A bit better...

Today is really the last day of The Summer of Mark and despite the way I have been feeling I wanted to get in some training. Much to my surprise I felt pretty good today and am chalking it up to the massive amount of supplements that I am taking to naturally raise my white blood cell count. I started off the day at 10:30 with an eight miler out to Swanzey and back on the rail trail. Felt better and better as the run progressed and even worked down to sub 6:00 pace by the last two miles. I was pretty pleased with the effort and saw the run as a building block back to where I was a few weeks ago. I headed right to the pool to get in some drills and a little bit of work. 500 yds. of drills 2 x 200 pull, 200 quickie, 50 kick. Followed that up with 5 x 50 38, 38, 39, 38, 36 with 30 second rest. Closed the show with 50 yds. of kicking and 200 yds. of gentle pulling. Felt good but was still feeling a little more tired than I typically would. I am however feeling a little more optimistic about my chances this weekend.

Cheers,

Mark

Update...

I received a call this morning from my doctors nurse with my blood test results. Apparently my white blood cell count is through the floor for a yet to be explained reason. Typical white blood cell levels in the adult healthy range are between 4.5 and 10 million parts per million. My white blood cell count is down to 3.5 parts per million! This is the definitive answer of what has been causing my fatigue now we just have to piece together the puzzle of why the level is so low. Obviously I am more than a little freaked out because anytime you research low white blood cell count doomsday predictions come at you from every angle. When WBC counts are low the body is fighting something and not having the best of luck beating it down. After some research on my own I think that I may be fighting some sort of long term intestinal virus that has been giving me some stomach issues this summer. My doctor has referred me to a hematologist so hopefully we can set up an appointment as soon as possible so I can put this issue to rest and get back to work. (Just off the phone with Cheshire Medical. Hematology can't see me until September 27! Does this mean that I have to feel like this for another month? VERY FRUSTRATED!) With that being said I am going to lower my training volume until we have a better idea of what is happening. I am going to cut things back to seven to ten hours a week until I get doctors approval to ramp back up to full volume. Since I am already entered in The Circle Triathlon this weekend I will give it my best shot but will not expect to seek and destroy which was the plan all summer. Following the race this weekend I am going to keep my racing plans open until I have a better idea of what is happening. I hate racing when I am not at my best and according to the blood work I have not been physically at my best for a long time. It's impressive to look at some of the things I was able to accomplish this summer with my body not functioning at 100%. Hopefully I will have some positive news soon and in the meantime I will keep posing my weekly totals. I hope everyone can cut me some slack if there are a few missing days from time to time. I've just been exhausted beyond belief!

(In the name of being even more proactive I have been researching ways to raise my white blood cell count. I have purchased a Astragalus Root supplement, a Zinc supplement and a Siberian Ginseng supplement to help naturally boost my white blood cell count.)

Cheers,

Mark

Ready to rock again...

So I bagged the end of the week at the recommendation of several peers. In the silver lining department the three days off has given my hip and back a chance to mend and I am anxious to start training again tomorrow morning.

Mark

Age Group Nationals...

Friday afternoon Mary, Eko, and I headed up to Burlington for my first ever crack at age group nationals. As the faithful know I have not been 100% for a week now with a nagging piriformis / hip/ back problem. I really thought that I could put it out of my mind for two hours and put together a solid performance and get under two hours for international distance. Mary and I went right to the expo and picked up my race packet. We drove down to Water Front Park and I set up my transition and bike before leaving it for the night. I was instantly struck with the enormity of the race. I know that there were 2,500 participants but the weight of that number does not really strike you until you see that my bikes on the racks. Running in huge races is so much different because I have always lined up right at the front and never really experienced the true size of a sizable field. I will admit that I was more than a little overwhelmed and frazzled leaving the park.

