The Season's taking shape

Well Tuesday night was the Greater Waterbury YMCA Tri Club kick off meeting. Among other events going on that night was a raffle for free entries into the Rev3 Quassy Half and Olympic, The Pat Griskus Sprint and Olympic and the Hopkins Inn Triathlon at Lake Waramaug ( essentially the revival of the Lake Waramaug Tri on the original route.)

Let's cut to the chase my luck at raffles still sucks and I came up empty handed granted I really could have used that entry into Rev3. I was able to register for the Griskus and Waramaug Sprints with a one night only discount. So my season looks like this so far:

June 16 Patriot Half East Freetown, MA

July 11 26th annual Pat Griskus Sprint Middlebury, CT

July 21 1st Annual Hopkins Inn Tri Washington, CT

My hope is to register for Rev3 Half Quassy before entry fills up so hopefully that will be part of next week's pay well spent. As mentioned earlier all New England race directors decided to front stack all of their Olympic distance races before Age group Nationals in Vermont. So I'm not sure if I'll be doing an Oly this year. I've thought about Rev3 Old Orchard Beach but if I'm going that far North I'd rather race a half. If Quassy fills up then I'll definitely do Old Orchard as I want to do at least two halves this season, and if I have the cash and play my cards right, a full iron distance race to finish off the season.

Next year I'm hoping to either go back to Louisville or another WTC sanctioned event to try to punch my ticket to the big dance, but this year is going to be trying to rebuild to the level I used to be at. When I was hungry, when I could eat lightning and crap thunder, when my goal was clear, Big Island, Pro Card, Big Results. While the pro card maybe a stretch ( more of like a stretch, long bike ride and a plethora of performance enhancing drugs...I mean natural and legal supplements.) I'm hoping for some big results to get me moving in the right direction.

Training's been pretty consistent, the run miles are still a little low but I'll be putting up some big numbers in the next few weeks. But so far I have three races. They are pretty fast courses with pretty stacked fields so the training needs to stay consistent and my attitude needs to get back into that "I can do it because I'm hot fire. And I'll school your ass like Macca" mode instead of the "I'm a whiny coward trying to survive." mode. That's going to be the hard part.

R.D.

First run in Newtons and other training tales

Well yesterday I took my Newton's out for their first run. It went pretty well but until I fully "break in" the shoes I'm going to have to keep the miles low. I could really feel the lugs when I was going downhill, but not so much on the flats or going up hill. It also allowed me some time to reflect on my stride. My left foot seems to already land on my midfoot, where on my right foot I could still feel the lugs and it tends to pronate a little more. I know that as I get used to the shoes and my mileage increases, my stride will improve and I'm confident that my run splits will get faster this year.

I've also started getting back on the spin bike. My bike leg is what needs the most improvement and I'm hoping that I'll be able to get my cycling back to the level it was at in 2008 and 2009. The set that has been the most use to be has been 4x5:00 in big cog on the front with my 15 tooth cog on the back, working on getting my cadence up and building my endurance.

My swimming is back up to about 4000 per practice and the triathletes I'm coaching are improving and building up the yardage . that's more info for another post but so far I'm thinking that 2012 will be a good year.

R.D.

Back to the Pat...

Well I've signed up for the 2012 Patriot Half Iron in Freetown, MA on June 16. This will be the first time I've competed there since 2009, which was probably one of the best years for me competitively. While I was going through it 09 seemed to be an off year but looking at it in hindsight, it was the last year I sort of had some stability in training, work schedule, and life in general. Now things have started to calm down again, and while last year was a little over ambitious and I am trying to focus on getting myself back into hard core competition, and every year that I've done the Patriot good things have usually followed.
This year will be different than when I enter the Pat in 08 and 09. In those years buoyed by strong results in the previous year's tris I went into the Elite/ Open division to try to compete for a check...and promptly got smoked on the bike. 2008 actually went well I carried the #1 bib and set the day's fastest swim split. In 2009 I had a gearing miscue on the bike so I sort of fell out of contention pretty early indeed Speedy Claire was able to cross beating Bobby off her bucket list ( although I asterisk this as she was only doing the aquabike and didn't have to hold me off on the run.) granted I did throw down a pretty nasty run split, which would have put me higher up overall if I threw down my typical 2:45 bike split instead of a 3:00. This year I entered as an age grouper only because the competition has gotten exponentially harder, Karim from the Waterbury Y tri club won the 25-29 AG last year throwing down a 4:35 the best I did here was 4:55 with a short swim and speedy run in 2009. So my goal is to go under 4:45 and hopefully show myself as a serious competitor instead of a survivor like I was last year at Providence and Louisville.So the game plan for Patriot this year is to work the bike and the run. I'll still swim 3x a week but since I know I'll be able to do a sub 30 swim split pretty easily I won't have to throw doen the 5200yard death workouts I did for Ironman. 3000-4000 yards per workout should be plenty, granted they should be a quality 3-4k. My running is coming along and I'm hoping the Newtons will add some ammo to the tool kit. The bike is where I need to put my work but it's hard. Most coaches state that you need to do at least 100 miles a week to show improvement and at last check I still have a 9-5er, rent to pay, a relationship to maintain, so going out for 3x50 milers a week maybe out of the cards especially if i want to keep a job, keep the girlfriend and keep a roof over my head. So I may have to resort to the trainer and Good ol' coach Troy and Chris Carmichael shouting at me to get out of the saddle and try to unleash my inner Lance. So 2012 is starting to shape up after the Waterbury Y tri club kickoff and raffle on Feb 21 I'll have a better idea of what my season will look like.

