My first year of participating in 140.6 is over! This years schedule included Muskoka 70.3, IMMT, and finished with IMAZ.
Muskoka's hills were killer, and honest whooped my ass. (This was also my first race with a PM). I took the recommendation from a couple guys on here to get a 11-32 cassette for the upcoming IMMT. IMMT was my first 140.6, I finished in ~13:55... I was happy to finish. The time between MT and AZ I trained my ass off, I was determined to do better... which leads to IMAZ!
At IMMT I brought my entire family to see my suffering! This time I was 100% solo, not having a Sherpa to help out does add a little stress on the days leading up to the race, there wasn't anyone to help with my bags, I had walk 2 miles to the park so I could pick up my bike from TBT, and walk back the 2 miles after dropping the bike off Saturday. Having someone to drop me off/pick me up would've been nice, but on the other hand I didn't have to worry about entertaining anyone else during the days leading up to the race, I was doing a lot of napping and sitting around a pool!
Saturday I drove down for practice swim and dropped off my run bag, the water was chilly at first but felt great at the end. I drove back to pick up my bike and ride it down. I rack my bike and give it one last look over, and there it was... I have no idea how I noticed it, but there was a very small tear on my rear GP4000, the tear was 1-2mm tiny, it was in one of the grooves, the sun hit it just right to be seen....I stared at it for a couple minutes and decided to take the wheel off and let the tech look at it. I took it to Velo bike and they were more than happy to suggest I buy a new tire, awesome. So a quick tire swap and I was done for the day, after I had to walk back :)
Sunday. Up at 3:30. Coffee, turkey and hummus on a everything bagel for breakfast, a bottle tailwind. The drive to the "giant parking garage that'll fit everyone, and is FREE before 7am!", according to Ziebart at the athlete briefing, traffic was backed up big time. I sat in traffic for 45 minutes before I bailed and parked at a different garage.... As I walked past the "big and free garage" they were stopping every car at the entrance collecting money... I'm slightly stressed at this point it's 5:30-5:45 at this point.... luckily Porta John lines weren't bad, meorning clothes drop off was easy, and special needs was easy... time to line up!
I swam 1:45 at IMMT this year, and it was a terrible experience. The wave start there had me in the first wave after the pros, I seriously got my ass kicked for two straight miles... I seeded myself at the 1:40 area... I have been working really hard on my swimming since MT, and after reading on here about everyone hating this swim start, I expected another demoralizing swim.... Orher than ZERO visibility in the water and some mild bumping, I had tons of open water! I was actually catching packs and navagating around them! Also the bridges were pretty cool, it gave a cool point of reference for the entire swim, it broke the swim up nicely! As I approach the stairs a volunteer grabs a arm and I try to stand, I try taking one step and bit it hard.. I landed directly on my Garmin 920's clasp, while I finally get out I'm looking at my watch trying to see if it was broke(it was) I saw 1:24 for my swim! I crushed it! 21 minute improvement! And I had to stuff my watch into my tri top pocket.
Bike. 7:05 in the torrential rain at MT this year.... I was really let down by that time, so I busted my ass on the indoor trainer using trainer road, I was determined to improve my bike strength. My power meter took a shit in the rain at MT, so this was my first full with having a good NP target. I have a 210 FTP (probably higher, I never wanted to dedicate a training day to doing a retest... once I recover I'm going to get a good retest) so I was targeting 145w np.... I stopped at special needs on the second lap, I tore half of my turkey and hummus bagel and put the other half back in the bag expecting to pick up the other half on the third lap.... that whole third lap I was looking forward to getting that sandwich, but apparently we only had one shot at those bags and they threw my bag away after the first time I stopped in... I was let down, but I'm sure it was my fault, I should've known. In and off the bike in 6:22! 43 minute improvement!
Run: my running training leading up to AZ wasn't going great, it seemed that life was getting in the way of my long runs, so if I was going to have issues, the run would be were they would be. I started my run knowing I was ~1:05:00 ahead of my MT time, man I felt good! So of course I went out too hard haha. About 4 miles (I think that's where we ran back past transition) I looked across the water and felt defeated, that was a long way to go just to get to the other side! I kept pushing on, I started to barter with myself, I told myself that I wouldn't walk until the halfway point, and then I'll do some math to figure out some kind of run/walk.... I got to run special needs and got out a long sleeved tech shirt, this made me so much more comfortable, it kept me warm, previously my body temp felt like it was swinging. i decided to push back the run/walk for a little longer, my legs were screaming but my HR was fine. I forced myself to continue running aid station to aid station, and by mile 20 I knew that I wasn't going to walk, I didn't want to finish knowing I could be done better... my legs were numb by this point anyway... I just kept moving. At mile 25 my watch had me at 12:15... I knew I was going to get a 12:30 finish. My run time was 4:30. 20min faster than MT!
Finish 12:31:59!
A 1:24:xx improvement!
I'm obviously stoked about my day! But, now what?!? I gave this race 100%. That was such a huge improvement, how am I going to beat that?! I am signed up for Chat 70.3 in may and IMWI 2017, and I'm thinking about doing IM Cozumel for a little vacation next year.
