Pedaling Around: Always comeback fighting

In the words of the infamous philosopher Ice Cube, "Today was a good Day".

I'm in between training sessions for the day, my coach has me shaking out the body with some swimming and cycling. This update will be quick(ish) for everyone to read.

Coping with the hip injury the past few weeks we have cut back the volume of my training giving me time to rest and recover. Still trying to keep the quality difficult, many times I would scale the effort to keep me from limping around after the workout. Good days/bad days... you know how that goes. Averting my focus on trying to be positive and working twice as hard to get my rest, recovery, and physical care in my schedule. Leading up to the race on sunday I could feel the body coming around, but still had the lingering fear of a season ending injury in my head.

State Wheels/ Zipp Disc wheelset

Sunday was the Tri For Old Glory olympic distance race is San Marcos, TX set to be a benchmark leading into my last couple of weeks of training before age groups. Caught a ride with my good buddy David Fuentes in the Power Bar mobile, it was nice not driving to race site (FYI). Thanks Browski!

With my two main focusses that morning was to get properly warmed up and mentally visualize the race in my head. Knowing what this meant for the rest of my season I did not want to risk furthering my injury or taking a mental hit on the progress I have been making with training. Quickly set my transition and got my head in the game. I had a goal of a 2:06 on the day.

Swim 25:08 1:40/100m

Due to the small venue and field of participants we were set up in a time trial style with 10-15 secs between each athlete. Stepping up third I hit the water somewhat too prematurley and not until a couple of strokes in I realized what was ahead of me. First of did not start my watch, and I never looked at the line of site of the buoys for the course.... Whoops! The only place to go is forward I worked to find a rhythm and the feet of someone in front of me, hopefully they know the way!? made my way through 750m just fine then I found myself in no mans land and turning around into the sunrise. Pretty, but blinding, I could not see the lime green markers and started to drift around. Too much spotting, serpentining and a little bit of low water running my time was pretty disappointing.

Bike 61:12 23/mph

WRONG WAY!

Out of the water two places back I work through transition and get on the bike. Hop on the machine and hit the road with a vengeance to make up lost time. I come to the first major intersection of the course... Left/Right/Straight? 3 U-Turns in 400m I head the right direction... (Just Turn right!) Set on a rural farm roads the 23.5 mile course had long straights, mild rollers, moderate road conditions to maintain a decent speed. I always enjoy the slightly longer bike courses. Come back in on schedule after my 2mins of frustration with my navigation skills (No comments please, ladies) from the bike made up some time and positions on the field. Return to transition and quickly rack the bike ditch the helmet, and throw on the flats. I had the 2nd fastest bike of the day.

Run 38:50 6:15/Mile

Hit the roads with a little bit of fear on my mind, knowing that I have not had the run training I would like to from the troublesome hip. Start off conservative to get the bike out of my legs I join a busy course full of athletes who where racing the shorter sprint portion. 2x5K loops ahead of me I make progress and quickly try to get fluids back in my system. With only 2 aid stations serving small portioned cups, I knew what I was in store for... About 4K in an athlete passes me quickly and I do not know if they are in my division or not. Not wanting to take a risk a go with and sit in. Hurting for about 1k he then pulls off the course at the split to only reinforce my stupidity of chasing a 5k in the other division... DAMN?! One more loop to go I try to find a happy median of pace that I can progressively split and just finish. No trouble from the hip at this moment. My head is rattling with thoughts of how much more can I push it. Round the last turn at the 5mile marker, I see my little sprinter friend back on course with a much slower pace in his legs, I guess he he was in my division but severely misjudged the run course... Unfortunate. Not sure where I stand in the field I round the final bend, give a little effort just for the negative split and finish up. 38:50 I cannot complain about that run result all things considered.

NO Finish Clock, and with missed swim time the only thing I know is that my run/bike had me at 1:40.

To the results Tent

Finishing Up. Thanks David

2:06:06 I'll TAKE IT! I got my time standard and still know there is room for improvement. This race was a time trial and more of an individual effort then a group race. A good notation for where my fitness stands with 5 weeks to go. I now prepare myself to sharpen up and dig in to the home stretch. I dealt with frustration and satisfaction all while keeping my head up and moving forward. No matter how much you train you can never prepare yourself for everything. Control the controllable and prepare yourself for the unexpected. My race shows the give and takes of fitness when it comes to managing the three disciplines of the sport. My goal come race day at Age-goups is to be consistent, I cannot reach my goal with one stellar leg and two sub-par efforts. I need to be well rounded and ready to race the athletes around me.