Aging up

Well Thursday I turned 25. The Big-2-5, a quarter century. A silver anniversary as it were. This now means I'm out of the realitive comfort of the 20-24 bracket, and am beginning a journey into age groups where 4 months salary couldn't even by the aero helmet that some of my competition has. Essentially the margin for error is getting slimmer, the times are getting faster and competition is getting more intense. I've got three words for it BRING- IT-ON!!!!

This year I'm caught in a debate about which races to do. I'm sort of doing 2-3 locals. No Rev, but I'm tossed up about what my second half iron of the season should be. Here's what's on the platter.

Providence 70.3: I've done this race since it's inception. I know the course, got the finisher medal. It's closer to home and I know I'd have excellent crowd support, only issue is do I really want to front load my season again. If I do Providence then I will have done all my long distance stuff at the beginning of the season, tapped all my resources at the beginning of the season and will essentially find myself in the same rut as 2008 and 2009. Broke and bored after the second week of July. Likewise no Kona slots are at stake and in my "less competitive" age group last year I was still about mid-pack. I know Clearwater is a longshot, so essentially do I want to chuck down $250 for a headsweat and an Amica medal?

Halfmax National Championship Myrtle Beach, SC: This is an unknown. My 5:03 at Providence was good enough to get me qualified for my current age group. The problem is travel wise Myrtle Beach is going to cost more than Providence. The plus side is it's in October so I have time to save and piecemeal. Other plus side it gives me motivation to train through August and September. The other plus side unlike WTC's share the wealth quota that has fewer slots scattered at more events, this one has a motherload to ITU Long Distance Worlds next year. Essentially the top-16 in each Age group qualify for worlds. Likewise Worlds in 2011 is on US Soil. Part of me is thinking no contest but still gas and a hotel in Myrtle Beach for 4 days still adds up. Especially as crazy crisises always tend to rear their ugly head when ever I try to save up.

Essentially I'm torn, I'm leaning toward S.C. but the common sense is screaming don't do it Bobby, granted it also tends to scream that as I'm flying down hill at 40 mph too....

Tossed up.
R.D.

Getting Back

Well yesterday the weather was absolutely perfect for a ride so I did my usual Middlebury to Waramaug loop, excpet I did it with no stopping or bathoom breaks. I didn't have a bike computer so I rode completely oblivious to speed and distance. In one way it's kind of a down side in that I can't chart my exact distance or guess my pace and progress. In another it allows me to just focus on the road and riding by feel. So yesterday I spent most of the ride crusing at a comfortable pace and doing big gear work on the climbs. There were several other riders out but we were all at various stages of riding. I managed to have some targets at the lake as I was passing some rec riders as I did my two loops. Even managed to have two guys draft me for about a mile. The ride back I was surprsed how long I was able to stay in the Big ring on the climbs back. I know my speed must have been in the single digits but my legs needed the power work. Also discovered the art of peeling bananas while riding. The low point of the ride was hittng a couple of massive potholes on the descent back. For all the guys out here I will say the following "aluminum hurts." I had wanted to tack on a run after the ride but my back was pretty shot from all the "power climbing." I know that if do Rev3 I'm going to have to put in a run after one of these hillolicious rides soon but we'll sees how that plays out. Right now I'm definitely committed to Patriot especially since I'm sort of dating a chick in the greater Boston area. Likewise I have a Rev 3 pre ride this weekend just to try to see if it's worth entering. I tend to do better on flat courses than I do on climbs but part of me sort of wants to do the local half. All in all things are still moving along as I'm trying to figure out some life stuff and gather my paper work for the Navy, but I fgure I'm going to try to have a little fun this summer. If I don't do the Rev I might try to keep my Providence streak alive or spend the money on some shorter local races. Part of me would like to try long course nats since I already posted a qualifying time at Providence last season but we'll see how things go. Happy Training to all and Also Congrats to Pro Bree Wee in here Ironman SA finish.

Working his legs back into shape.
R.D.

