August, 2 Very Different Races

August was another fun month, with two very different races in two very different places.

On August 12th, I raced in Benton Harbor, MI, at 70.3 Steelhead. The morning brought harsher conditions than expected, with high heat and humidity even at 6 am and strong winds that generated large swells on Lake Michigan. The gun went, and it was time to do what we do. The chop made the swim course slower than expected, and really spread the field out early. Unfortunately that left me all alone for most of it, and with my slowest 1.2 mile swim I can recall. In 32 minutes, I was out of the water and ready to do the work to get back into the race. Once on my bike, I decided to ride recklessly hard for the first 20 minutes to see if I could catch onto a group up the road. It eventually paid off, and I was able to ride the remainder of the bike course quite casually in what became a large group by the dismount line. My own split clocked in at 2:08, my fastest ever for 56 miles! The run was a tale of two paces. I began at a smooth and steady 6:20-30 pace, and quickly settled in behind another guy going a similar pace. Having somebody to set the pace gives a small physical boost, a very small draft, but takes off a tremendous amount of the mental workload and makes the miles tick off a lot easier. Through 10 miles, my average pace was still under 6:30, but the quick and light feet abruptly disappeared, and were replaced with lead shoes. I dug in, but could only muster 7:30-50 miles to the end, and came home with a 1:28 half marathon. Total time was 4:12, a new personal record for the distance, 13th place.

On August 19th, exactly one week later, I was slated to do it all again, this time in Ireland. It had been 4 years since attempting back to back 70.3 distance race weekends, so I thought it was time to see how it felt. Despite the best fitness of my life, the task proved to be too tall. The ocean swim was another choppy one, and once again I produced a mediocre swim, this time 31 minutes. The bike course was fantastic, with lots of climbing and technical descending. Unfortunately, my legs weren’t feeling as great as they had the previous weekend, and while I was able to make up some time, it just wasn’t enough. The fade in the closing 10-15 miles made it very clear, my legs had not fully recovered and weren’t ready to work that hard for that long again. I put my bike back on the rack, put the running shoes on, and hoped that things would get better. They did not. The run course was flat as a pancake, and air temps were ideal in the upper 60s and lower 70s, but I could not hold the 6:30 pace that I needed to move up through the field. The course was 3 loops with plenty of out and backs to evaluate your position, so I gave it a try and gauged the situation. With my pace slipping about 7 minutes per mile on only the 5th mile, there was no chance at moving up, so I pulled the plug and called it a day.

So there are the highs and lows of triathlon. A personal best one weekend, and an exhausted drop out the next. While I’m obviously disappointed not to have made a good crack at the course in Ireland, I picked up a little bit of wisdom. Firstly, I don’t think back to back 70.3 weekends works for me. From here on I will give myself at least one weekend off after that race distance before doing it again. Secondly, I need to sleep better going into races. Racing can be tiring, but honestly that fatigue is nothing compared to fatigue from travel, jet lag, or poor sleep. If the first race did not require 12 hours on the road each way, and the second race did not require a 7 hour flight and a 5 hour time zone change, this may have been a very different blog post. Quite frankly, I struggle to keep up with the pro fields when I’m at 100%, and if I’m not getting sufficient rest and getting to a start line at 80-90%, it will get ugly. I could get away with racing a little sick, injured, or tired for age group racing, but in the pro race that won’t cut it.

September is fast approaching. I’m glad to have started my season so late this year, and feel better about September than ever before. Usually I’m itching to call it a season by now, but this year I feel like I’m just getting started. Next weekend is Pumpkinman, where I’ll race the Saturday sprint and the Sunday Olympic distance. Then I’ll have a go at the famously daunting Savageman triathlon, and finish off September with 70.3 Augusta. I cannot wait to get to these races, and really can’t wait to share my experiences here again. Thank you so much for reading, and if you ever have any triathlon racing/training questions always feel free to reach out!