I gave myself a grade of "A-" for my bike effort.

I came into T2 feeling tired but recovered by walking the bike and taking a few minutes to put on dry socks, swig some electrolyte drink and down a waffle. After putting on hat, shoes, and my race belt with number, I walked out of transition doing some deep lunges to engage my glutes before running.

Run: The weather started to turn around 11am as I finished the bike. The clouds thickened and temps got warmer. Humidity was noticeable. I walked out of transition while consuming a gel and water bottle. After 200 yards, I began an easy paced 3:1 run walk. I knew right away that I was not fit enough to run the course, so I walked for a hundred yards into the first aid station at mile 1.5. It rained for about 30 minutes, then the clouds broke and the sun came out, creating a very hot humid afternoon. This was more than I was able to endure while running, so I walked most of miles 6-11. Over this stretch, I stopped at every aid station and drank a flat coke (for sodium, caffeine and sugar) and some ice water, dumping a second cup into my running hat. I also put handfuls of ice in my hat, but I could not stay cool for very long. The two hill climbs (two loop run course) were pretty brutal in the 85 degree heat, with more than half of the runners walking more often than not.

I also tried to keep up with nutrition via Maurten gels and pretzels(to stabilize my gut after all the liquid and simple sugars). Bottom line: this was a first order sufferfest and I thought hard about tapping out several times. I also become somewhat emotional, another sign that my resources were about used up. But I've been here before and realized that I could finish the race and I was not at the point of collapse or urgent medical need. It just hurt. I trudged across the line and didn't see my wife and friends standing there. I took the medal, a hat and water bottle and headed straight for the food tent to get shade and recover. Took about 20 minutes and I was "ok" again. I gave myself a grade of "D/D-" for the run.

Summary thoughts: While the 70.3 mile event is my favorite distance (I've done 8 of them) this race was a stiff reminder of the challenges in longer courses. The race is just too long to rely on luck or fitness in one discipline to carry you through feeling successful. While my bike fitness is good, the finishing time of 7:20:00 shows that I'll need to get about 10-12lbs leaner and train harder to approach my prior performance levels on the run. So I'll have to take time to decide whether I still have that fire, or if shorter course racing would be more satisfying going forward.

Overall the trip was a fun weekend with friends. We stayed right on the water at Cayuga Lake, and on Monday we toured a winery and also hiked through the impressive gorge running through Watkins Glen State Park. Here's a couple shots from the Park:

I was thinking about that triathlon while I did my walk and how I could never do that. I barely made it 1 mile today although I did my maximum speed for as long as I could so I finished my mile in 24.5 minutes which was apparently a record according to my app. I did 1.07 miles in 26 minutes with a short 30-second pause in the middle to pet a pretty cat. I've decided I need to take it a little easier this week and do only a mile each day (I was pushing for 1.5+ miles each day the last week) because my legs are so sore because I'm so out of shape. It's really hard, though, because my mind wants to go farther and take this turn here for a little detour but my legs are like, please, no more, we still have to hike back up this hill to get home.