Becoming Timberman

On the day my wife started her own blog, (probably mostly to talk about the horrors of having to live with me), I am drawing a complete blank as to a blog topic for today. I’m guessing it’s mostly because of all the focus we have on next week right now. So here are the little tidbits i’ve got, do with them what you will:

- We leave for London and Paris on Monday. If any of you lovely readers have been (or live) there, I’d love any tips on things to do, places to go, that are off the beaten tourist path. Any place a reader points out that we wind up going will definitely get a picture on the blog.

- I ran 3 1/2 miles yesterday, with only a quick stop for a water break after 2 miles. Notice, I say ran. Gone are the days of walking, at least for any distance under 4 miles. Rach stayed with me the whole time and pointed out that in the last mile, my running was almost as slow as my fast walking. Maybe so, but I still was running and not walking. Stamina will improve.

- After using and liking Runkeeper for a while, I’m giving SportyPal a try as the GPS workout tracker of choice on my Nexus One Android phone. I should have enough experience with it by Saturday or Sunday to do a comparative review of the two products.

- 25 miles scheduled for the bike tonight. Going to head into the hills and make this one hurt since it’s one of the last few times I’ll get to ride my bike for a while.

- 311 this morning. It’s going down, but boy is 310 taking FOREVER to get here.

In a time based sport, it’s relatively easy to measure your progress over time. With proper training, your times should decrease in all 3 phases of triathlon. But how about in between races, during the day to day grind that is the most difficult part of the effort it takes to make that progress? When you don’t have anything immediately on the line, how do you realize the differences in your training? For me, yesterday, it was about seeing what i was capable of on a day I felt like crap.

I woke up yesterday feeling just awful. Occasionally, I deal with bouts of insomnia, and the past couple nights I’ve had it in spades. Up til 2 am, sleeping poorly, and up at 7 to talk about software testing with people who are in Sri Lanka. Not an ideal time to be not feeling well, especially just a week before the honeymoon. Fortunately I started feeling better as the day went on, so when it was time for Rach to head to the pool, I joined her for a 2100 yard workout. Plus I figured if the workout didn’t go well, I could always just go sit in the hot tub.

I was surprised by how much energy I had when I got in the pool, and I got through the 400 yd freestyle warm up pretty quick. Evidently, that burnt up a lot of my reserves, as the next 800 using a pull buoy felt like it took forever. The pull buoy was followed by 800 freestyle, during which I started to feel better. So much better in fact that I finished only 150 yards behind Rach. The last 100 was breaststroke, and when I was done with that, and got out, I saw that I had completed the full workout in just under an hour.

I didn’t feel strong or fast, and yet I managed to do a similar distance to the Timberman swim and had more than 10 minutes left prior to the time cutoff. Sure it was in a pool, in a non-pressure, non-hectic situation, but balancing that out with how my body felt, and I think it was quite the accomplishment for just some random Monday.  (note to self: why do I always find ways to caveat when I have a really good workout? Answer: probably because I’m afraid to raise the bar for myself in regards to what my expectations and goals should be).

Anyways, it felt good to see such a strong result. It doesn’t always work that way but it’s nice when it does.

Notes:

- A week from today this blog will become a travelogue of our honeymoon. We fly out on July 5th and back on the 12th. Hopefully lots of great pictures of our adventures. Plus, it gives me a way to capture what i was thinking and feeling so years from now I’ll be able to look back on the trip and remember factually the details in comparison to what my swiss cheese like brain remembers.

- My wife rocks. She sent me the training plan for July and even remembered to think about the limitations of the smallish workout rooms at our hotels. We’re alternating biking and running and making sure we both aren’t trying to use the same machines at the same time.

- Consider this fair warning: I’ll be talking a lot about the Tour de France during the honeymoon, especially once we reach Paris. If you’re planning on watching delayed coverage in the states, you might want to be careful when you read the blog. I won’t be holding back, but I will warn you when I’m about to pop into talk about the best bike race in the world.