Muskoka's hills were killer, and honest whooped my ass. (This was also my first race with a PM). I took the recommendation from a couple guys on here to get a 11-32 cassette for the upcoming IMMT. IMMT was my first 140.6, I finished in ~13:55... I was happy to finish. The time between MT and AZ I trained my ass off, I was determined to do better... which leads to IMAZ!
At IMMT I brought my entire family to see my suffering! This time I was 100% solo, not having a Sherpa to help out does add a little stress on the days leading up to the race, there wasn't anyone to help with my bags, I had walk 2 miles to the park so I could pick up my bike from TBT, and walk back the 2 miles after dropping the bike off Saturday. Having someone to drop me off/pick me up would've been nice, but on the other hand I didn't have to worry about entertaining anyone else during the days leading up to the race, I was doing a lot of napping and sitting around a pool!
Saturday I drove down for practice swim and dropped off my run bag, the water was chilly at first but felt great at the end. I drove back to pick up my bike and ride it down. I rack my bike and give it one last look over, and there it was... I have no idea how I noticed it, but there was a very small tear on my rear GP4000, the tear was 1-2mm tiny, it was in one of the grooves, the sun hit it just right to be seen....I stared at it for a couple minutes and decided to take the wheel off and let the tech look at it. I took it to Velo bike and they were more than happy to suggest I buy a new tire, awesome. So a quick tire swap and I was done for the day, after I had to walk back :)
Sunday. Up at 3:30. Coffee, turkey and hummus on a everything bagel for breakfast, a bottle tailwind. The drive to the "giant parking garage that'll fit everyone, and is FREE before 7am!", according to Ziebart at the athlete briefing, traffic was backed up big time. I sat in traffic for 45 minutes before I bailed and parked at a different garage.... As I walked past the "big and free garage" they were stopping every car at the entrance collecting money... I'm slightly stressed at this point it's 5:30-5:45 at this point.... luckily Porta John lines weren't bad, meorning clothes drop off was easy, and special needs was easy... time to line up!
I swam 1:45 at IMMT this year, and it was a terrible experience. The wave start there had me in the first wave after the pros, I seriously got my ass kicked for two straight miles... I seeded myself at the 1:40 area... I have been working really hard on my swimming since MT, and after reading on here about everyone hating this swim start, I expected another demoralizing swim.... Orher than ZERO visibility in the water and some mild bumping, I had tons of open water! I was actually catching packs and navagating around them! Also the bridges were pretty cool, it gave a cool point of reference for the entire swim, it broke the swim up nicely! As I approach the stairs a volunteer grabs a arm and I try to stand, I try taking one step and bit it hard.. I landed directly on my Garmin 920's clasp, while I finally get out I'm looking at my watch trying to see if it was broke(it was) I saw 1:24 for my swim! I crushed it! 21 minute improvement! And I had to stuff my watch into my tri top pocket.
Bike. 7:05 in the torrential rain at MT this year.... I was really let down by that time, so I busted my ass on the indoor trainer using trainer road, I was determined to improve my bike strength. My power meter took a shit in the rain at MT, so this was my first full with having a good NP target. I have a 210 FTP (probably higher, I never wanted to dedicate a training day to doing a retest... once I recover I'm going to get a good retest) so I was targeting 145w np.... I stopped at special needs on the second lap, I tore half of my turkey and hummus bagel and put the other half back in the bag expecting to pick up the other half on the third lap.... that whole third lap I was looking forward to getting that sandwich, but apparently we only had one shot at those bags and they threw my bag away after the first time I stopped in... I was let down, but I'm sure it was my fault, I should've known. In and off the bike in 6:22! 43 minute improvement!
Run: my running training leading up to AZ wasn't going great, it seemed that life was getting in the way of my long runs, so if I was going to have issues, the run would be were they would be. I started my run knowing I was ~1:05:00 ahead of my MT time, man I felt good! So of course I went out too hard haha. About 4 miles (I think that's where we ran back past transition) I looked across the water and felt defeated, that was a long way to go just to get to the other side! I kept pushing on, I started to barter with myself, I told myself that I wouldn't walk until the halfway point, and then I'll do some math to figure out some kind of run/walk.... I got to run special needs and got out a long sleeved tech shirt, this made me so much more comfortable, it kept me warm, previously my body temp felt like it was swinging. i decided to push back the run/walk for a little longer, my legs were screaming but my HR was fine. I forced myself to continue running aid station to aid station, and by mile 20 I knew that I wasn't going to walk, I didn't want to finish knowing I could be done better... my legs were numb by this point anyway... I just kept moving. At mile 25 my watch had me at 12:15... I knew I was going to get a 12:30 finish. My run time was 4:30. 20min faster than MT!
Finish 12:31:59!
A 1:24:xx improvement!
I'm obviously stoked about my day! But, now what?!? I gave this race 100%. That was such a huge improvement, how am I going to beat that?! I am signed up for Chat 70.3 in may and IMWI 2017, and I'm thinking about doing IM Cozumel for a little vacation next year.