Raced (#98) at Marlton yesterday: Very gratifying swim, effective though disappointing bike, honest though pretty mediocre run. As a result finished 3rd in the AG and 21st OA (around 380 in the race). I'm ok with it. Given my current run status I'm not going to beat guys of the calibre of Mick and Ira--so no surprises there. The reality is that I'm a full minute per mile slower than I was 2 years ago (when I was last IM serious). Part of me is pretty annoyed at this given I was setting course records in January of this year on my runs. The rational/non-ego part of me (admittedly the minority) recognizes that I had a perplexing injury this year and I am a long way from fully recovered--mostly a run phenom, but also a bike issue. That rational soul also worries about just a general age related getting slow.....but in the off season (soon!) we'll explore that question in detail.
Race night I went out with my youngest for a truly primo body-board session on Earl-leftovers....best session of the year! 90 minutes of constant kicking (lots of current) is not a recommended pre-run race thing but it was very, very fun--and so typical of the Jersey shore. After 3 months of living here you're sorta ready to head back to "real" life and then you get a transcendent evening like we had--primo waves, clams, soft-shells and then a roaring fire and great music and company.
I awoke this morning and did the Tim Kerr 7-mile Island running race (7 miles)--perhaps a little hung over. My modest goal is to do this race every year and beat 60 minutes for as long as I can--kinda my fitness canary in the coal mine thing. I ran easy and was happy to get through in 56 and change (and 2 minutes faster than last year)--this old horse is not over yet!
After the race i had agreed to a friendly ride with my old boss (Tatnall AD) and pal, Mark Ginn and a friend of his (female). Being old school I thought fine when he said they wanted to do 50 or so as i thought having a member of the fairer sex along would make it sane and despite all of the racing I'd be fine. I knew I was in trouble as I struggled to suck wheel at 23+ mph into the strong west headwind as we headed out from Avalon--jeez, I didn't know he was bringing Wonder Woman!
Suffice it to say, i had to bury my ego on several occassions as my legs were far to fried to hammer away with them. As it was, it was 52 miles at close to 19 mph with a lot of wind around. I was supposed to do a 2.4 mile swim TT today but decided to slide it to tomorrow because my legs were fried (part of it was a hydration thing....)
Anyways--my week totals were very modest (but I'm just trying to react honestly to how my body feels):
swim: 4400 yards
bike: 207 miles
run 21.4 miles
time: 16 hours
I have 2-2.5 more serious weeks of training before I enter taper-land (shimmering very attractively on the horizon!). Tri 99 next weekend. I'll file a race report this week for Marlton....
life is rich!
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