Have you seen the wagon?

Which wagon?

The one I fell off of. Goodness the past month has been rough. One thing that I know about myself is that when I fall off the wagon, it takes me forever to get back on. This week was no exception.

Despite my weight and fat staying relatively normal, my diet has gone to crap. And bad. I realized this past week that I have a diet of a college student. Being on the go makes me eat out more. I try to do my best but sometimes it is unavoidable. But more importantly, I have lost my desire to cook at home. Even as I write, I am procrastinating grilling some chicken. I am having a battle with food. I had cereal for dinner twice this week. Once September starts it is time to hop back on that wagon and move forward.

The other wagon is the training one. Granted this week was extra stressful, I am having trouble finding the time and the energy to get in all my workouts. I am forcing myself at times. My running is basically nonexistent. My legs and body are not communicating. A few weeks ago, I was steadily building my mileage. Now it is a struggle to hit 20 miles a week. So much for my final build and a nice peak.

But I will climb back on that wagon again. It may just be next month.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Where does the time go? I am finishing a two week stint in Nashville and it seems like I just got here. I had all these plans to blog, enhance FTP Coaching and strike a few more business partnerships. Instead, I feel like I worked, worked, worked.

I am at the end of a 3 week build training wise. I have a 10/3 build starting next week and then a final peak on the way to Age Group Nationals. This build was solid. As usual, I am not running as much as I should. It seems that I will get into a solid groove for a week and then it will fall apart the next week. I had lofty goals for what I wanted from my running but those don't quite seem to be falling in place. After weeks of trying, I finally secured a long run. I am really good at getting 4-6 milers in. Anything beyond an hour has been a struggle for me the past few months. Finally, I knocked out a 9.5 miler. Hopefully, I get repeat it in the morning.

My riding is solid and I am not really concerned there. Of course, that probably means I am sandbagging it a bit. I don't really have a road ideal for intervals in Nashville and that continues to hurt me. Instead, I just focus on tempo riding. I have several routes where I can simulate race conditions and push HIM/Oly pace for 60+ minutes.

Swimming seems to be ok also. I do feel like my swimming is about as good as it is going to be. I know it has improved throughout the year. I know I am pushing myself harder than ever. And it is showing up in the pool. It is hard to say if it is showing up on race day because of all the variables. But I do know that I am coming out of the water feeling better. And that is a huge plus.

So finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the season. Only two more races. It is bitter sweet in so many regards. I do wish I had one last big race but I think I am making the right call on keeping it short. Hopefully I will continue to remain injury free and that will set up a great winter of running and cyclocross.

Longsleeves in July, Waterfalls and a YES!!!

Starting to get backlogged again but at least I have a really good reason this time. VACATION. And a much needed one. After Music City, I had just enough time to shower before jumping in the car and driving north. Jessica and I were taking a vacation, albeit with the munchkins, to upstate New York for a week on the lake. I can't express how excited I was to get out of the blistering southern heat and into the fresh outdoors where the crisp air might give you a chill.

Given that I raced on Sunday, my plan was to take a few days of recovery. Naturally we brought
the bikes on the trip. I even packed my wetsuit in case the water was cold enough. And I used it. We made it to our cabin Monday afternoon all excited about jumping in the water to play. Much to our surprise, the water temp was about 72-73. It was one of the most refreshing dips in a long time.

I decided to go for my long ride mid week since I knew we would be traveling on the weekend. I plotted my route around Skaneateles Lake and took off early one morning. The terrain was brutal. The Finger Lakes were carved out from glaciers millions of years ago. So essentially that are giant, deep trenches. The terrain around them reflected its history.

As I started riding that morning, I was actually cold. It was about 63 degrees out. I can't recall the last time I wore a sleeved jersey in the summer. The climbs were brutal at time and the descents were fast and fun. There was little time to enjoy the picturesque setting given the challenges. I found the natives perfectly accommodating as cycling is popular in the area.

Each day we tried to do something athletic. We spent nearly two full days hiking to various waterfalls in the area. The ones in Ithaca were populated with tourists and locals. But we found a few near our cabin that were remote and desolate. Two of the nights we had a fire outside the cabin. Amazingly enough, we all brought longsleeve shirts and pants. At night, we were huddled around the fire seeking warmth (or smores) from the cool, windy 60 degree nights.

I know it sounds boring to go on and on about the weather but living in the south my whole life, I have a much better understanding of why people spend their summers in these locations. The weather for me was rejuvenating. It was a much needed break from the unbearable heat this summer. The low temps and humidity meant that you went for a run and when you were finished, you wiped your brow had a sip of water and you were cooled down. I didn't miss using a towel and needing an immediate shower after an easy run.

So the trip was more than a success. The downside was spending 15 hours in the car both ways. But the trip had more to offer than just a break from the heat and a vacation. I finally proposed to Jessica. This is where she grew up and I always wanted to propose in a place that would have significant meaning to her. As I have said before, a lot is going to change in the next few months. Life is only getting more and more exciting for me.

Music City Results

Funny how the results always look different when you break them down.

