Uncharted Territory

This weekend is the Waseka 1/3rd Ironman. When I first saw this event I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my first win. It plays to my strengths of cycling and running and is longer than an Olympic but shorter than a Half. Unfortunately when the participants list came out Dan Cohen's name was the only other Elite on the list. Now Bret Lovaas has also entered along with a couple of other names I am not as familiar with. Bret is no joke but is more of a swim/cyclist specialist but can still put together a pretty good run. He is a serious threat but if I put together a good race I should be able to out split him on the bike and run. Dan on the hand by the numbers should be an even tougher challenge. He actually has faster bike and swim split and our run splits are very comparable. My swim however, has improved even more since Lifetime. I had a terrible swim there but had been putting together some very good splits in the pool. I have since changed my training again and have gotten even faster. I am hoping to come out of the water close to Dan and hoping he hits the bike too hard so I can catch him on the run. Bret will no doubt come out of the water first but I can hopefully catch him on the bike. He beat me at Minnetonka earlier this year on a short course but I was not far behind him and closed the distance on the run. I believe Bret and I will be very close to each other but I think I am going to have to hope for Dan to have a bad day for me to be able to catch him.
Then there is the doubt in the back of my mind from Lifetime. Am I burned out already? Did I push to hard to fast or not hard enough on the swim? What went wrong in the week leading up to the race? Not to mention the fact that I have never completed a race longer than an Olympic before. I was in the lead at the Square Lake Half last year only to be involved in a bike accident an was unable to finish. There is the potential that I could have another bad day and get smoked like I did Lifetime. The good news is I don't think this will happen. I have done a much better job of preparation for this race and feel like I won't burn out like I did a few weeks ago. Now all I can do is toe the line and wait for the horn to find out.

Training & Ironman Slot

Well it's back to training as usual. The hardest part for me right now is speculation as to what went wrong at Lifetime. I have a pretty good idea of what I think it was but the question always lingers in the back of my mind. What if it was something else? What if I peeked too early/ What if training for a Half Ironman while still staying in shape for a possible Ironman slot has made me slower? A lot of what ifs. I am however, trying to get my hands on a Wisconsin Ironman slot in the hopes of qualifying for Kona next year. Jeremy Sartain is doing his best to see what he can do but I've already been turned down by one company who has extra slots and time is running short. As for now I will have to treat it like I'm not going so I can focus on my last four races. All of which I may have a chance to win. I do however feel like I am back in good form. Last weekend I got in a nice 70 mile bike ride and readjusted my bike seat again and seemed to have gained more power. I also went on a roughly 18 mile run on Sunday and felt good enough on Monday to get a recovery bike ride in. I also continue to improve at a rather fast rate in the pool. Now I just need to transfer that to the race like I did at Waconia and Minnetonka.

Lack Luster Performance at Lifetime

I've had better races than Saturday, that's for sure. But I'm no way disappointed with a nearly two minute improvement over last year. However, I am wondering what went wrong. If I run as well I as I was hoping I should have come in about 11th at 2:02. Teammates Matt Payne and Patrick Parich did not disappoint with outstanding races and 7th and 8th place finishes.

I don't know exactly why I had an off day but I have an idea that it wasn't just one thing. It started with an unexpected wake up call at 4 am when my fiances alarm woke me up. God bless her heart she is doing her medical rotations and had been up for nearly two days straight on three hours of sleep and forgot to turn off her alarm. I have been there and don't blame her. When you are that tired your mind isn't right. I guess it was just fate for me not to do well from the begging. I also believe that I didn't fully recover from my 70 mile bike ride last Friday and 17 mile run last Saturday. I don't believe I carbed up enough or got enough fluids in me on Friday as well. The equation added up to a less than peak performance. During the race I made the mistake of staying behind the pack in the swim and trying to pick up the scraps. I was afraid I would get thrashed again like at Waconia and wanted to work into the swim. I ended up with a Dallas like swim instead of battling like I did at Waconia and ending up in front of the field. I guess the if I am going to have a bad race I would prefer it to be this one as I had tenth place to look forward to at best and would rather take 26th now than 2nd in a race I could win. The good part is there was a lot to learn from this race. I also screwed around with my seat Friday and moved it up a little. Result was I wore out my hip flexors and quads and ran like crap. I won't change what is working again the day before the race.

Next up is Waseca. It is the first year for this odd distance 1/3 Ironman race and should play to my strengths of cycling and running. The Brewhouse is going on the same day and will draw a lot of the big dogs so I may have a chance at my first victory. I will be sure to employ a lot of the learning points from this race.

Happy 4th!!!

The only thing that beats a three day weekend is a four day weekend. My company gave us Friday off so Kelly and I went down to her Aunt and Uncle's place for a family weekend just between Red Wing and Lake City. It is great down their and I love getting a little R&R in on their front porch. The extra day off came at the perfect time to fit my training schedule as well. Lifetime is next Saturday and that means I like to take the Sunday prior off. Instead of doing a long run on Saturday and a Long bike on Sunday I switched it up a little bit. Instead I did a long bike on Friday and had a long run on Saturday. I love running through Lake City and Saturday was no different. I ran so much that my calves are still a little soar. Other than that I had what I believe to be my best training week of the season so far. It couldn't have come at a better time either. Lifetime is a huge race and I have pegged it as my peak race this year. Last year I over trained and went into it a little fatigued and soar. This year it looks like I will be able to go into it at 100%.
Saturday night Kelly and I came back so we could watch the fireworks at Lake Cornelia in Edina. They usually have an incredible display and they did not disappoint this year. We went to bed at 11:30 which was way past my bedtime but it was worth it. There is something special about the fourth. It seems to bring everyone out of their house and allow us all to be 10 again.