Saturday morning I was up at 5:25 after a very respectable night of sleep. My back / hip felt better than it had the previous day which was better than the previous day but I was still not confident that I was 100%. Mary dropped me off at the park at 6:50 so I could finish my set-up before the transition closed at 7:30. My first moment of panic came in the form of not having my racing chip. I switched bags a few times at the hotel and as I stood in the transition I was freaking out about what to do. I had never been the guy that lost anything let alone something as important as a race chip. Needless to say I spent the next half hour running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find my missing chip. Mary and I went back to the car and still could not find it so I had to go to the timing tent. I had to give them a a credit card number and was told that if I did not find my chip that I could be charged $125.oo! I was angry mad, and even more frazzled than normal. As the other waves were starting I sat with Mary and Eko and tried to chill. Finally I headed down to the dock to start my odyssey.

Standing at the entrance to the yacht club was pretty cool. My best estimate was that there was between one hundred and fifty and two hundred other 30-34 year olds in my wave. We headed to the dock and were allowed to dive in while the women in front of us started. We were then herded to the starting line where we had to tread water for the next four minutes before the starting horn. I got myself psyched and ready to swim hard. I kept thinking of my swim Wednesday and how well it went and how mechanically I did so many things right. At the horn I got clobbered. Hands, feet, bodies, more feet coming from every direction. It seemed like everyone in the wave started at their maximum swim speed and left me in the dust. Out to the first buoy I was completely overwhelmed and had to work to stay calm in the chaos. Around the first buoy I found some space and started to get to work. It was really a cool swim it just seemed to take forever. Somewhere past halfway my hip started to get tight which I thought was pretty unprecedented. The rest of the way rather than focusing on swimming hard and having good technique I perseverated on my hip and what was going to happen on the bike and run. I started to get a little negative in the last straight and looking back I am pretty pissed at my attitude. Yea the hip was done but I didn't need to be negative about what was happening. I was having a lot of stupid thought that I will not dwell on but a sampling goes something like this. You'll never be good at long races because your swim sucks! All you"ll ever be good at is tiny sprint races. Really inspiring stuff that gets you charged up for the bike eh? I had a good transition and was mounted fast and was ready to rock on the bike.

Heading out of the park things were much different than they had been all summer in every other race. Every other time out this summer I have gotten on the bike and been looking to attack right away. Granted I was still passing riders left and right but I was not feeling aggressive. Two miles into the ride I could already tell that the hip / back was going to be a huge problem on the bike. Anytime there was an uphill grade My hip and back would get tight and linger all the way through my IT band to my left knee. Sitting up on the horns would alleviate the pressure and pain but at an obvious cost to my mph. I was still passing tons of riders but at the same time I was occasionally getting past which is mostly a new experience. I really did my best on the bike but it just wasn't happening out there. I could not push and I could not make any power which dramatically slowed my bike leg. I was as aggressive as I could be the last five mile heading back to town and took a lot of chances on the turns to rejoin some riders that had passed me earlier in the ride. Into the park past Mary and Eko I knew that Mary knew that I was off. Into the transition and off the bike my back was locked and stiffer than I thought it would be. I trotted to my rack and had to stretch a second before getting on my flats and hitting the run course.

Out of transition it felt like my back was in a bench vice and that there was a misfiring connection to my legs. I was a little scared because no matter how bad things have ever been in a race I have always been able to tear up the run to some degree. I was a little worried about hurting myself further and thought for an instant about stopping but I just could not bring myself to quit. At the top of the first hill I got caught and past which threw me for a wicked loop. I did my best to hang on but I was still to tight. Two more runners past me over the next mile and a half as I continued to get looser and back to a normal stride. By two and a half miles I was at a point where I knew that I could start being super aggressive so I went to work trying to salvage something from my morning. As is always the case within a few minutes I was almost back to normal with the exception of the pressure, and I was finally racing. Onto the bike path I would say that I was running 88-90% of what a typical triathlon has been for me this year but it was still doing the job. I was catching people left and right as is always the case and a lot of them were from my age group so I knew that I was starting to make amends for the first hour and a half of the race. Into the park I even ran down one of the guys that had past me earlier in the run which gave me tremendous piece of mind. Into the park and into the finishing area I was running really fast and finished as hard as I could. Across the line in 2:09 fifty something I just kept walking. I grabbed a water and headed right for the dock to be by myself.