	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
Andrew	27:40:00	0:02:34	1:06:08	0:01:12	0:49:13	2:26:45
Top 10	22:50:00	0:02:10	1:04:25	0:01:02	0:40:38	2:11:05
Fastest	17:54:00	0:01:47	1:00:31	0:00:52	0:36:54	2:03:45
OA Rank (478)	75	48	15	33	57	31
AG Rank (47)	14	11	4	8	11	5

My run wasn't abysmal!!!!!! I thought my swim was good but apparently not. Oh well, I still put it together well enough to have good races. Maybe one day it will all click for me

Music City Olympic Triathlon

If case you don't know, the heat is on. Someone please remind me to not race long in the middle of summer. When I missed out on Chattanooga, I knew I needed to get another olympic distance under my belt. I rarely race this distance but wanted to assess where I was prior to Age Group Nationals. Plus it just happened that I was in Nashville for the weekend.

For some reason this race started later than normal. They were running a concurrent sprint that didn't start until 7:30 so we were able to sleep in and take our time making our way downtown. After setting up, I spent some time in the Middle Tennessee Triathlon Club tents chatting with other competitors. The club had 10 relay teams participating and numerous individuals.

The weather was miserable which made the late start even worse. Still not sure why Team Magic insists on pushing back start times when there is more than enough sunlight by 630. The other downside is that they use a time trial start (rolls eyes). This means I didn't get in the water until nearly 8:20. That is too late on a hot day. Rant over.

Swim: 1500m

The swim was in the Cumberland River and set up similar to age group nationals. You swam downstream into a slight current before two right turns and a long swim back. Then you make two more turns and returned to the pier. You could see there was a slight, noticeable current to fight but nothing significant.

You were seeded based on your estimated swim time. Naturally, I put in a swim time I couldn't swim so that it placed me closer to the front (you get in the water earlier and have fast swimmers to draft). I knew I was out of my league since I knew a handful of people around me but that worked to my advantage.

The swim was naturally uneventful. I found feet for the first few hundred meters but they quickly pulled away and I found myself in no man's land...as usual. I felt like I was engaged the entire swim which is rare for me. The oddest thing is that I wasn't getting passed very often. I rarely found feet. So I just focused on long, powerful strokes. I popped out of the water feeling really good.

Swim time: 27:40 (1:40 pace)

Transition 1:

I really feel for non runners in some of these races. From swim exit to bike exit, this transition was just over .25 mile. You had a long run back up the boat ramp into the parking lot. Another advantage to seeding yourself slightly higher in a time trial is that most of your rack mates are swimmers and it makes it easier to find your bike. The volunteers controlled the flow of traffic in transition so you had to take the long way around.

Time: 2:34

Bike: 25 miles

This was a fun bike. Once you left LP Field you hopped up onto the parkway which was completely closed to traffic. You basically did two loops on this. The terrain was rolling...certainly nothing big. I may have gotten out of the saddle a couple of times to surge and stretch but never dropped out of my big gear. The downside is that the course offered NO shade whatsoever.

I took off from the get go. I wanted to ride the first lap somewhat conservatively and then pick it up. For the first 6 miles, my watts were a bit high but I felt very composed and my HR was down. On the return, I pushed it a bit more and destroyed the downhills.

Another downside to a time trial start is that you never know where you are in the race. In this case, I was crushing all the swimmers and there wasn't a good cyclist in sight. To start the second lap, I was finally passed by a cyclist who was part of a relay. I used him as a carrot for a while until he pulled off into the distance. Other than him, I felt pressure from only 1-2 other cyclist but they quickly faded.

On the second lap, I picked it up a bit more but felt very comfortable. Probably too comfortable. I wanted to push it more but had a good groove going. It was a ghost town when I finished the lap and returned to transition.

Time: 1:06:08 (22.8 mph)

Transition 2:

Not quite as long. Clearly I was not thinking prior to the race as I left my shoes tied. Grrr. Must use head in future.

Time: 1:12

Run: 6.2 miles

Ouch. When I came off the bike I knew I was in trouble. I felt so overheated and when I feel this way, my body shuts down quick. I went through nearly 2 bottles of fluid on an hour long ride and still felt beat. I just hoped to hold on.

This course was brutal. Two loops with 3 solid climbs on each loop. There was a little shade when you ran downtown but that was it. The rest was wide open. I went out fast and tried to go. I survived the first mile. I started to suffer during the second. I really wanted to run a 45 but that was not going to happen. The heat, humidity and hills were my biggest enemy.

By mile three I was mentally cooked. I was grabbing as much fluid as possible and dumping it on my head. I walked the final three aid stations to just cool off enough to run. The miraculous thing is that I kept the negative demons from getting to me. I wanted to walk the hills so bad.

Interestingly enough, I wasn't getting run down in this race. I was probably passed by 6-7 runners. And I easily passed 10 more, including two in my age group. It was miserable for all of us.

Despite walking the aid stations, I bounced back nicely the second lap and kept move as quickly as my body would let me. I pushed the final mile a bit more because I could hear people behind me. I didn't want to give up positions.

Run: 48:47 (7:52 pace)

Total time: 2:26:45

I was initially disappointed because of my run. The reality is that my goal was 2:25. I will take that given the heat and terrain. It wasn't my best race but it was FAR from bad race. I need to put this in the good column. Now I just need to get myself running for September.

AG 5/47
OA 37/478