I was involved with a Master's team down in Texas last spring, and it was good in the sense that it got me to swim. But, it was a lot of junk, 25s and 50s. with no real coaching.
This past summer i came home and spent about 5 weeks executing mostly long great open water swimming. which really helped me in cancun, and got me back feeling confident about my swim fitness.
if there is one thing lacking about my triathlon training it is entirely my fault. it is my disdain for getting into a pool alone to do a workout.
solution: back in Gloucester, MA and swimming with my high school US Swim Team North Shore Swim Club. I swam with Dan and Tony throughout high school and was a decent swimmer. The thought of returning brought nostalgic smiles to my face, and a familiar group of water-phobic butterflies in my belly. i knew it was going to hurt. i also knew it would work.
i have been hitting north shore for about two weeks consistently now, and i am excited for the swim in clearwater. it has been hard, quality, and do-able. there has been no junk.
finding something that works for you in this sport is huge. this will work for me, and i am excited about it, yes when i hear dan spout, "Main Set" I get nervous, but i know it is worth it and i can handle it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
CANCUN 70.3
It has taken me some time to post this blog, partly because i should not really have been in Mexico. Either way, I got down to the windy, humid world of Cancun and Quintana Roo, Mexico. By the by, Quintana Roo was the first "Triathlon bike" ever made.
I prepared for the race by getting in a lil' 15 min shake out run the day before the race. I have never sweat so much in 15 minutes in my life! That place is hot as hell. Coming from the not so cold state of Texas i knew i could handle it, but i needed electrolytes. Unfortunately, Mexico is not the haven for race day supplies, and i had to be creative, because i forgot my endurolytes. so the night before the race i ended up creating my very own cancun survival package, which included table salt and tic tac cartridges. i filled four empty tic tac boxes with salt and went on my merry way. p.s. - this works, but salt hurts your teeth if you might have a cavity. oww!
ten minutes before i was supposed to be at the beach, my front wheel went flat and my zipp extension fell inside the rim! i remained calm, but i could have broken things. a very nice mexican man helped me fix it, and also knocked my bike over on its side. either way, scratch or not, i had air in my tires.
the swim was a no wetsuit ridiculously choppy two loop course. got her done in 28 min, and was fine with that. it was gonna be windy. the bike was a two loop windy draft fest, but i tried to focus on my salt tic tac things in preparation for the run.
there is maybe 20 feet of shade on that run course. hot as hell. but i do love the little water bags they had. i continued to eat the salt, and just try not to pay attention to the heat. i thought i was in the lead of my age group, so i kept it kind of easy in efforts not to blow up. there was only a few people and some pros ahead of me, because i was the second wave. "one foot in front of the next" if they did not have rest areas every 1km! i would not have made it. this gringo would have combusted. at 10.5 miles i ran into a dude in my age group. i have come all this way, and finally i need to race! damn, i was tired!
so, i passed him, and he passed me. and it was on. i decided to run my own race and see what i had left. i ended up passing him, and he stayed on my heels. at 12.5 i made my move. skipped the last aid station(risky) and took off. at the turnaround for the second loop, i ran over the mat and it made that beepie noise. and 30 seconds later i heard the beep again. he was gone, and i cruised on for the W.
After finishing i went to the medical tent and got poked three times by mexican needles and finally they found a vein. i checked, they were new needles each time! creepy.
i was toast. truly toast. i puked in the hotel lobby 7 hours later on my way to the awards ceremony. in one of those flower pot things!
haha. i was really happy with my efforts. it was a greuling day, and i def killed some margaritas the following day before flying back.
i met chris leigh, and michellie jones. both of whom are amazingly down to earth and cool cats.
would i do it again? only if there was a 100% chance of rain!
I prepared for the race by getting in a lil' 15 min shake out run the day before the race. I have never sweat so much in 15 minutes in my life! That place is hot as hell. Coming from the not so cold state of Texas i knew i could handle it, but i needed electrolytes. Unfortunately, Mexico is not the haven for race day supplies, and i had to be creative, because i forgot my endurolytes. so the night before the race i ended up creating my very own cancun survival package, which included table salt and tic tac cartridges. i filled four empty tic tac boxes with salt and went on my merry way. p.s. - this works, but salt hurts your teeth if you might have a cavity. oww!
ten minutes before i was supposed to be at the beach, my front wheel went flat and my zipp extension fell inside the rim! i remained calm, but i could have broken things. a very nice mexican man helped me fix it, and also knocked my bike over on its side. either way, scratch or not, i had air in my tires.
the swim was a no wetsuit ridiculously choppy two loop course. got her done in 28 min, and was fine with that. it was gonna be windy. the bike was a two loop windy draft fest, but i tried to focus on my salt tic tac things in preparation for the run.
there is maybe 20 feet of shade on that run course. hot as hell. but i do love the little water bags they had. i continued to eat the salt, and just try not to pay attention to the heat. i thought i was in the lead of my age group, so i kept it kind of easy in efforts not to blow up. there was only a few people and some pros ahead of me, because i was the second wave. "one foot in front of the next" if they did not have rest areas every 1km! i would not have made it. this gringo would have combusted. at 10.5 miles i ran into a dude in my age group. i have come all this way, and finally i need to race! damn, i was tired!
so, i passed him, and he passed me. and it was on. i decided to run my own race and see what i had left. i ended up passing him, and he stayed on my heels. at 12.5 i made my move. skipped the last aid station(risky) and took off. at the turnaround for the second loop, i ran over the mat and it made that beepie noise. and 30 seconds later i heard the beep again. he was gone, and i cruised on for the W.
After finishing i went to the medical tent and got poked three times by mexican needles and finally they found a vein. i checked, they were new needles each time! creepy.
i was toast. truly toast. i puked in the hotel lobby 7 hours later on my way to the awards ceremony. in one of those flower pot things!
haha. i was really happy with my efforts. it was a greuling day, and i def killed some margaritas the following day before flying back.
i met chris leigh, and michellie jones. both of whom are amazingly down to earth and cool cats.
would i do it again? only if there was a 100% chance of rain!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Done Deal
I am officially out of the USCG. The past few months have been pretty stressful, and have not been updating much at all. Either way, the news for now is I am Clearwater bound and officially seperated from the USCG.
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