After the race I was beyond frustrated and upset. I've had countless bad races in my life and usually they are due to lack of preparation or just being weak. I felt that I was more prepared for this race than any race in years. With the exception of a few negative thoughts in the water I was tough the whole way. I fought through a really shitty bike leg with a bum back and still rode respectable. On the run I just had to wait to long to be loose before I could be effective at destroying everyone. I WANT THIS RACE BACK SO BAD! If this race had been two weeks ago instead of Give Peace a Tri this would be a vastly different entry. It always amazes me how quickly a good summer of training can go to the birds because of a niggling little issue in my back. Obviously I need to get this right asap so I can focus of finishing my season on a more positive note. I hate writing recaps of bad races. Obviously it is mush more fun to write when everything is the bees knees but I have to be fair and write about the crud as well. Hopefully I can get things figured out this week and have a solid last two weeks of training before school starts.

Mark

Burlington Game Plan...

Obviously the Summer of Mark training program was never geared toward USAT Nationals but as we all know life happens at an alarming rate and we can't always anticipate what is coming down the pike. With that being said it appears that Mary and I will be buying our first home within the next few weeks so the Pumpkinman is officially off the radar. I have been so selfish in my training all summer that it would be ludicrous not devoting 100% of my energy to this process. At the same time when I consider all of the great training that I have done this summer I am anxiously awaiting Saturday morning. I have put in so many days between two and three hours this summer that the Olympic distance may be my personal sweet-spot right now. With the odd nature of the wave start based on age group this weekend I have formulated a pretty straight forward race strategy.

Step one: Swim like a madman! I am swimming better than I ever have in my life right now which is still not as fast as most but I think I can be competitive out of the water. I firmly believe that the majority of triathletes are swim bikers. If I can minimize my losses out of the water I am confident that I can be in the mix. I need to keep being aggressive and breath every stroke and pick clear sight lines.

Step two: Ride like a madman! I have gotten more confident with every ride this summer on The Vulture. In a perfect world I would have a set of 50 mm carbon wheels on my bike for such a big race but that just is not in the cards right now. I really need to hearken back to Black Fly this weekend and just worry about myself on the bike. Everyone looks fast on a TT bike with carbon wheels. There is no sense in wasting my energy worrying about what anyone else is doing out there. With that being said I know that I will be passing a lot of riders from the other waves. I just need to capitalize on the adrenaline that this creates in a positive well channeled manner heading into the run.

Step three: Destroy the run! I can say with relative certainty that there will not be another competitor in the race that has the same history on the run course as I do. I have stared down the very darkest parts of my athletic soul on the bike path in Burlington. My DNA is still present in the pavement of the final miles of the Vermont City course. My will has already been through the crucible of my own fear and come out on the other side with a new perspective and understanding of myself. I AM GOING TO KILL THE RUN!

I'm sure there will be typical race day complications and everything will not go as planned but I am setting this idea in the grey matter upstairs for the next few days.

Mark

WMUR News...

I can't figure out how to add this video to the blog but here is the profile that WMUR did that aired last night.

http://www.wmur.com/video/28897657/detail.html

Mark

Summer of Mark Week VIII

Monday: Off. Chiropractor for hip/back. Need to get right fast. Not a good time to push through something! Saw Rob League at 2:45 and explained my problem. Apparently I have a huge know in my left piraformis. I am heating it on the couch and am going to work it with a tennis ball and foam roller all night.

Tuesday: Massive amounts of time on the heating pad, foam roller, and lacrosse ball last night provided tremendous amounts of relief. Will treat for an hour heading into my run this morning. At 10:30 I headed out for thirteen miles alone in the rain. Felt mostly ok running 6:25 pace for the duration of the run. I could still tell that the hip / glute was a little off which was a little frustrating but it was significantly better than Saturday. Mile of striders post run. (1 hr. 25 min.)

Wednesday: Rolled the dice with the gods of back pain today and helped my father in law split wood. We have had a splitter set aside for this date for months so back pain or no back pain I was in for a big morning of work. Eight cord later we were all toast. Mary's brother John could barley move by the end of the day. Following a pulled pork and coleslaw grinder I headed to Lake Winona for a long open water swim. Swam a measured 1200 pretty hard and felt excellent given my five hours of hard work in the morning. Swam 20:20 for the 1200 which, given all the factors made me feel pretty good. I think being fresh Saturday morning that I will be in the neighborhood of 23:00 for 15oo Saturday in Burlington. Ended up swimming more and got in just over 2ooo meters including some transition runs. (40 min.) Once I got back to Ashland I was pretty much toast and decided to just run a gentle four miler down to Squam and back. Even as tired as I was I felt good on the run. (30 min.) (1 hr. 10 min.)