I would like to take a second to thank members of bike forums, beginner triathlete, my Facebook friends, twitter followers, and of course any of the Becoming Timberman readers who voted for my entry in the most recent USA Triathlon photo caption contest. To all of you I say thank you very much for the fantastic new gear. Here’s a pic of me on the way home from Saturday’s ride sporting the awesome Rudy Project Zuma helmet and Noyz sunglasses.

Don’t be afraid of the guy in shades, oh no.

I did not take this picture

In 2008, I worked at BMW Financial Services in Dublin, Ohio. That spring, the company sponsored a 5k to benefit the local YMCA. I did that race more to be with friends than to add a race to my calendar. I was just starting my spring training at that point, and wasn’t really looking to set a good time on the course. Races are always more fun when you have people to do it with or talk about it with after. Especially at BMW where a good many of my friends are long distance runners, and some are now even getting into triathlons.

Yesterday was another rough day. Long day at the office, and while i didn’t eat as a bad as I had on Tuesday, my insomnia fueled 2 AM snack didn’t go well with the bottom line. 314 on the scale this morning was not the kind of thing I was happy to wake up to.

I want to thank the readers that responded (both publicly and privately) to yesterdays frustration laced post with reassurance and encouragement. It’s not like I’ve been gaining weight (until last night anyways) or not exercising. I just got this sudden feeling of being overwhelmed and didn’t see any of those things going away any time soon.

I am taking some of the advice from the users who responded:

1. I’ve come way too far to let a rough few days get me down. Usually, there’s a post-race “high” that comes off having put another goal to bed, especially one like this last race where the training I’ve been doing reflected in the race. This time, there was sort of an emotional crash because the race was followed by so much stress, and we didn’t really have time to take a few days to take it easy. I guess taking it easy will happen in October.

2. Adjusting my goals. While we’re doing 4 more races between now and the end of September, only one of those races really requires me to be at my absolute best (Timberman). The next race, the MA State triathlon is a chance to get feedback on our longer training sessions and get us used to longer distance races. While I’ll still set goals, and do my best on that day, I am not going to get all caught up in performance. You can only be in peak condition so many times in a season. As long as my times come back at or under what I’d need to do to finish Timberman, I’ll be happy. The race following Timberman we’re doing as part of the regional club championship, so I want to do well, but finishing is what matters. Finally, there’s a month between the club championship and my last race of the year. That should give me plenty of time to rest up and prepare, with my primary goal just to beat last years time.

3. Enjoy myself. I’ve been putting a lot of stress on myself about not just my goals but my training as well. Sometimes you just have to have fun with it. I really enjoy swimming, and I find it’s a terrific workout that doesn’t always feel like I’m working. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being on my bike, and if it weren’t for the fact that the shower is currently broken at work, I’d ride to work a ton. It’s a great way to wake up, and I like doing it even when we have other morning workouts. I still suck at running, and I hate that I haven’t made more progress. The only thing I can do there is keep on my weight loss and training, because getting lighter and stronger will make me faster.

Those are the three biggest things that I took from what folks had to say, and I really will take them to heart. It will help me think about how I want to look at things when I don’t perform to the level I think I’m capable of. I am going to use these thoughts along with my past accomplishments to become defiant to the negative thoughts and pressures of the day and not let them affect my long term goals or happiness.

Notes:

- The Chase Corporate Challenge is today. It’s a 3.5 mile run/walk made up of employees from a bunch of different companies. There are over 10,000 people doing the race today, and the weather will be either hot and humid or thunderstorms. Probably some combination of both. The nice thing about this race is that to get ready all I have to do is go home, get my workout stuff on, and walk about a mile to the east as the race takes place right in my neighborhood. So I’ve got that going for me. Plus a bunch of folks from the office are participating, so they’ll get to meet Rach and we’ll have some fun together.

