Fish Week

Second week of a 3-week "heavy" block.  I did a decent job this past week, although I'm clearly struggling to absorb the training load--my aging body is just recovering as quickly as it has in prior years.

I had a very big swim week, the biggest of the year, which included two IM distance OWS--one of which was the Cedat Island "5K" race yesterday in Avalon (more on that shortly).  My bike was solid with a mid week 108 mile ride.  My run suffered as my legs were still feeling the effects of last week's 40+ mile week.  I bagged my long run and cut my run rolume in half--I hope to pop it back up this week and will definitely fit a long run in.

Totals for this past week:

Swim: 14,800 yards
Bike: 277.5 miles
Run: 21.2 miles
Time: 23:22

A little more on the swim--here is the map of the Cedar Island Swim:

As I mentioned, I did the swim mid-week as part of our weekly OWS group, and then again as the race yesterday.  Yesterday, the conditions were considerably more challenging with a 20+ mph wind from the NE (pushing us through the first 3 quarter-mile splits and in our face  in 6-8 above.  Also, the race started at 7:45 and high tide was not until 8:02 and we really didn't get much help.  Here are some summary stats from the two swims:

Practice:  61:18 for 4,407 yards (2.50 miles).  Pace: 24:30/mile or 1:24/100.  Total strokes: 2,203. Avg. stroke length: 2.00 yps and average cadence: 35.9 spm.

Race: 62:41 for 4,251 yards (2.42 miles).  Pace: 25:58/mile or 1:28/100.  Total strokes: 2,277.  Avg. stroke length: 1.87 yps and average cadence: 36.3 spm.

The benefit of the tidal push for the practice swim is evident in the total time and the average stroke length.  I worked quite a bit harder in the race (subjectively) and that is reflected in the very high (for me) cadence of 36.3 spm.  This cadence is typical of a sprint race for me and I think is a testament to the great strides I've made in my swim endurance this year.

Looking at the splits yields a little more light on how the conditions affected each swim:

Quarters 1-3

Practice: 6:16, 6:15, 7:41
Race: 6:25, 5:37, 5:36

I was 2:05 faster in the race through 3/4 of a mile.  This is in-part a function of my effort and in-part a function of the waves pushing me a lon during this segment.

Quarters 4-5

Practice: 6:55, 7:14
Race: 6:38, 6:32

I was 59 seconds faster through this half-mile section.  Here there was no impact from the tides or the wind and I think this best shows my harder effort during the race.

Quarters 6-8

Here is where the tide helped the practice and the wind/waves hurt the race:

Practice: 5:33, 5:47, 5:33
Race: 7:25, 6:57, 7:09

I lost 4:38 vs the practice swim.  (During the practice swim I took 589 strokes over this 3/4 mile segment and in the race I took 771--a 30% increase!)

Quarters 9-10

Practice: 5:03, 5:33
Race: 7:09, 6:15

This last section is where the tidal effect is greatest and my practice swim was 3:24 faster for this half-mile.

All-in-all, I'm very pleased with my race (and my swim).  I think I'm in 63 minute or so IM shape (with a wetsuit), which is very good for me.  I finished 39th overall (150 entrants) and did comparably well vs. some other folks who have served as swim benchmarks for me through the years.

Thanks to Jimmy Moore for this picture (I'm in the Roka):

last week and looking ahead

Pretty solid training week last week with the emphasis on my run:

swim: 9,500 yards
bike: 250.1 miles
run: 42.2 miles
time: 23:55

At this point we are 55 days out from Kona.  Given everything going on, I've decided to bag racing triathlons until then and focus principally on training.  I plan to go pretty hard the next two weeks and then during the first week of September, have a bit of a consolidation week.  I also plan on doing the National Aquabike Championship in Ohio (1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike).  I'll then go hard again  until about the 24th or 25th of September when I'll start my taper for Kona....

Back at the beach

Epic weekend at our family wedding.  Not much training time afforded, especially given no bike access for 4 days.  Still, a good thing as my bod was crushed post big training block and the NYC triathlon.  I finally felt "normal"--generally not a good adjective to describe me--today on my run.

In any event, I had at the very least, an unavoidable recovery week, and most likely, an overdue recovery week:

Swim: 8350 yards
Bike: 99.8 miles
Run: 27.1 miles
time: 12:20

Back on it now!

Chillin' post NYC triathlon

I did the NYC Olympic tri last weekend.  Always wanted to do that one from an experience point of view and I needed to shake the race rust off after not racing for 6 weeks.

My expectations were modest given the very heavy training load of the prior 4 weeks--especially the last two weeks before the race.  I wanted to do a 2:30 and finish in the top 10% of my Age Group.  As it turned out, I did a 2:30:06 and finished 15th out of 130 so pretty close.  I had an exceptionally good swim for me finishing 91st OA out of about 3500 triathletes.  My bike and run were sluggish as expected as my legs were deeply fatigued coming into the race.

Still, a great experience and money in the bank from a training perspective.  Post race my legs are fried and my body told me it was time for a recovery and consolidation week, which with the family wedding this weekend works well.  So just doing some easy training this week (probably 12-15 hours) and then I'll get back into next week.

I'll post an NYC race report over the course of the next few days...