Thursday: 12:00 sixty five minute TT ride on The Vulture. Felt like rubbish even though I was going easy. (1 hr. five min.) Terrible four mile run followed by great chiropractor appointment. (30 min.) (1 hr. 35 min.)

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Total: 4 hours 10 minutes

USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals...

Monday morning I was greeted with a message from USA Triathlon informing me that on the strength of my recent performances that I had qualified for age group nationals next Saturday in Burlington. A multitude of different thoughts and options went through my head which eventually led me to make my decision. Here is a sampling of my thought process.

We were supposed to go to the beach next weekend with Mary's brother John from Florida. I am upset the apple cart if I decided to race. (Mary's Dad put that idea to rest and suggested that I race.)

Hmmm... A race under short notice. (No time to over think.)

Hmmm... Maybe I shouldn't do two road races this week. (See ya next year Cigna.)

Hmmm... I'd really like another crack at the Olympic distance following the Mooseman debacle.

Hmmm... I'll need to find a place to stay. (Anchorage Inn South Burlington.)

Hmmm... 1500-meter swim. (Lots of time in the water this week!)

Needless to say I decided to pull the trigger and committed to racing. I mostly made this decision because a high finish would be the easiest path to getting my blue elite license for next year. I'm getting pretty excited now that I have registered but I am a little leery of the idea of the Pumpkinman now. I was planning on having a twenty hours of work next week but with the big time race I will keep things pretty chill. Also I will need to recover for a few days following a two hour effort so I will have another moderate week following the race. I will have to see how I am feeling after the race and perhaps rethink my half ironman debut.

Cheers,

Mark

Summer of Mark Week VII

Monday: Up at 5:00 to make it to KSC for 6:00 am swim practice. 600 yds. warm-up followed by a boatload of drills and kicking. (1 hr.) 11:00 headed out on The Vulture for a moderate 30 miles. It was really humid out again so I made sure to be extra mindful of hydration and fueling. Went with 20 oz. of water and a Hammer Gel flask with some watered down Berry gel. My computer was still off from Saturday so I don't have any data other than what my legs were telling me. Everything my body was saying was good so I will chalk it up as a solid thirty plus mile ride. (1 hr. 30 min.) Ran out to Yale Forest and back this afternoon to wrap up the day. Fueled again with Hammer Gel in a flask and felt great running +- 6:30 pace the whole way. (1 hr.) (3 hr. 30 min.)

Tuesday: Slept way to late this morning and threw off my whole day. Went to noon swim and did a small workout by myself. 200 -warm-up of drills followed by 5 x 200 at race pace with 30 seconds rest. Swam 800 more yds. afterwards to get 2k for the day. (45 min.) Headed right out the door and ran out and back seven alone. Felt super tired following the swim but managed to just zone out and have an ok run. Mary and I are looking at a house this afternoon and then are hitting the town for out three year anniversary so I am going with a short day to conserve energy. (50 min) (1 hr. 35 min.)

