Mid-Year Re-Cap

I'm in my final build up to Grand Columbian. The race is coming up in just 19 short days! Thought I would take some taper time and catch everyone up with my life since my last entry which is ancient history.

First off, Life. My previous company, US LEC, was bought by another company PAETEC in March. Since then, there's been a *lot* of work to do, in terms of integration and also in winning new business. The merger has definitely been a great thing for my division, as we're busier than ever. We're growing rather quickly, and it's been fun keeping up with the growth. So that part of things is going very well.

Training. Grand Columbian is my AAA-Race. It's a full Iron distance, so it better be my focus. I've been working very hard the whole season, building towards this race. I haven't tapered for any other races (save one) this season. So other race performances have been hit or miss depending on where they happened to fall.

This last month has been rather silly, including over 700 miles of cycling alone ( add to that running and swimming and you get an idea for how busy I've been ). I'm feeling better than I felt during my build before Kona last year. Let's hope this feeling continues and GC turns out to be the race I'm expecting.

Next up, Racing! I know this is what you're all here for, so I'll go over some of the highlights. Click the links of each race to go to a more detailed report. A few pictures are included too, and link to albums with additional pictures from the races.

April

Lonestar 1/4 Iron (965 meters/28 miles/6.5 miles) : 2:32:18 Final

It rained massively the days before. Our rental house flooded on the first floor. Thankfully, we and all of our gear stayed dry. The bike course was an out and back along the sea wall in Galveston. We had a headwind the entire way out, which sucked, but the tailwind on the return was nice. First race of the season, so was getting my legs back under me.

St. Anthony's (1500 meters/24.85 miles/6.2 miles) : 2:22:16 Final

Had a great time, this was more for a social event, than for a PR, though if the PR happened I wasn't gonna complain. I had a good swim (23:59), hammered the bike (1:05:18), but was dead on the run. Had nuttin'. Ran a 50 flat and suffered the whole way. Guess I still hadn't got my running legs back under me.

March

Terre Haute (800 meters/24.85 miles/4.97 miles) : 1:52:05 Final

This race went really well. It's almost an olympic distance, but not quite. I had a great swim (10:36 - 1:19 pace), a blazing bike (1:03:35 - 23.5 mph), and zippy run (34:37 - 6:58 pace). I took 2nd in my AG. By 4 seconds. He passed me in the last 1/4 mile. Bah! Oh well, next time, it's mine. :)

June

Rockman 1/2 (1.2 miles/56 miles/13.1 miles) : 4:59:13 Final

This was a fun race. First year of the event, but it was very well put on. I hadn't planned to PR at this race, but it happened. I'm not gonna complain. It was a very tough run course, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself on track for a sub-5 finish in the closing miles. I really thought the wheels had fallen off and I was just plodding along. Apparently I was doing rather well.

Bigfoot Oly (1700 meters/24.85 miles/7 miles) : 2:26:23 Final

This was under new management, and they didn't get the swim or run course accurate. Thankfully, the county hasn't changed the roads, so the bike course was spot on. :) Pulled out a 1:04:35 bike split, and hung on during the run to keep 6th pace in my AG.

July

Spirit of Racine 1/2 (1.2 miles/56 miles/13.1 miles) : 5:01:41 Final

This was one of my A races this year. Unlike Rockman, I actually tapered for this. Last year on this course, I went 4:59. My hope was to go 4:50 this year. Swim easy, bike hard, run harder. I got the first two done, but my run failed me. Ran a 1:51, which was slower than Rockman's time, on a much flatter course. Some days you got it, some days you don't.

Pleasant Prairie Oly (1500 meters/24.85 miles/6.2 miles) : 2:19:51

Awwwww yeah. Today, I definitely had it. It was a low pressure race. I didn't taper. I did everything wrong. I was in the middle of a huge IM build week, and decided to do the race as a social event. It was almost canceled due to the massive thunderstorms the entire week. Flooding and lightning. They ended up making the call to go on with the race 1/2 hour before the start! No time to do anything but setup transition, and then we were off. I had a solid swim, an okay bike ( slow due to the wet roads and a technical course ), and then I blazed through the run in 43:59. Nice little confidence boost going into my last bit of IM build.