Summer Training and Racing
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| Team EMD/Serono |
As May turned to June I entered the core
weeks of my Ironman build for Lake Placid.
One of my key training weekends each year is the MS150 Ocean to BayRide. The National Multiple Sclerosis
society sponsors hundreds of these rides across the country as a way to raise
funds for research to find new treatments or a cure for MS.
Whether you are an avid cyclist or a novice,
you should consider participating in one of these rides. They are terrifically supported, a genuinely
fun event, and the proceeds go to a great cause. The MS
society offers options to do a single day 38-mile ride, and 100- or 75-mile
rides on either day. My training
partner, Adam Frager, and I opted to do a 100-mile ride with a 30-minute brick
run on Day 1 and a 75-mile ride on Day 2. One of the unique features of the Ocean to
Bay ride on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is the overnight stay at Camp Silver
Beach, a YMCA summer camp. There is a beach, a great pool with a water slide, and air conditioned cabins. This year I was offered the chance to ride with the EMD Serono/Fat Frogs
team(Thank You Peggy Neidig!!). It was
a great weekend and I can’t thank the Fat Frogs enough for their fantastic
hospitality. We had a great time. Special “Thank Yous” to my donors Dixie
House, Joe Joyce & Rob Cheng, Kevin Watts, Melanie Smith, Paige Kurtz, Curt
Shaffer, Adam Frager, and TJ Smith. I
raised $336 as an individual, and the Fat Frogs combined total was
$13,581. It is nice to be able to give
back to the community by doing something that I love to do.
The next event on the horizon was the Revolution 3 Half-Rev
(70.3) Triathlon in Williamsburg, Virginia.
I have written about the inaugural event here. The race in 2013 was a disaster.
The race director did not account for the tides at the swim site. They set the course up in the middle of
Williamsburg, on the campus of William & Mary, and created the single
largest traffic jam that Williamsburg has ever seen. The caterer ran out of
food and drink post race. If you want
to make people mad in the South, make them late for Church and don't feed them Supper. Rev 3 promised to come back for 2014 and
they assured all the racers that they would fix what was broken and improve the
race for 2014.
Getting Ready to Race
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| Rev 3 Swim Location (Current right to left) |
Because of the geography of the region there are very few suitable locations to hold an open water swim in the Williamsburg area. That means the swim for Rev 3 Williamsburg is at the same location as the Patriots Half, a great local race run by Setup Events every September. The James River is a tidal estuary and the current reverses with the tides. A lot of people that don't live near the ocean have trouble with this concept. All rivers flow downhill to the sea, right? The bottom line is that the current can flow almost 2 knots North or South at max tidal flow in or out. The race start coincided with maximum outgoing tide. The big question coming in to the race was how the Rev 3 race team would set up the swim course.
Rev 3 holds their race on Sunday. Athlete check-in was Saturday and all bikes had to be dropped off by 6 pm. On Saturday morning my training partner and I drove to the swim site early to hit the swim course at the same tide condition as race day. That meant getting the water around 6 am. We jumped in the water and headed out for a tower mark about 0.2 miles off the shore. In the shallows the current was hardly noticeable, but there was a clear current line located at about where the sail-boat is anchored in the picture above. I found myself working way harder than planned to get to the tower mark, and my short 20 minute swim became a 30 minute effort with the current. I had just blown my swim taper. I didn't know it at the time, but I'd see it in my performance the next day.
After dragging ourselves back to the shore, we hopped on our bikes and did a fast 15 minute out back along the start of the bike course. Rev 3 opted for a two transition race plan with a point-to-point bike ride. If they didn't there would be no notable difference between their race and the Patriot's Half. Most racers won't pay 3x cost to race on the same course twice a year. In this case Rev 3 did the right thing by setting up the point-to-point ride. The bike course is a fantastic ride.
After knocking out our tune-up ride we headed to T2 at the Warhill Sports Complex. The run course was on a combination of gravel trail and paved bike path at the WSC. Adam and I opted to run one loop of the course to get a feel for the run. It had great shade on the front half on the gravel trail, but it was curvy, hilly, and in some places had treacherous footing. The second half was in full sun on asphalt - hot!! In my opinion it was a hard course to run, and that would be proven out the next day.