- Last night amongst the other comments and emails I got about my recent posts, I heard from John Y, or as you may know him from my race recap as “The Little Guy”. Apparently, I misused the term midget in describing him, and he asked if I could use the correct term. Of course I was more than happy to make the change for him. My whole intent in pointing out his performance on the bike was to highlight one thing: A person who falls outside the “norm” when it comes to a sport shouldn’t feel like they can’t or shouldn’t compete.
   Being fat is something that happened to me through my own choices, but I am still judged differently than other competitors. At least once a week, I hear a derisive remark during training as to what I’m doing (This weeks was the simple “Fat guys shouldn’t wear spandex”), so I can only imagine what folks who have other more significant differences from the norm go through. John is truly a class act on and off the course, and should serve as an inspiration for people not letting what some perceive as limitations get in the way of achieving his athletic goals. You can read his ongoing story at http://teamcompmightyjy.blogspot.com/. I’ve added his blog to the Readers that Write section as well.

- Haven’t had a chance to get photos of the new Rudy Project gear I won in the contest, but I definitely will this weekend prior to our big ride.

Too much work: We’ve had a big surge of projects all at the same time in various states, all requiring a good amount of work from me. I’ve worked 12+ hours each of the past 2 days, and that looks likely to continue through tomorrow.

In the world of triathlons, I still consider myself somewhat of a beginner. While i’m about halfway through my second season, I’ve never done a race longer than a sprint and I’ve only done 6 races so far. I’ve learned a lot, but I have a lot still left to learn.

One of the things I have down pretty well though is what to do AFTER the race is over. There’s the obligatory post-race snacks and sitting in the coolest place I can find. Following that there’s usually an awards presentation and prize giveaway. Finally, it’s time to pack up and hit the road for home, or in our case this past weekend, the road for Cape Cod. Usually we spend the afternoon following a race cuddled up unconscious in bed followed by a rather large meal, but seeing the Cape was just too good of an opportunity for us to pass up.

As I mentioned in yesterdays rather long (sorry bout that, btw) race recap, our race was about 45 minutes from the entry out onto the the cape. I had decided the night before as we played mini-golf in front of one of the few remaining “duck pin” bowling alleys in Massachusetts, that we were going to explore some of the Cape following the race.

Not really knowing what we were looking for, we drove east until we started seeing the signs of being on Cape Cod; namely expensive houses, expensive boats, beaches, seafood restaurants, and of course tourist traps about every 100 yards up and down the coast. I saw at least 3 world class mini-golf establishments, several go-kart tracks and even a strange place with a bunch of trampolines set into the ground for kids to jump on like an ultra-cheap inflatable ride.

We decided on Hyannis as our primary stop because it’s one of the two towns I was familiar with (the other being Provincetown which was WAY too far to drive with only most of a day to explore) and because we could find their beaches on the map. Plus we were determined to eat at the beach before we enjoyed some sun and surf.

We wound up at Veteran’s Beach on Lewis Bay, not far from the Kennedy Compound. After some highbrow fair (cheeseburger, fries, and a Pepsi), we hit the water. In order to keep my pledge of not exposing myself shirtless on this blog until I weigh roughly less than 1 Rosie O’Donnell, below is a shot of the gorgeous beach before we hit the water.

None of these boats are mine… yet.

The sun our on skin felt good, but not nearly as good as the cool ocean water felt to my sore legs. I could definitely feel the results of having pounded out a good strong ride in my quads in particular, so I made sure to wade up to my waist.

Once we left the beach, it was time for some shopping and exploring throughout town. It’s amazing how much Hyannis feels like small town America, with Main Streets blend of boutique shops and tourist kitsch, considering the nearby presence of the ultra-wealthy. The fact that a train excursion and Cape Cod league games go on all summer long provide a pretty strong juxtaposition to the mega-houses and giant boats that can be seen at many of the harbors.

I have a personal fondness for lighthouses, so after getting directions at the JFK Museum, we headed up to Chatham to see a real working lighthouse and another beach. Off we went to Chatham, passing through a handful of smaller towns similar in makeup to Hyannis but not quite as regal or well known.   The feel of classic Americana was everywhere; we even passed two A&W Restaurants on the way, which are fairly rare in these parts.

The beach in Chatham is just across the street from the lighthouse, and is truly breathtaking. It’s so easy to see why the folks with the money are willing to spend it to have a home in these seaside towns. The water is cool, the sand isn’t too hot to walk barefoot, and just two beaches over lives a seal colony. It’s picturesque New England at its finest.