Wednesday: Went out for a shakeout five miler alone around 1:30. Quads were a little tight early on but things felt better as the run went on. 5:00 met up with the gang at the track for a workout. I had communicated with Justin earlier in the day and he was planning a pyramid workout with a marathon pace effort at the end. Since I had not done a pyramid is forever and I have a couple of tough 10ks coming up I decided to join him. Three mile warm-up, striders followed by. 400, 800, 1200, Mile, 1200, 800, 400, followed by a marathon pace effort which for Justin is 5:18 right now. 400 recovery after every interval which was quick early but we slowed down as we moved forward. 69, 2:22, 3:38, 5:03, 3:42, 2:22, 63, 3:48 mp 1200, blew up, rested, last quarter with Fyffe in 77. Overall a solid effort as I was hitting all the splits that Justin wanted and I towed the first half of the workout. Early on in the workout I knew I was not at my best and knew that it was going to be a grind. I was having a very difficult time relaxing my upper body and facial muscles. I was hot and it was a little humid which may have been a contributing factor. The second 1200 was a bit off pace at 3:42 but I hung pretty tough and was able to get things back in line for the last two repeats. I know it was a solid workout but I was a little discouraged having an off day while Justin was clearly on his A game. It is tough watching someone run away from you over the last half of a workout. He really looked great. We jogged an 800 and then went into the MP effort. We started a little slow (81) and I knew that I was good for a mile tops. I let Justin know and told him to tuck in and that I would pull him through the mile on pace. 1100 in I popped like a tour rider on an alpine pass and pulled up at 1200 in 3:48. I was toast and in full knees on the track what's wrong with me mode. Throwing reason out the window I decided to pull Justin through the last quarter so I could get a mile like I said I would. Stubborn idiot way of training. Finished things off with a 77 and was toast. I cooled-down with Josh, Justin, and Tim for a mile and called it a day but the damage was already done. On a separate not Josh looks incredible heading into the 50k next week. I have not seen him this fit since he was in school so watch out world! Armadillos was good but my stomach was already giving me fits. Had a terrible night at home with serious stomach issues and a serious lack of sleep. Fifteen on the day. (1 hr. 45 min.)

Thursday: Coming off the terrible night sleep I decided that it would be in my best interest today to keep things on the light side. Went to noon swim and did a 1000 yd. warm-up 2 x 200 quickie, 200 pull, 100 kb. Followed with 10 x 25 fast with flippers on streamline recovery. 1700 yds. total. (30 min.) Since we have a busy afternoon on tap I headed right out the door on a slow nine miler all alone out to Yale Forest and back. I stopped the watch shortly after 2.5 miles because I was running so slow and did not want any pressure to pick it up! Run and ride tomorrow then Bridge of Flowers Saturday. (1 hr.) (1 hr. 30 min.)

Friday: Nine mile run felt great. Travel to Shelburne Falls for Bridge of Flowers speech. (1 hr.)

Saturday: Bridge of Flowers 10k. Slept really awkwardly on my left hip and woke up around 2:30 with a really uncomfortable pain in my piraformis. Up most of the night shifting around and not feeling well. When I "woke up" the hip/glute was really stiff and it felt like the muscle was off and not functioning. Not a great race course for a beat-up feeling hip and back so I decided to take it easy given the severity of the downhills in the second half of the race. Pretty loaded field and I managed 1oth place on a tempo effort. Mary said that I was the only person that did not look terrible which is nice. Hip/butt/back never loosened up which was a bit troubling. Long cool-down with Justin F. and then a day full of driving which only added to my stiffness. (1 hr. 50 min.)

Sunday: Off hip/back not great chiropractor tomorrow. Not a great time for this!

Total: 11 hours 10 minutes

Give Peace a Tri 2011...

Saturday morning I celebrated the one year anniversary of my first triathlon at Give Peace a Tri in Surry, NH. As many of you may remember my debut last year at this race was on a summers worth of swimming and mountain biking. I had only run three times heading into this race last year and was on the verge of going into a boot for my achilles injury. Surprisingly, the race went pretty well and I was instantly hooked on triathlon racing. Despite its small size and lack of top flight competition I was anxiously awaiting this years race all summer.

As I was loading up the car Saturday morning it was hard not to notice the stifling humidity. I broke into a pretty major sweat when I was loading my gear into the car which threw off immediate alarms. I headed out shortly before 8:00 and debated the advantages and disadvantages of blasting the air conditioner on the way to the race. I decided to err on the side of acclimation and kept the windows down and got pretty amped listening to Nine in Nails, Terrible Lie, and Alice in Chains, Would. Pulling into the parking lot I was a little overwhelmed at how many people were already there and totally set-up for the race. Last year I was the first person at the race and the first person to have his transition ready to roll.