Back to the Grind

Well last weekend was sort of a crappy one for training but I managed to kick off a nice little week of run focus. Over 26 miles from 2x 7 milers and a 13 miler in the begining of the week. This week I've only been doing one workout a day, one of them was a group ride with the Waterbury YMCA Tri Club. The rde wasn't bad but I will one thing I never thoght I would: I'm glad the race directors of the Pat Griskus Olympic Tri set the bie course up the way they did. Don't get me wrong the course is brutally hard, but having done it in reverse I would rather climb some of the narrower twisting sections of the course at 7-10 mph instead of trying to descend them a 40 mph with a pack on my tail. This weekend's supposed to be nice so hopefully here will be some more bike foucs.

R.D.

Back in the saddle

Well New England has finally thawed so I'm back out on the bike. Yesterday I did about 56 miles up to Lake Waramaug and back. It's a tough and demanding ride and I was certainly beat by the end of it. The only down side was my bike computer biting the dust at about mile 3 on my 20 miler on Saturday. So yesterday's ride I was completely clueless. I have a guestimate of how far I went. I know it took me about 3.5 hours and I need to throw down some cash either at the bike shop or at nashbar. Granted I think I'm going to go wireless with cadence. For years I've been struggling to guess my RPMs on spin workouts or going up hills. Likewise I'm mounting this thing to the chain stays so I can get accurate distance while I'm spinning.

As mentioned before I'm looking at delaying my enlistment into OCS until the fall. I know I'm going to get the "he's having second thoughts routine" but I have to take care of somethings in the meantime. (like reviewing all of my highschool and college math courses so I can ace my ASTB and getting some affairs in order (financial and personal), also I want to get some racing in this summer.) I will say my new job is pretty good and it's definitely helping me get used to working under stress.

Back to Sunday's ride I was solo for most of it and I ain't going to lie I was missing having Josie and Bjoern to help pace me. But the solitude of 50 miles in the saddle also allowed me valuable time to thing. Not just about pedal stroke ( which judging by my shadow has improved.) but about life in general. I thought about how I love pushing myself and my love to compete and that whatever I do I can continue to race. I thought about political crap, philosophy and religion ( I won't express those views for fear of excommunication.) people I've met, people I've hurt, people I've helped. Races I've done and want to do. Essentially I can say my ride bordered on a transcendental experience, either that of my O2 saturation levels were lower than I thought and I need to build more base. But in anycase it felt good to be in the saddle.

R.D.

Racing like it's supposed to be...

Well as I was doing my 7 mile run this weekend I sort of had an epiphany of how I'm going to treat the 2010 racing season...and that is exactly like the 2007 racing season.
Just racing for the hell of it.

No worrying about Kona, no trying to attract sponsors, no whining about how I don't have the shiniest bike, or the best equipment, or coaching. I'm going to try to put off OCS until September so I can enjoy one last summer of racing like a champ before doing the pilot thing.
I'm going to drink gas station gatorade, I'm going to wolf down frozen snickers bars.
I'm not going to bitch about being 70 sec. away from a Kona slot a million years ( well ok it feels like it.) ago. Essentially I'm going every race this season to the point they've got to haul my busted broken down arse out on a stretcher. I want to go out with a bang and since I know I'm going to have to devote sometime to lifting I want to use it in my racing before I have to use it to survive the DI. So 2010 is going to be the year of working like a dog, beating my guts out and having fun with it like I used to. Because with the line of work I'm looking to go into there might not be a next season. So in the words of a famous warrior poet "I'm going to live in the moment ." because that's all I've got.

Living for the fight.
R.D.

The 8th Annual Shoreline Sharks Half Marathon

Well for the first time since Thanksgiving I dusted off the racing belt and flats and hauled ass.

I met up with Josie (who had signed up to volunteer as her little bundle but he kibosh on racing.) and we made our way down to West Haven for the Shoreline Sharks invitational Half Marathon.

The crowd wasn't bad 50 entrants all members of Connecticut's three biggest tri clubs ( Shoreline Sharks out of Old Saybrook, HEAT out of Hartford and Team Mossman out of Norwalk.) The race was low key, our waiver of liability was the race director saying you do not have police support, please use common sense, don't cause any fights with motorists ( as you do not have police support.) and please don't sue me literally 5 seconds before the start.