Chatham Light from Chatham Lighthouse Beach

I couldn’t resist the lure of the cool water on my legs again

The one tough thing about racing as part of a weight loss regimen is that following the race, your metabolism is so ramped up that you’re starving almost all day, and no amount of caloric intake feels like enough. Race day is also a day when all bets are off in terms of the contents of our meals, so when we made our way back down the cape, we decided on a visit to the more authentic looking A&W.

For being such a small person, Rach loves her food. She craves seafood on a nearly 24/7 basis, and isn’t afraid to sit down to a plate of friend food, especially if it features shrimp and Wisconsin Cheese.

I ran faster than Benny, and I’m gonna eat faster too!

One word of caution; I don’t recommend asking her if you can try a bite of her dinner. It doesn’t usually end well, especially when you do it mid-bite.

Do not get between this lady and her Shrimp roll

“Is this heaven?”

It’s the liquid equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter

This is one triathlon post-race that will be tough to top. Maybe we can work up something special for Timberman.

The perfect day: Me, my girl, the beach, and my new Rudy Project shades

Notes:

- I unboxed that package from USA Triathlon Saturday, and my prizes were indeed inside. Pictures tomorrow, and I have to say it’s some nice stuff. A small snafu with the helmet but nothing I can’t handle.

- The Chase Corporate Challenge is a mere 2 days away and my legs still aren’t back from Saturday’s race. It’s a 3 1/2 mile run with a couple hills along the way. I did 4 miles Monday night, and I’m definitely thinking I’ll need to take a full day off on Wednesday to rest up.

- We’re going to try to sign up for the Massachusetts State Triathlon sometime this week. It’s our first Olympic and comes a month prior to Timberman. It’s the ideal gauge of our improved fitness and to see what sort of time we can muster. The swim is only 500 yards or so short of Timberman, and the bike and run come in at about half the 70.3 distances. It falls the week after the honeymoon, so it’s a good way to help keep us in line while we’re in Europe.

We went back and checked into our hotel about 20 minutes from the race. Another race, another Quality Inn stay. I’m always looking for a nice place on a budget, and chains are safer bets than mom and pop places. After a relaxing game of mini-golf at the amusement center across the street, it was time for final prep and an early bed. Waking up at 5 AM is a lot easier when you’ve had enough sleep.

Race day morning the weather was gorgeous. 60 degrees at 6 AM, with just the right amount of sunshine to start the day. A quick breakfast of Gatorade and a blueberry Clif Bar, and we were off to the site. Unlike some races I’ve done, Cathedral Camp has plenty of parking on site, so getting there and getting settled in was a piece of cake.

We set up in transition and Rach got into her wetsuit before we headed over to the swim start. Based on the announced water temperature (74 degrees) and the heat we would be facing later in the race; I decided to do without my wetsuit. After a barely audible national anthem over the loudspeakers and a too loud musket salute, the race started.

My wave was the second into the water. The swim course was 1/4 mile rectangular counterclockwise swim. My wave was pretty big, with the Clydesdale’s and all of the age group men released together. One interesting thing I noticed was a height-challenged person (whom I will refer to affectionately as “The Little Guy” going forward) standing among the rest of us guys waiting to hit the water. I found a spot to the right of the main bunch and took off at the gun. I mostly managed to avoid the scrum of the start and with the faster women coming behind me, I wanted to make sure to make the first buoy and turn before I started getting swam over. I made the turn wide to avoid the hard charging women, which cost me a little time. But it was worth it to avoid most of the traffic as the women in Rach’s group were coming up on us pretty quick.

The next 200 yards ran parallel to the shore and went pretty well, except for the guy who swam a fairly quick backstroke, in nothing resembling a straight line. He kept crossing in front of me, and I kept having to avoid getting kicked in the face. Eventually, I just put my head down and passed him and a couple of others before the 2nd buoy.