At 8:45 I headed out for a short warm-up and continued to fight the unrelenting humidity. By the time I was out of the parking lot I was already drenched and struggling to get oxygen. It was a situation were everyone had to deal with the elements in their own way so I figured that I would do my best to just ignore the conditions. So far this summer humidity has caused me to have severe gastrointestinal issues while under effort so the prospect of a race made me more than a little nervous. After the run I debated whether or not to wear my wetsuit during the swim. Obviously the water temperature was high but I wanted to feel fast so in the end I decided to go with the suit. Following an inspiring pre-race speech by the race director we made our way down to the water.

When the siren sounded I bolted right into a dive and streamline dolphin kick. The swim went out fast toward the first buoy but I did not get caught up in the chaos and just focused on finding my rhythm. I was a little frantic the first hundred meters or so and did not focus nearly enough on my form. Eventually, I relaxed and really went to work focusing on my pull phase. This paid of instantly and as I was sighting buoys I realized that I was passing most of the field. The swim was a little different this year and we had to swim parallel to the shore before making a ninety degree turn into the boat ramp. I would have loved to have swam a little faster and gotten into a rhythm faster but I was positive that I was putting myself into a solid position. Up to the shore I had a good exit and was ready to rock on The Vulture. I had no clue where I stood coming out of the water but knew that I had some work to do. I struggled a bit getting my suit off but quickly got back on track and was out of T1 in pretty good time.

My least favorite part of Give Peace a Tri is the uphill start to the bike leg. It is really difficult to get momentum and get clipped in while going so slow. Once I was at the gate leaving the park I was at full wattage. I saw one rider up ahead and made quick work of catching and passing him. I knew that there was one swimmer significantly ahead of me so I was sure that someone was up the road and out of sight. Turning out onto 12a I realized that it was an obvious relay team because a women was just ahead on hybrid city bike. The visual of me passing her at thirty-five mph on a downhill grade must have been pretty amusing. I kept churning a big gear and focused on riding down anyone that may have still been up there. At the turn around it was apparent that I was the leader and as I rounding the bend I told myself to "kill it!" I went right to work on destroying myself the last four miles of the ride. I did not pay any attention to the other riders that I was passing and just flat out rolled. Later while sitting at the awards a fellow competitor was telling his wife about the leader as he passed on the bike. The guy had no clue that I was in ear shot but he was telling his wife about the sound of the wind rushing around the guy as he passed. Paul and I thought it was a pretty cool description of my bike leg. I kept putting in maximum effort and once I was on the flats I started working even harder. I am so excited to see the expanded results because I am sure that I put in my fastest ride ever. I really think that it will pan out to be a twenty-five mph average. Into the park and past the crowd I had a super dismount and T2.

Heading up the hill again I heard Erik excitingly yelling at me to attack the run leg. Over the crest of the hill my stomach started giving me some issues so it took a few minutes to really find a rhythm of running fast and relaxed. I knew that I was way out in front but I really wanted to put in a big effort. I had been talking about breaking forty-minutes all summer so I knew I needed to keep the pressure on high. Given that the swim was longer my goal was a little off base but I still thought I had a chance. The humidity was taking its toll but I did my best to fight the whole run leg. Back into the park I knew sub forty was out of the question but I still put on a huge kick to finish things off with the respect that the race deserves. Erik timed my run leg at 14:58 which was nice but I think I could have gone significantly faster with lower humidity.

My overall time ended up being 41:20 which was a course record even with the longer swim. After some reflection I am quite satisfied with the way things went. In hindsight I really could have packed it in after the turn on the bike and still won. I was hurting pretty badly in the humidity and not having a whole lot of fun. It's always exciting when you can push past all the crap in your head telling you to stop when things are really tough. I have been so obsessed with the idea of challenging myself this summer that the thought of packing it in was a sickening insult to hard work. It would have been so awesome if Andy had been in the race. I know he would have gotten out of the water ahead of me and that I would have had to worked even harder on the bike and run. Maybe before the end of the season we can lock horns in a sprint. I really feel like my bike leg was the highlight of the whole race. I have been putting in so much time in the TT position that I think my power is significantly higher than earlier in the season. Obviously this is one of the shorter races that I will ever do but I feel like it is very important to have some sort of exposure to really explosive effort on the bike and run. Without question Give Peace a Tri will stay on my summer calendar for years to come.

