Half Marathon in Central Park
I raced this on the end of a heavy training week. I completed in about 1hr22 minutes. Central Park is an undulating course and towards the end of the race I decided I wasn’t going to kick towards the end. Not sure what I could have done fresh and kicked towards the end, maybe 1hr20 or 1hr21. Guess I’ll never know, but I can do some halfs towards the end of the season.
Bear Mountain Spring Classic
This was a ~42 mile race in Harriman State Park as part of the CRCA road race series. I’m a CAT-5 as I’ve only just started road races this year. During the race I had issues on the steeper ascents, my back started spasming. I wasn’t sure what to do because I hadn’t had this issue before. I ended up getting dropped from the lead group and then as I hit the flats my back sorted it self out so I would start working again to get back up. Each lap the same thing happened with spasms so ended up coming across the line just after the chase group. Was lots of fun though.
American Zofingen
I did the long course duathlon. I knew it was going to be a 7-9hour day despite not having to swim and the bike/run distances being shorter than an IM. I was experimenting with just fueling with UCAN. For breakfast I ate two bars totaling ~ 400 calories. The opening run I did in ~45 minutes with no calories, then on the bike I consumed 7 servings of UCAN, more than recommended but I’m still getting confidence in the fueling strategy. Towards the end of the ride I started struggling a bit and talked myself into changing my target watts to a more conservative strategy. I was running a 53/39, 11×25 gearing setup which wasn’t enough, I had to go away above FTP numerous times to climb up the hills. I think that took it’s toll so the last ~45 minutes of the bike I was in survival mode. Once on the run I felt okay again although it was very humid by that point. I drank way too much heed and after the 3 laps of running I vomited a lot of it again! Overall it was a good day for learning. There weren’t many competitors in that race but I was happy to win my age group nonetheless.
Black Bear Olympic
My goal in this race was to swim as hard as possible. I failed in that regard. I think I was just mentally lazy as I wasn’t too fatigued at the end of the swim. The bike I went reasonably hard and the run was very difficult: lots of hills and lots of trail running. I made a few mistakes: on the bike I dropped my sunglasses costing me a minute or so, I debated whether to leave them but felt bad that it would have been considered littering. Then leaving transition I ran out and forgot my number and decided to go back for it. That probably added up to an extra 500-800 meters of running. Towards the end of the run I was passed by some guy who was working hard, but I didn’t fancy running myself into the ground as I was doing Quassy the week after. I came second in my age group, second by 9 seconds. Whoops. Fewer mistakes would have led to a better finishing position. Never mind.
Quassy Aquabike
Despite planning to do the half iron tri, I dropped down to Aquabike. Walking down the stairs after the black bear triathlon, something went in my foot. I couldn’t run for a few days, or crouch down. Two days before the race I was running again but knowing the course was very challenging I didn’t fancy my chances of bombing down the hills without hurting my foot again. The swim I was a little disappointed with. I was hoping to go sub-30 to give me a chance of going sub-hour at IMMT, but that didn’t come about. The bike course was challenging and my main goal was to keep my cadence above 90 rpm on the uphills, that meant working very hard at times but I didn’t feel like I was going to blow up. Towards the end of the course I think I was losing my ability to generate the same power going up the hills but I stuck in there. The lesson I need to learn is to keep pushing myself towards the end of the bike leg knowing that my legs will still feel good when I get off.
Lessons Learned
My body seems to cope fine with lower calorie fueling options. The big training sessions before IMMT will reveal whether I’m still okay at longer distances.
I can still run off the bike pretty well even when I ride hard.
I need to translate my speed improvements from the pool into the open water! Time to head to the beach I think!
Tired Legs Empty Mind 