I made second and final turn feeling strong as I headed towards shore. I passed a couple more folks and I turned to look back as I got out of the water and I saw a mix of yellow and green caps behind me so I knew wasn’t last out for my wave. There was no clock at the swim exit, so I just prayed what felt like a good swim was a good swim.  Rach’s bike was still there, so I knew she hadn’t passed me and I just hoped she was doing ok after last race’s swim. My swim to bike transitions have been a bit longer since I got the cycling shoes but it’s still worth it. I didn’t have my smoothest overall changeover, and running in the cycling shoes doesn’t work very well. I can cut a couple minutes off my transition by learning how to get into the shoes while they’re attached to the bike.

I had a little dread as I hopped on the bike and took off. I knew there would a bunch of hills and I was remembering what I went through last race. So I figured the best way to confront those fears was head on. The minute I got off the driveway where the course started and onto the main road, I started hammering as hard as I could. I wasn’t in the big ring, but I took a strong rear gear in the middle ring, and went for it.

I could feel a difference almost immediately between this race and the Season Opener. While I had expended less energy to get through the swim, I also was feeling a lot stronger on the climbs, so much stronger that I didn’t have to stop, or even use my easiest rear gear except on the final really long climb. I managed to pass several people on the bike, but the last couple hills took a good bunch out of me and a few people came back to pass me including “The Little Guy”. We went back and forth for a few minutes before he finally pulled ahead as I climbed the last hill.

Being beat by a dwarf on a children’s mountain bike (admittedly one I later learned was enhanced with more than $1000 worth of enhancements including racing wheels) probably would bother a lot of people. But I have experience at losing to the differently able. My father and I once got beat at golf by a one armed man in his 60′s. He beat us by more than a few strokes, for that matter. This happened about 5 or 6 years ago back in Columbus, and it was the day in my life where I truly learned it isn’t the size (or number of arms) of the person in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the person.

I followed “The Little Guy” into transition, and I didn’t see Rach’s bike when I came in, so I knew she’d made it out of the water and onto the bike course. She hadn’t passed me, which means I had managed to hold her off a little longer this race. Just enough to finish the bike it seemed, as she came into transition less than a minute behind me. I was glad to see her race going well, and as I didn’t get a chance to activate my GPS, I had no idea how fast I’d done the bike, but she’d clearly done it at least a little faster than I did.

Of course, a little faster on the bike would turn into a lot faster on the run as Rach significantly out classes me in the third discipline. I caught up with “The Little Guy” on the way out of the transition, and told him I did everything I could to catch him on the bike but couldn’t get it done. I told him we’d probably be seeing a lot of each other on the run, to which he replied “We’ll see, but I’m a walker so maybe not”. Remembering not that long ago when I too could only walk the 5k, I wished him luck and started jogging.

There’s a triathlon training process I’ve talked about a couple times called a “brick”. Bricks where you  bike for a while at a high level of effort, and then get off the bike and immediately start running. This drill prepares you for the very uncomfortable feeling of going from a hard bike to a run (the b in brick stands for bike, the r stands for run, the ick stands for the feeling you get when you do it). Clearly, I haven’t done enough of these as it took me a good couple minutes to get moving beyond a decent walk.

The run started on a grass trail which I’m not used to, but it soon moved back out to the road. A disinterested course marshal led several of the race leaders to miss a turn on the course. I didn’t learn this til later, but I did see her texting away while seated in her car at a mostly unmarked intersection. Thankfully, I was following someone who seemed to know where they were going and had seen the couple of arrows drawn on the road.

The run course was hillier than I expected, and that hit my time a little bit, but frankly I gave close to my all on the bike, so the fact that I was a little slower than I had hoped on the run was to be expected. Further, there was no aid station at mile 2 (as had been planned for) which coincided with the breeze dying and the temperature rising. In addition, the big hill on the bike was present at the end of the run as well.

By the time the run came around, I had grabbed my phone and set up the GPS so I knew my run was going to be about 2 mins/mile over my goal. I wound up finishing the run at 58:50, which means I missed my goal by almost 9 minutes for that stage. Plus, when I crossed the finish line, it read 2:14:59. With the 3 minutes delay before my wave hit, my final time was 2:11:59. That means I miss my goal by 12 minutes.

That is one good lookin’ dude.

Rach hates to see me love, but she loves to watch me go

So what could I have improved on to meet my goals? Let’s look at the splits.

