After lots of trying to get registered for a 2008 Ironman I've finally secured a spot in an IM for 2008. I'll be making a return trip to Coeur d'Alene next June to take another shot at a Kona slot. Make your reservations now for a trip to Coeur d'Alene to experience all the excitment of an Ironman.
Also tentatively on the calendar is a trip to Kona in May for hte 70.3 race.
One more race this season at the Grand Columbian. I'm feeling pretty beat up with a sore knee, and the leg and back soreness that I struggled with most of this year is back so training has been pretty limited but we'll see how things go. I'm still pretty positive about my potential performance in the race and I know the course and would like to improve on last years performance of 5:35 which should be no problem.
8.07.2007
Troika 1/2 Ironman - Pretty Good Day
I did the Troika 1/2 Ironman this weekend in Spokane, Washington. This was my first time at this race and first race since IMCDA and I haven’t done much training since the IM so I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this race.
The swim is in Medical Lake a few miles west of Spokane. The water was warm in the low 70’s and clean and the air temp was in the low 60’s at the start. I’ve apparently got one speed in the water no matter how far I’m swimming so it was a typical swim for me and I was done in 36:03 in 77th place.
I was pretty disappointed by what I would consider to be a significant amount of course cutting on the swim. At the far turn buoy there was an aerator machine which was inside the turn buoy by about 15-20 yards. As I went around the buoy I looked right and there was a train of people going around the aerator machine instead of the big orange buoy. With this being a modified triangle course we’re talking a 1-2 minute advantage. Pretty disappointing that there was no boat or referee in the area. In the end it probably didn't sigificantly impact my time or overall place in the race.
It took me about 5 miles to get into my rhythm on the bike which is normal but then I started picking people off at a pretty good rate. There are some nice long flat sections in the first half of the race with some very gentle rolling hills which you can power up and over. In the second half of the race there are a few small steeper hills (not my strength), then some short descents before back to some rolling terrain as you come into downtown Spokane.
I've been training and racing with a strained quad for several months and it hadn’t gotten any better or worse with racing and physical therapy but it finally gave at about mile 45 so the last 10 miles or so were not what I was hoping for as I wasn't able to generate any power from the quad and really slowed down. I finished the bike in 2:31:23 with a 22.2 mph average and had moved up to 26th place.
I took my sweet time in transition to the run as I was trying to decide if I could run with the quad or not. I decided to give it a shot and just take it easy. I headed out at a very easy pace and just kept rolling through the run. The temperature really jumped up a bit in the second half of the run for me into the mid 80’s but with no wind it felt warmer (however it could have been much hotter). I gave up one place on the run in the last mile but ran pretty much consistent splits the whole way to finish the run in 1:47:17 which is very pedestrian ½ marathon for me. I don’t think I did any more serious damage to my quad on the run which probably would have been the result had I pushed it.
I finished in 27th place overall in 4:57:56 which was only disappointing because had I been up to my normal self on the run I should have been 15-20 minutes faster but you take what the day gives you.
I've got to figure out if I'm going to be able to complete in the Grand Columbian in mid September or not given my leg but I'm planning on it.
On the Ironman front I'm probably going to do Ironman Coeur d'Alene again next summer via the Charity Fund spot as Canada isn't a possibility, Lake Placid is totally sold out, Wisconsin is too close to Hawaii to allow for adequate recovery and Arizona is too early in the season. More to come as I get signed up.
The swim is in Medical Lake a few miles west of Spokane. The water was warm in the low 70’s and clean and the air temp was in the low 60’s at the start. I’ve apparently got one speed in the water no matter how far I’m swimming so it was a typical swim for me and I was done in 36:03 in 77th place.
I was pretty disappointed by what I would consider to be a significant amount of course cutting on the swim. At the far turn buoy there was an aerator machine which was inside the turn buoy by about 15-20 yards. As I went around the buoy I looked right and there was a train of people going around the aerator machine instead of the big orange buoy. With this being a modified triangle course we’re talking a 1-2 minute advantage. Pretty disappointing that there was no boat or referee in the area. In the end it probably didn't sigificantly impact my time or overall place in the race.
It took me about 5 miles to get into my rhythm on the bike which is normal but then I started picking people off at a pretty good rate. There are some nice long flat sections in the first half of the race with some very gentle rolling hills which you can power up and over. In the second half of the race there are a few small steeper hills (not my strength), then some short descents before back to some rolling terrain as you come into downtown Spokane.
I've been training and racing with a strained quad for several months and it hadn’t gotten any better or worse with racing and physical therapy but it finally gave at about mile 45 so the last 10 miles or so were not what I was hoping for as I wasn't able to generate any power from the quad and really slowed down. I finished the bike in 2:31:23 with a 22.2 mph average and had moved up to 26th place.
I took my sweet time in transition to the run as I was trying to decide if I could run with the quad or not. I decided to give it a shot and just take it easy. I headed out at a very easy pace and just kept rolling through the run. The temperature really jumped up a bit in the second half of the run for me into the mid 80’s but with no wind it felt warmer (however it could have been much hotter). I gave up one place on the run in the last mile but ran pretty much consistent splits the whole way to finish the run in 1:47:17 which is very pedestrian ½ marathon for me. I don’t think I did any more serious damage to my quad on the run which probably would have been the result had I pushed it.
I finished in 27th place overall in 4:57:56 which was only disappointing because had I been up to my normal self on the run I should have been 15-20 minutes faster but you take what the day gives you.
I've got to figure out if I'm going to be able to complete in the Grand Columbian in mid September or not given my leg but I'm planning on it.
On the Ironman front I'm probably going to do Ironman Coeur d'Alene again next summer via the Charity Fund spot as Canada isn't a possibility, Lake Placid is totally sold out, Wisconsin is too close to Hawaii to allow for adequate recovery and Arizona is too early in the season. More to come as I get signed up.
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