Cheers,

Mark

Summer of Mark Week VI

Monday: Went to noon swim alone and planned on doing a bunch of form work followed by 10 x 50 at race pace. Drills felt good but I struggled a little bit with my side balance exercises. I did a lot of work pulling with the buoy before getting into the repeats. I took 30 seconds rest between each 50 and mostly swam 38s with the occasional 37. Finished off the hour with some extra kick board work followed by more pulling. (1 hr.) Hung out during the huge thunderstorm that seemingly was centered over my house. I honestly heard some of the loudest crashes of thunder in my entire life! Super cool! At 4:45 I went out for a super easy long ten miler with Mary on the rail trail. Coming off the big running numbers from the weekend it was nice to relax and just hang out with Mary on a run. (1 hr. 15 min.) (2 hr. 15 min.)

Tuesday: 10:00 Headed out to Surry and back on The Vulture. I wore my aero helmet for the first time to get ready for Saturday. I felt like such a tool riding through town with a teardrop shaped helmet on. Needless to say I got a few cockamamie looks from the locals. The things we do in the name of speed. Out on the ride I found out pretty early that I had terrible legs today. My hip flexors were pretty tired and I am guessing that it is from all the extra kick board work that I did yesterday. I worked through twenty miles at a 23 mph avg. then I sat up for the remaining seven plus miles of the ride. No point pushing through a bad ride and ruining the rest of the day. (1 hr. 15 min.) Went to noon swim for an hour of drills and skills. I did 1000 yds. of typical drills for my warm-up before being taught some new skull drills to help me feel the water better. Ended the hour with some work on flip turns. (1 hr.) Following a nice hour long nap with Eko I headed out to Swanzey and back on the rail bed. My hip flexors and quads were still tired so I am a little nervous about swimming hard tomorrow morning and then running 400s and 200s at the track in the afternoon. (1 hr.) On another interesting note the sports editor from WMUR wrote to me today wanting to do a story on my transition to triathlon. Should be an interesting experience. (3 hr. 15 min.)

Wednesday: Off. Woke up last night and felt horrible. Had a difficult night of sleep and could not get things back on track this morning. Wicked low energy, dead legs, and general listlessness. Safe side. By the way I hate days off!!!!!!!! ( 0 )

Thursday: 9:30 out the door on The Vulture for a moderate 30 mile ride. I checked out the Surry recreation area so I could visualize getting off the bike at speed on dirt Saturday. Also did some figuring of which gear I will leave my bike in for the exit of T1. Out on the bike course I worked on the turnaround a few different times with a few different lines. It seems like I will be able to be a little risky and stay on the aero bars until the last second. Finished up with a West Keene loop full of hills. Felt better as the ride went on. ( 1 hr. 24 min.) 1:00 After watching the greatness that is Pearl Jam Live at the Garden I was pretty amped to get out for a run. With the absence of a Wednesday workout I still wanted to get in some effort before the race. Ran out and back to Yale Forest with 4 x 60, 4 x 30 on the rail bed. I did not do the repeats until I was 45 minutes into the run so I was working on running fast while tired. Went through ten miles in sub sixty-minutes then shut it down for a three mile cool-down. Felt great. ( 1 hr. 21 min.) (2 hr. 45 min.)

Friday: Ran an easy seven miler out to the dump and back on the rail bed with Mary and Pete Thomas. Slightly uphill on the way out and slightly down on the way back. It was nice to run with Mary and Pete like we used to on easy days when we were young. (53 min.) Went to noon swim and did a set of drills and a few hundreds to make sure I have a good feel for the water tomorrow. ( 20 min.) ( 1 hr. 13 min.)

Saturday: Give Peace a Tri. First place 40:20. ( 1 hr. 30 min.)

Sunday: Wicked humid long run first seven with Mary last nine solo. Recovery run at a slow pace without a whole lot of thought. (1 hr. 53 min.)

Total: 12 hours and 43 minutes. Aside from the off day this week was exactly what I was looking for. I am going to focus a little bit on being a runner this week before getting back after Tri training the following week. Cigna Thursday night and Bridge of Flowers Saturday.