To start, I had almost 8 total minutes in transition. Most of that is due to getting in and out of the bike shoes. Prior to adding the bike shoes to the mix, my transitions were much quicker. So, my goal before Timberman (where transitions can make a huge difference) will be to get into the bike shoes while they’re attached to the bike. I can also save a few seconds by adding special speed laces (that I already own) to my running shoes that you just tighten and go as opposed to tying.

Swim: 11:53
I was mostly happy with my swim. This wasn’t a record setting effort for me, but it was my best race swim yet. With us regularly swimming at distance, if I can average this speed for the full distance at Timberman, I’ll make the cutoff. So now, the effort is on becoming more endurant (a new word I invented), and increasing my speed through training.

Bike: 53:35
On the bike, I have to admit I was absolutely thrilled with this ride as it was going on. And when I found out I missed my goal by only 3:35 even with the hillier ride, I was really excited to find that out afterwards. I didn’t once stop to walk up a hill or even to rest. I recuperated on downhills, I used the appropriate gears on hills, and while I know I had slowed some by the end, I was significantly improved in my climbing and my cardio. To improve, I just need to keep getting hill training and keep adding miles. Our training rides could have been a bit longer to prepare for this distance. Our upcoming scheduled rides already account for increased distances.

Run: 58:50
This continues to be my weakness. i was better prepared this race, and it shows that I still had enough gas to average a sub-15 minute mile even after a longer, more difficult race. This is the area I can improve the most through training, so I’m really going to continue to focus.

In all, I’m actually pretty happy with this race. 2 of the 3 disciplines I missed my goal by a combined 5 minutes. As for the running… well I still suck at that, but I’m getting better. Plus I now have a nice view in my cube today.

Yes, that is quite a lot of bling.

Notes:

- Tomorrow I’m going to step off the beaten path and talk about what we do on race weekend when we’re not racing.

- I had a couple of packages waiting for me in the mail on Saturday, and I’ll talk about that later this week as well.

- No rest for the wicked; the Chase Corporate Challenge is Thursday evening. 3.5 miles in downtown Boston. Back to training today and tomorrow before a little light swimming Wednesday so I can get at least a little rest prior to the run.

- Finally, even though Father’s Day 2010 (in the US) wasn’t until today, I spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about my dad, both during and after the race. Hard work, dedication, sacrifice; all the things it takes to be successful at triathlon (and weight loss) are values my father has represented his whole life. He spent long days working an assembly line so I could have the tennis shoes I wanted, or a new trombone. Later he paid for a year of college I squandered and gave me a car I let the engine give out on. I didn’t realize how he could enjoy the manual labor at the plant until I started working on bicycles. I have always loved and appreciated my father, but I haven’t always appreciated exactly what it took from him to get me where I am today. I am truly lucky and blessed to have such an amazing dad, and it was for him I ran on Saturday.

So, here we are the day before another race. All that fear and anxiety is turning into eagerness to race. No training tonight, just the preparation of checking into the hotel, driving the bike course, and picking up our packets. I’m already (over) packed for the trip. I installed Rach’s bike computer last night and looking at the usual last minute maintenance.

We swam last night as a final workout. 1000 yards, and I turned the first 400 into a measuring stick. I did 400 yards in a nice quick 9:30, including 20 seconds to fix a goggles problem. I did the remaining 600 at a pretty relaxed pace, and still finished under 30 minutes.

The Minuteman sprint triathlon is comprised of a 1/4 mile swim, a 14 mile bike, and a 4 mile run.  I’ve done triathlons of similar length last season, with the exception of the 4 mile run being longer than the run distance in previous races. We’ve trained to handle all these distances though, so I’ll be within my range on all of them, with only the run causing any concern.

So now it’s about setting goals for this race. Each of these smaller races is a stepping stone to Timberman, so setting and meeting a goal in each is important. Obviously, I had a fairly disastrous Season Opener, but those conditions were a unique situation, and not one that could easily be planned for. And it still wasn’t my slowest race at those distances. All the more reason I want challenging but realistic goals for this race.

The swim: 1/4 mile is about 437 yards, and if I can do 400 yards in 9:30, I can do 437 in 10 minutes. That’s a challenging but not unreachable goal, especially if everything goes to plan.