Check-in went smoothly. The attendance in the second year of this event was low. It was a ghost town early in the day. The expo was unremarkable. However, we did get to see Scott Taber and his wife, Walt Gonzales at the Fat Frogs tent, John Fitzgerald, Dan Arnett, and Chris Haas. We were running late for lunch, so we grabbed our packets and rushed back down to the Swim Start/T1 to drop off our bikes. Sean Kelly got a got a great picture of my bike racked in T1. Thanks Sean! |
| USMES and Snapple |
About one week before the race I received
an e-mail from the Snapple Tri Team manager inviting me to have lunch with the
United States Military Endurance Sports Team.
Snapple sponsors USMES and their team director Kathy Rakel offered to
buy the Snapple team lunch. It was a
very nice event and I was pleased to meet some great competitors and teammates! Mindy, Holly, and the rest of Snapple crew, it was great getting together pre-race. We definitely should do this more often.
Race Plan
My coach and Snapple Teammate, Adam Otstot, sent my race plan the Monday before the race. It was aggressive. I spent the first half of the year focused on improving my swim and bike without negatively impacting my run. My functional power was up 15 watts from the same time last year, I hit a 5:30 average on my mile repeat run test, and was holding my 100 yd repeats on a 1:35 interval. Solid improvement across the board. Going in to the race we both assumed that the swim would be a mess, and that there was no way this course could yield a PR. The goal was to stay smooth in the water, within my limits on the bike, and go after the run. There was no target for the swim other than perceived effort. On the bike I was to stay between 220 and 230 watts and try to spin on the front side of the course because the 2nd half was far more challenging then the first. Adam wanted me to go out at 6:40 pace for the 1st lap of the run and then try to hold 6:30 for the remainder. I could go after the last lap if I felt good. Like I said, aggressive.
The Race
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| Adam F, Adam O, and Me at the Swim Start |
I woke up at 3:00 am and grabbed a bonk breaker bar, a bagel with peanut butter and honey, a banana, and a cup of coffee. On my way to Adam Frager's house I drank a bottle of Osmo Pre-load mixed half-and-half with Osmo Active Hydration. I threw my gear into Adam's truck and we headed off to T2 to set up our run gear and then jump on the shuttle to T1. The water was warm, so no wetsuit. I had my Xterra speed suit, a bottle of Osmo Active Hydration, and my gear bags. We set up T2 and hopped on the shuttle.
It was a quick ride to T1. We hopped off the shuttle, I filled my bottles, put three bonk breaker bars in my binto box, and pumped up my bike tires. I put on my trainers and did a 15 minute run to get warmed up. We dropped our dry gear bags in the bins and walked down to the beach to meet Adam Otstot for some last minute encouragement, and did a short 10 minute swim. My arms were tight from my effort in the current the day before. That did not bode well for the swim.
Swim: The first swim start for the Half was Male 45+. That was a bit unusual and had me worried, because most of my competition would be 5 to 10 minutes behind me. We lined up and I took my position as far out on the line as I could. The horn sounded and off we went. In order to keep us out of the heavy current, the race director set the course up with a long leg fairly close to the shore. Unfortunately that mean we were in the shallow water to start and rather than swim, a lot of racers opted to walk. So there I was swimming and every time rolled to my left and took a breath on my right I was looking at a whole bunch of guys jogging through the water that was a little higher than waist deep. I opted to keep swimming. My arms were tired and two of the other old guys got clear separation. I was behind them but well in front of the pack, and all alone! Not what I had hoped for. The current was having minimal impact, but I had no one to guage my speed against and no one to draft off. All I could do was swim and try to keep my form as perfect as possible. I made the final turn for the beach directly into the rising sun. It was impossible to see the swim exit in the glare, so I just swam in to the sun until I could pick up the swim exit arch. I was a little off, but not as bad as some of the others. Swim: 33:02 - 3/41/58 A/G/O
It's a quarter mile slog up to T1 from the beach. I was running well and I had my speed suit nearly off by the time I hit the bikes. A quick swig of Osmo Active, helmot on, sunglasses on, race number belt on, shoes, and go. A bit slow, but 2 minutes of it is the run from the beach. T1: 3:41
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| Coming Into T2 |