RD

Trying to plan a season

"Perseverance is not really a strength for me. I'm just too stubborn to give up."

Well as I sit here and type this out I'm trying to plan my season. So far there are no WTC races on the schedule. Initially I had thought about going back to Louisville, and getting some revenge on the run course ( I think I my have muttered something about burning it to the ground and scourging the earth with salt while the RN's were pumping me with fluids in the med center.) but upon looking at logistics any races that I would have to fly to seem out of the question in 2012, not saying that won't change but a $600 entry and then all the logistics of booking hotels and transport are looking too expensive and too much of a hassle this year. Despite the fact the clock is ticking on my Kona goal, I'm going to take this year to rebuild my wallet and my body before I commit myself to an assault on a spot, I figure 2013 will be the year to do something crazy again. So this year I'm looking at doing mostly Olys and Halves and maybe a non WTC full if I have the cash. I know Chesapeake Man is held in late September on the same course as Eagleman, and it might be a flat, fast, test of strength to see if I have my groove back.

So my ideal race schedule will mostly be of local events so here's the plan:

June is Hell month:
I'm hoping to take advantage of my Volunteer Discount and race the REV3 Half at Quassy on June 3. Likewise I'm also hoping to get a slot at the Patriot Half in East Freetown, MA on June 16as I always seem to have good races there. Steph and I are then heading up to Maine for a week so I start cutting my training back a bit. If the Patriot is full the Griskus Olympic is my back up race on the same weekend.
2 races this month either a monster half and a fast half or a monster half and monster Oly.

July is going to be short races.
I'm thinking about the KIC It Olympic on July 1 in Stamford, CT. Then the staple event of my tri career the Pat Griskus Sprint on July 11. I'm considering the Lowell Olympic on July 29 to finish out July on a high note.
3 Races this month.

August is a toss up month:
Ideally I want to do REV3 Half Old Orchard Beach on August 26th but if my budget is running tight I may opt for the Park City Mossman on the same date. Likewise I haven't raced the Niantic Bay Sprint in years and I love the course so I'm hoping to gain entry there as well.
In total 2 races this month.

September
In a perfect world I'll do Chesapeake Man on September 29 to closeout my tri season.

So I'm shooting for 8 races but like everything else in my life these are subject to change. I know I'll do at least 5, and those are the Griskus Sprint, REV3 half Quassy, Niantic, either Griskus Oly or Patriot, and either Rev3 Old Orchard or Park City, and even that's a pretty strong season. So hopefully the Income Tax Fairy will be good to me and I can put that refund to good use and have a little left over to fund this.

R.D.

He's back

Well, the last time I posted on my blog was back in August after my sort of anti-climatic race at Ironman Louisville. Essentially I went into the race feeling mentally and emotionally beat. My grandfather had passed two weeks before it and essentially all the stress of the last few years had sort of reached a breaking point. Since my hayday of blogging back in the 08 and 09 tri seasons, my posts have been fewer, mechanical, and have had sort of a negative twinge. So I could do a quick recap of what's happened in the from 2009 until now:

I've been left homeless three times.
Gotten myself into a committed relationship with a great girl.
Tried to get into a US Navy officer program.
Left the nest and gotten into a room to rent/house stay situation.
One my biggest motivators has passed on.
I've become a "coach" for some of the swimmers of my local Y's tri club.
I've become a board member of said tri club.
Suddenly found myself on the outside trying to get back into the insider tri scene.

The past few years have been hectic as I have a real 9-5er which sadly is not paying near what I thought it was going to be, so I'm finding myself debating what the next career plan should be. Likewise since I do have a lady in my life the next part of the plan is where am I heading. I know in the past I've thought about moving out west or out of the US, but when you bring someone into share your life sometimes there needs to be compromise, and you aren't able to drift as easily. Likewise on the career front I'm torn between what I should do. Do I continue in banking? Do I take a gamble on education? Do I go into sports medicine like I batted around a few years ago? I'm 26 I'm not getting any younger and when I'm looking to the future I know I don't want to be in Connecticut working an entry level job , being first responder to every family crisis that comes along, not that I hate my family but for the last few years it's just been sort of surviving crisis to crisis and it's just getting old. Likewise my racing has suffered because despite the fact that I did a 70.3 and a full Ironman last year, my training has sort of been going through the motions and not really pushing myself like I used to do. I mean in early 2011 I was really training hard and starting to get my groove back but as time has been going by I've found myself lacking for energy, skipping workouts and just sort of muddling through as I've been letting life get the better of me. I'm hoping 2012 will be a step back toward 2008 and 2009 where I was training well and was looking at the future with an sense of hopeful optimism instead of the fear and dread which have marked the last few years. So hopefully I'll have some more blog posts this year and I'll be able to get my lazy ass back into shape so I can compete for a Kona slot in 2013 and beyond. So a fresh slate has been made and a new beginning has dawned. Fuck the Mayans! Let kick this pig! Because the only Apocalypse that's occurring this year is the restructuring of the 25-29 Age group with my name moving back to the top of the list.

So Game on 2012.
R.D.