The bike: On a mostly flat but windy course, I did a 12.5 mile bike in 53 minutes last year at Maumee Bay. I followed that up with a 40 minute, 10 mile effort at Nantasket Beach in rainy windy conditions. My cycling has improved quite a bit this year, but climbing is still a concern. If the roads are mostly flat, I believe I can easily do a sub-50 minute ride. If there’s more climbing than I expect, then perhaps it’ll be closer to an hour. Regardless, this ride will be less than an hour.

The run: So it comes down to this event every time. In every race I’ve done, I’ve passed at least one person on the swim and bike, only to have them get time back against me in the run. My running still is my worst discipline, but I’m slowly getting stronger. 4 miles at the back of a triathlon will be tiring, but I think it’s less of an issue than when it’s a stand alone run. My best miles of late have been around 12 minutes, but i can’t yet sustain that across 4 miles. I’m averaging around 13:30 per mile, but that’s not good enough. I’m going to shoot for 12:30 on every mile, and do a 50 minute run. It means I have to be 10 minutes faster than everyone else in the bike to have a shot at the podium, but I think I might be able to do this if I pace myself properly.

There are guys in the Clydesdale division. I’m shooting for 3rd, but will happy with 4th or better. Several of our teammates, as well as a guy I know from Bike Forums will be at the race, and I plan on taking some pictures while we’re there.

Finally thanks to everyone for the good luck sent in yesterdays comments.

This morning I was thinking about all the fears I listed yesterday and how as as each race gets closer the general fears I talked about yesterday kind of merge into a form of multifaceted general pre-race anxiety that I’m used to dealing with. Can we get out of Boston in time to get through traffic and get our packets before 7? Can we find the hotel ok? Will we remember to pack everything? Lot’s of variables to take into account, but we’ll be smart, we’ll plan, and we’ll be prepared. 


My head cold caused me all kinds of consternation yesterday. The sinus pressure built until it was actually painful, so when I went ahead and took some WADA authorized nasal decongestant and ibuprofen I felt a lot better. Unfortunately, the combination of meds kept me awake until 2 AM. Thankfully I still managed close to my normal 5-6 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make getting up at 5:30 on Saturday any easier. I’m hoping a short swim and run tonight will tire me out enough so I’ll hit the rack early. I have a 7:30 call for work tomorrow, which should help get me on schedule for the race.


As I’ve mentioned previously, doing these races with Rach gives me extra worries. She’s a more capable athlete than I am, but I worry for her none the less. Her swim at the Season Opener left her feeling less confident about her swim capabilities, so to counteract this we bought her a wetsuit last night. We went into Fast Splits Multisport of West Newton, MA with the idea of renting her the same suit she wore last time. We spoke to the owner about a wetsuit lease to purchase option he’d been kicking around, but he just wasn’t prepared for that process yet. 


Instead, he went digging though his used suits and gave Rach 5 options that fit into our limited pre-honeymoon budget. All showed wear and tear, and some even had some un-repaired damage. In the end, only one fit, and it was the one most like the suit she would have rented. it had some minor shoulder repairs but no open holes and is the fit Rachelle is used to. It’s in better shape than the one she was to rent, especially for the price. It wound up costing us only a few dollars more than it would have cost her to rent a suit for the 3 triathlons remaining on her schedule. Plus she can practice with it every week from here on out. I’ll post pictures of her in it from the race on Saturday.


As for me, one of the race directors posted on Beginner Triathlete this morning that the mini heat wave we’ll be experiencing these next couple days should raise the water temperature as high as the mid 70′s. Even in the high 60′s for such a short swim, I expect I’ll go without my suit. It’s getting too big on me to begin with, and for a swim that short, and speed advantage I’d gain swimming with it on would be lost in trying to get it off during transition.


We don’t know anything about this course other than what’s on the website, and they don’t give a lot of details. I’m hoping we get there early enough tomorrow to explore the course a little bit and mentally prepare for the ride.


I’m just hoping the new helmet and sunglasses show up before we leave tomorrow so I can use them this weekend.