Bike: I felt good on the bike. My cadence was steady at 95 and I was holding 220 watts and about 23 MPH. The course goes out a long false flat up Route 5 in Charles City County and it is fast. Just before I made the right turn onto Sturgeon Point road, a biker in Zoot kit came blowing by me. The lead pack had finally caught the old guys. Before I could say Brian Jastrebsky, he was by me and gone. Just about that same time I was joined by David Kreuger and a couple of other riders. One guy in particular I remembered from Kinetic, for the next 40 miles David pulled this guy around the course. The new Rev3 bike course is a fantastic ride. After the blazing fast section out into Charles City County the route turns North East and begins to become more rolling. Once you turn south on Hwy 60 you have a series of rollers all the way back into Williamsburg proper.. I knew I needed separation from David Krueger because I owed him time and I was really bothered by the guy in my age group hanging on his wheel. Finally I had had enough and I knew it was time to go. I blasted through Diaschund road and over Carwash hill. I put 5 minutes on that group over the last 16 miles. At the turn around on Diaschund I was able to count the riders in front of me and I knew I would be 15th coming off the bike. It was a solid ride, 19th fastest ride of the day. Bike: 02:26:02.823 2/23/24 A/G/O
I popped out of my shoes just before the turn into transition and had a clean dismount. I was a bit wobbly as I had pushed hard at the end of the bike. My rack was at the end of transition and I jogged the bike all the
way down to my slot. T2: 1:17
Run: Shoes on, visor on, Gu Chomps in one pocket, flask of Osmo Active in the other pocket. Off I went. A quick right out of transition, then a quick left. My wife Kelly was there yelling with Rachel Jastrebsky. I was on the trail now and pushing hard. It was starting to get hot and I hit the Osmo flask hard and ate a Chomp. I came through mile one at 6:40, then held 6:30 for the next two. The hills, turns and gravel were messing with my rhythm. The back half of the loop was really hot and I was having the volunteers splash me with cold water at every aid station. I had picked out two runners ahead of me and I caught them by the end of the first loop. Then I was in traffic for the second loop and I couldn't pick out any more targets. My left quad started cramping and I really had to focus on keeping my form solid and smooth through the hills and turns. It was getting hotter and I was dropping pace. I saw Adam Otstot on each lap and he was yelling encouragement, but like me, he couldn't pick out where I was on the lead lap. We both knew I was in the mix, but all I could do was hold on. The last two laps were a blur of taking in calories, managing body temperature, and trying to keep my left quad from locking up. The high point was catching Mindy Ko and hearing her yell out "Goooo Steven" and "Dig Deep." I'd say from the run course pictures I looked pretty haggard by that point. I was supposed to go hard the last lap, but that really became go hard the last mile. As it turned out, the run had hurt me, but it killed everyone else. The wheel sucker dropped at mile 2 (DNF). Karma does exist!! I had the sixth best run of the day. Run: 01:30:37.493 1/12/13 A/G/O
Total Time: 04:34:40.860
I won my Age Group, was the 2nd masters athlete over the line, and finished 13th Overall. Lookout IMLP! I'm just getting started. It was a huge PR. Two minutes faster than Kinetic, and 6 minutes faster than my best from the year before. On a course that I didn't think could yield a PR, I had just crushed my PR. It was a good feeling and a tribute to what consistent effort and training can do. Most people attribute excellence to some sort of herculean effort. I have come to learn that that isn't always the case. Excellence is built by consistency, it is attributable constant effort applied over time.
Congratulations to Brian Jastrebsky for his 1st place O/A in the Half. You killed it dude! Kudos to my Snapple Teammate Mindy Ko, 12th Female and 3rd in age group for the Half, Holly Ann Geldhauser for her 5th place finish in the Olympic Race, Daniel Ballin for his age group win in the Olympic race, Scott Taber for the Oly Clydesdale win, Dan Arnett for his 2nd in age group in the Half, Connie Glueck and Erin Wreski for their 1st place age group finishes, Dixie King for her 2nd place age group finish, and Peggy Neidig for her 3rd place age group finish. Thanks to Rachel Jastrebsky and all the Fat Frogs on the course for cheering me on! I love the Hampton Roads Triathlon Community!! You guys and gals rock!
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| Me and John Fitzgerald on the Age Group Podium |
Finally - Thank You to Snapple Triathlon, Xterra, Osmo, and Sugoi. Osmo has kept me hydrated and performing in the hottest conditions Virginia has to offer. The swim wasn't one of my best, but it would have been worse without my Xterra speed suit. I am honored to represent Sugoi as a Brand Champion. I don't quit and neither does my Sugoi gear. It truly is #Irongear. I still bleed Snapple blue. It was sooo much fun to race with a bunch of teammates on the course!!!
#TeamSugoi #SnappleTri #OsmoNutrition
