The funny thing about blogging is that the longer you
go without posting, the more things you need to say in your next entry, which
greatly detracts from the desire to write another entry, and somewhat explains
why this is coming 2 weeks after the race. As such, I am going to start by condensing
the past 11 months of my life into 3 bullet points:
- Graduated from Ball State with a PhD in Human Bioenergetics
- Accepted a post-doc in the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University
- Moved to Boston (living in Charlestown aka "The Town")
Oh, and upon hearing I would be moving to Boston I of
course needed to run a marathon to try and qualify for Boston 2018. While my
run training was inadequate, the bike fitness carried me through and I ran a 2:52
on a beautiful day in Grand Rapids (one of the best cities in the world, that no
one knows about).
Running along at Grand Rapids with racing partner Nathan!
Ok, so that wasn’t so bad. Now we can move onto more
important things, like my 2017 triathlon season. Unfortunately my first planned
race of the year was cancelled (Ball State Sprint Sprint). Although it was just
an early season rust buster, I was excited to get to race against my buddies
Adam Voss and Kyle Perry. Kyle is a big-time cyclist that I had persuaded into
racing a triathlon. Unfortunately morning thunderstorms had other plans. We
took out our frustration with a final FTP test in the training garage that hurt
a lot more than the race probably would have.
Kyle had too much espresso? Or just the right amount before the test.
One of the biggest bummers about the sprint being
cancelled was that it meant my first race of the season would be Syracuse 70.3.
I always like to try to open up with something shorter to get some of the
nervous energy out and dust off the winter cobwebs. Alas, this year I would be afforded
no such luxury.
Going into the race I was pleased where my fitness
was at, especially considering the recent move across cross-country. Almost
immediately I found two great training buddies here in Boston in fellow EMJ
teammate Corey Robinson and MIT grad student Richard Fineman, who went out of
their way to show me the ropes. Syracuse was a Sunday race, which I really
appreciated as it eliminated a lot of the stress due to traveling
technicalities. That of course didn’t stop me from getting a speeding ticket as
we drove through Utica, NY on our way. Fortunately, the officer thought Ellie,
who was barking her head off in the back of the car the whole time, was cute
and only cited me for “obstructed vision” aka my radar detector. He then encouraged
me to return for the Utica 15k, and proceeded to wish me luck at the race. As
far as getting pulled over goes: 10/10.
For the first time in my life I actually have a group of triathletes to train with.
Thank you Corey and Richard!
The day before the race Bri and I chilled out and
went to the Wegman’s dog park with Ellie. We figured she deserved it after helping
me get out of the speeding ticket the night before. Ellie had a total blast and
it appears we sufficiently tired her out as she didn’t destroy the hotel room
when we went out for lunch with teammates John Kelly and Mike Hoffman. After a
post-lunch nap, I chauffeured the girls (Bri and Ellie) around to a couple of
local dog-friendly breweries (you rock Syracuse) before grabbing a quick bite
to eat and heading to bed.
Pre-race lunch at Brooklyn Pickle.
Race morning alarm went off at 4am and we quickly
loaded up the car and headed over to the venue. Although this meant we pulled
into the parking lot 2.5h before the race began, I would far prefer that then
dealing with the stress of waiting in line for a parking spot. Before the race
Mike, John, and I casually chatted and discussed race strategies. The high for
the day was supposed to exceed 90 degrees and the humidity was substantial.
Going into the race I tried my best to keep this in the back of my mind,
knowing that this being the first race of my season, the proclivity for me to
go out too hard and blow up would be high.
The swim at Cuse was a square with right turns. Based
on my strong performances in the swim last year I positioned myself at the
front of the age group, next to a dude that looked kinda like a fast swimmer.
The good news was I was right, but there was no way in hell I was going to stay
with him. Almost immediately from the gun a group of 3-4 guys jetted away from
me at a pace way faster than my body was ready to handle. My self-confidence
hurting, I focused on swimming strong and maneuvering around the gaggle of
swimmers from other age groups who had gone off before our wave. Why is it they
put the 20-40y old men at the back? As the swim progressed, I could tell the
long course training I’ve been doing was paying huge dividends. My arms never
seemed to fatigue, which was huge as we smashed into sizeable waves on the
return back to the beach. Exiting the water I wasn’t sure what to expect for a
time but I was glad to be on land and ready to chase.
Happy to not be swimming.
In triathlon every athlete hopes to have his or her
bike right next to the bike exit in transition. I need to get better at hoping.
After throwing on my new Louis
Garneau P-09 helmet, which looks totally bad ass, I hauled my bike to the
other side of transition. Flying
mount? Totally botched but at least rubber was still down. The first 2
miles of the bike course flew by, the next 10 did not as we climbed over 1,000
ft, which happens to be more than 60 miles in Muncie.
Being my first race of the year, I of course started to hard, pushing 280 for
20min. About 40 minutes in I began thinking back to a tremendous blow-up on the
run I had at Muncie two years ago and all of a sudden I was happy to back off
the pace. At mile 30 a rider came by me. Reeling him back in we traded legal
pulls for a while until he blasted a hill, escaping me for the remainder of the
race. Ive got to give it to him, he rode stronger than I did. Fortunately he’s
very active in the Boston triathlon scene and so I look forward to racing him
again. At mile 54 there was a “no exceeding 25mph zone” where I was again
passed by 3 people. I hope they realized they were disqualified before the
run....
I smile more when I run with my bike in my hand. Maybe I should just take it through the whole run course.
I always like to compare coming off the bike to
opening a present you didn’t ask for. You never really know how you are going
to feel about running until you take a few steps! While today I certainly
hadn’t received the keys to a new Ferrari, I was content with my old reliable
Volvo. The two-loop run course was hilly and unrelenting and offered little
protection from the baking sun. The day before the race I decided to purchase a
10 oz water bottle hand carrier and it may have been the smartest move I made
all weekend. The entire first loop of the run I just kept telling myself to
stay within myself, its all about the second loop. I feel fortunate that over
the years of racing I have trained myself to know where the fine line between
“racing hard and blowing up” is, and today was not a day to flirt with it. As I
rounded the turn of the first loop I passed Davis Frease, an incredibly
talented athlete in my age group who was currently sitting in second place but
had fallen victim to the heat. Focusing on keeping my legs turning over, at
mile 7 I was alarmed to feel that the sole of my right shoe (Adidas Adios) was
squirting out the back! Trying to come up with a solution I decided to ditch it
at the next aid station. Not sure why this happened, I would guess they got too
wet. Adidas was unfortunately not over supportive when I shared with them so I
have moved onto the Brooks Hyperion which I am loving. The next few miles my
slow-but-steady pacing paid off and I finished strong.
Overall:
4:37.44 (2nd place OA)
With two dudes who inspire me to get it done, every day.
Having had some time to reflect back on my
performance I am very happy with what I was able to accomplish. Although the
time was 33 minutes off my PR, the course + weather at Syracuse made for an
extremely challenging race that is not for the faint of heart. I was REALLY
hoping to have a break out run. I know I can run faster than I have been in the
70.3 distance and I’ve really been training hard to do so. That said, Cuse was
not the course to prove it. My racing schedule this year has been a little bit
flexible with the move but I am feeling good and have decided to enter a local
sprint next weekend with Bri before racing Musselman 70.3 in Lake Geneva the
next weekend. Big thanks to Team Every Man Jack and all of our wonderful
sponsors, and most of all, thanks to Bri and Ellie for your love and support.
Thanks for reading!
These two though.
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