The race got underway at 8:05 and I decided to take it from the gun. I lead the field from the start line around the parking lot and down the beach bike path. I felt pretty baller as I didn't hear anyone gaining on me for almost 3/4 of a mile then Roy Krouse ( a fellow HEAT runner )went around me then Kevin from shore line and Chouckri ( yet another HEAT guy.) at the 1 mile mark. Things had been pretty good for the brief time I was at the front but it was odd feeling for me to have the lead bike infront of me. I think my biggest mistake was trying to pace off it Never a good idea. About mile 2 my side developed a stitch and began to settle into a reasonable rhythm letting the top 3 fade away. Miro from HEAT and another shoreliner came along side about mile 3. I held with them until the hill at mile 4 and then they too disappeared into the distance. At mile 5 I got into the group that I would duke it out with for the rest of the race trying to hold on to a top 10 placing. 2 guys from shoreline and a dude from Mossman. Two shoreliners got around me and I surged to reel them in then repassed until another climb at mile 8 the dude from mossman and two shoreliners again went around I caught one of the shoreliners a young guy about my age.) and was reeling in the other as he walked the last quarter of a massive hill at mile 9 but as he hit the summit he regrouped and pulled away. At mile 10 an older shoreline guy got around me and was gone before I could figure out who it was. By mile 11 I was in no man's land. I hit mile 12 and the young guy from shoreline was a little ways back. I figured ok I can coast a little right...wrong. As I approached the finish line could hear the clapping of feet against asphalt and the distinct sound of someone in full sprint. I didn't look back I found my racing gear and managed just to nip him out for a hard earned top 10 in 1:37:31 the guy behind me was clocked officially at 1:37:32 but like the Pauli Kiuru/ Ken Glah Ironman Sprint the gap was definitely closer than the official timing.

All in all it was a great race and it was a good way to start the season.

R.D.

Did I Mention I'm not liking this no internet thing...oh yeah I've got a Half Marathon tomorrow...

WARNING RANT !please scroll down if you want to get to the good stuff.

Well I finally broke down and went to the library to put up some blog posts. I know what most people are going to say "Bob it's 2010, you have a lap top there's no excuse you shouldn't have access to the net." Well sadly my computer is a circa 2003 Dell that was around at the time Dell's were still good and a wireless card was one of those fancy add on thingies. Considering that most cheap lap tops have a wireless card I probably should invest but right now I've got bigger things to worry about (like the car payment, cellphone, gas, insurance,taking a chunk out of my hugundo debt, race entries) The pay raise kicks in next check so I won't be struggling as bad and maybe by mid April I'll have my race plans figured out and if I'm lucky throwdown for a $300 best buy special just so I can get some writing and finish up my Navy App. OK all that out of the way....

Here's the good stuff.

Well way back in February I signed up for the Shoreline Sharks (FREE) Half Marathon. Well I've only managed about 2 to 3 weeks of hodge podge training so I'm hoping my legs will hold up. I've done a couple of long runs over the last two weeks and did a 4 and 5 miler back to back on Thursday and last night. The weather's actually been good for the past week and I'm hoping it holds so I can get my self ready for my somewhat limited racing schedule this season. I'm feeling confident that I can break the 1:30 barrier tomorrow but if not I know it will be close. After this little half mary I've got one race as a certain on the calendar The Patriot Half ( yeah I guess since WTC started branding every thing as 70.3 they can call them halves again.) I'm going to try my hand in the elite corral again because my swimming is at the point I think I'll be able to lead out of the water , my running is coming back nicely, and I just need to work the bike the rest of the spring. I'm up in the air about Rev3 part of me wants to do it because it's the home town race and since I'm going to be OCS bound in July or August, (hence graduating in November) there's no real point to try to qualify for Kona or Clearwater this year. The other thing is do I really want to spend $250 on a race entry? The Griskus Sprint I'm not going to be able to make a decision on until May because that's when I'll know if and when I'm shipping out. If I'm not out until August I might sign up for it, if I'm out in July then it's a no go. I want to get back into Ironman but I won't know when I'll be able to. The coming months hold all the keys to my professional and athletic future. Also on the training for the first time since 2006 I'll be training solo. Bjoern is down in NYC and Josie's pregnant ( which sucks for her Ironman Lake Placid plans for 2010 but hey there's always 2011 and they always say mothers are the firecest competitors.

So that's all that's going down here.

Running toward the future.

R.D.