Nose to Grindstone, July Training!

July is consistently my favorite month of the year. This was a quiet race month, with only the New York City Triathlon on July 1st (I wrote more about that race in my last installment if you’d like more details). On the training front, however, it was one of the busiest months ever! Last week swimming volume peaked, hitting 16,000 yards over 5 swims. Cycling volume peaked earlier in the month with a 283 mile week. Running has been consistent, but not overdone, with each week at 35-42 miles covered.

I’m trying something new this summer. Most of my training every previous year has been done on my own. I would estimate that 99% of training since exiting college has been a solo affair. This year I am spending more time working with others. Good training partners were difficult to come by living in Vermont, with the exception of my roomate Eric. Throughout July this year, I probably have done more than half of my swimming with Nick, the young up and comer who beat me at the duathlon in May, and Kevin, a local swim/triathlon coach who can still wreck a 200 in 2:08 (from a push!). Having a swimmer of very similar ability by my side in hard sets has really helped fuel my competitive spirit, and I can’t wait to see the results of the hard work at the next race. Although cycling is the discipline in which I have the least to gain, I’ve also been really enjoying the hammerfests with my friend, James, as well. A few years ago he became a pure cyclist, and this year he has come out of winter with the best fitness of his life. I’m no slouch on the bike, but even I have trouble keeping up on his wheel sometimes now. Although I still put a ton of miles in on my own, having company for harder sessions has made training just a little more fun and caused me to push just a little bit harder.

With not much racing these past few weeks, there’s not much to write about in this month’s blog!

August will see a flip, with much less training and quite a bit of racing and travel. On August 12th I will be at Benton Harbor, MI for 70.3 Steelhead, then hopping on a plane to Ireland and racing in Europe for the first time at 70.3 Dun Laoghaire on August 19th. These races, along with some training partners, have really kept me focused on training this month, and I’m excited to get to put the hard work to use on the race courses. Hopefully the August blog will be a recounting of some fast races. Thanks for reading, stay tuned!

Summer Heat, Summer Races

Let me apologize first for not having this blog post prepared before June expired. I’m a bit disappointed in myself, because my goal at the beginning of the year was to roll out one post each month. I fell short of that by not writing this in time, but I’d like to move forward and just try to be better.

Now that that is out of the way…

I love summer! The weather is best in the north country this time of year. Lakes are melted, the sun sets late, and the greenery around here is much more appealing than the dead of winter. We are in the middle of a tremendous heat wave, but honestly I don’t mind at all. Sure, training is difficult when temperatures are north of 90 degrees (especially running!), but ice and snow create much worse training conditions. Plus, when you train in extreme heat, even if you do so significantly slower than you normally would, the aerobic training effect is much greater, so why actually complain? Besides, when is the last time you shovelled the heat?!

On June 16th I had the pleasure of returning to the Great Sacandaga Challenge Triathlon. This is a fantastic race which is starting to gain momentum with the local triathlon community here, and for good reason. The course is safe, scenic, and fast. The club who puts it on is clearly committed to making the experience a great one. Maybe the best thing about the event, however, is the kid’s races. There’s a super sprint for school age children, and the turnout is just as good as the adult race. Plus, there is a super short splash and dash (swim-run) for the younger ones. As somebody who has enjoyed coaching kids of all ages in cross country, track and field, and swimming, I can confidently tell you that the Sacandaga Tri Club puts together a first class experience that is beyond valuable in growing the sport. Unfortunately I was not quite able to better my course record there, but that did not keep me from enjoying another beautiful day of racing in the southern Adirondacks.

At the end of the month, I made the drive down to Brooklyn for the New York City Triathlon on July 1st. I am beyond blessed to have been accommodated by my future in laws, who allowed me to stay in their home despite being a stinky/sweaty bag of triathlete. When race morning rolled around, it was not particularly difficult to wake up, even at 3 AM. The air temperature had not dropped much overnight, and it was already 80 degrees, with a forecast for a heat index well over 100. Thankfully the pro race began at 5:50 AM, at which point it was “only” in the 80s.

When we dove off the dock at the start, my only goal was to get through the down river swim with a smaller gap to the leader than last year. Splits vary year to year because of the current, so time alone was unimportant to me. I came out 23rd of 25… ouch. But the gap was 1:46, compared to 1:44 the previous year, so essentially the same gap. The long run to transition was a fantastic opportunity to make up some of that time, and I was able to get on the bike in front of a few guys who swam better. Once onto the bike course, things only got better. Power was right on target, and my wheels were spinning well up the West Side Highway. When it was all said and done, I had ridden my way up to 13th, squarely in the middle of the field, and passed some very strong triathletes who I hold the utmost respect for. Nothing better than exceeding your expectations! Going into the run course, I was feeling confident, having run well on this course a year ago. Unfortunately, I dropped my watch in transition, so there is no objective data for me to confirm how well or poorly I paced the run. All I can say with certainty was it hurt. Every, single, second. Two guys got by me, which is far from the worst thing to ever happen to me on a run course. I was a bit disappointed to later see that my split was about a minute slower than last year, but took solace in hearing from most of the men’s field that splits were about a minute slow across the board. A 15th of 25 finish is nothing spectacular, but I’m mostly happy with how I raced.

Up next, I’m looking forward to a few weeks of longer endurance work, and jumping back onto the 70.3 circuit on August 12th at Steelhead in Michigan. The course is notoriously flat and fast, and typically draws a deep competitive field, and it would be great to set a personal best time for the distance. Fingers crossed, head down, time to work. I know I say “thanks for reading” at the end of all my posts, but I want to emphasize how grateful I am to have support from a few great friends and family from all over. It is truly a blessing to be able to do what I love and have so many positive vibes from so many of you. Until next time!