W/ Team Timex Member Jackie Arendt |
On Friday I didn't feel quite right but I knew I had to get in some semblance of work done to get the body fresh. I opted for a patented strategy of workouts that have a fair bit of intensity but with very limited volume. The plan initially was to at least aquabike Ironman Muncie 70.3 and then race the following day at Decatur Lakeside Triathlon, but with the sickness I opted to shuffle the cards and ended up at the Pewaukee Triathlon instead. I'm not going to write this race up so here is a quick summary for those interested.
Swim: With record high temps all week I was not surprised that Lake Pewaukee was boiling. Because this isn't a official USAT race they don't abide by wetsuit rules. There is no way this would have been wetsuit legal, but even with the heat, there was never a doubt that I would wear a wetsuit. With the heat, I knew that busting out hard in the swim was not a wise option and opted to dial it back to something more like 70.3 pace. I found some feet off the second swimmer and hung tight. I could tell the swimmer was tiring and had planned to pass him after the final turn buoy but my plans changed when I was blinded by some of the worst place sun I have ever experience. I could not see anything and opted just to relax and leave it up to the bike.
Bike: After an always speedy transition, I exited transition in 1st place with Paul Eicher close behind. I focused on creating separation right away and never looked back. For the second race in a row I couldn't get my Powertap to work despite it working fine in morning warm-up. After a few restarts of my Edge 500 it was still "no bueno" and I decided to scrap racing by power and decided just to pedal like a man possessed.
As we rolled out of the twisty turning subdivisions I started to look back to see what kind of gap I created. It was sizeable but it wasn't growing as quickly as I expected. It would stay like this and everytime I thought I was finally "out of sight out of mind" this white helmet would appear in the distance. Finally late in the bike ride he was gone and I could relax knowing that with a bum Achilles that I could just set it on cruise control for the win. Unfortunately the racing gods had other plans for me and decided that I needed to be stopped by a train. Yes a moving train. As I sat there I could see transition in the distance, but I couldn't get by. Every second seemed like an eternity. Finally the train passed and I burnt a massive match to get the bike back up to speed only to have to slow down again as I rolled into transition.
As we rolled out of the twisty turning subdivisions I started to look back to see what kind of gap I created. It was sizeable but it wasn't growing as quickly as I expected. It would stay like this and everytime I thought I was finally "out of sight out of mind" this white helmet would appear in the distance. Finally late in the bike ride he was gone and I could relax knowing that with a bum Achilles that I could just set it on cruise control for the win. Unfortunately the racing gods had other plans for me and decided that I needed to be stopped by a train. Yes a moving train. As I sat there I could see transition in the distance, but I couldn't get by. Every second seemed like an eternity. Finally the train passed and I burnt a massive match to get the bike back up to speed only to have to slow down again as I rolled into transition.
Run: I headed out on the run with the goal of maintaining a conservative pace on this challenging run course. I ran with a focus on good form and took a glance back at the 1/2 mile mark to see no one. I soldiered on to a little out and back that would give me the information I needed. It told me with 1.5 miles left to go that my lead was at roughly 45 seconds. As a result, I picked up the pace in order to guarantee my victory. After a few challenging descents I took another glance back and could now see no one. I put it back in cruise and ran it in for the win.
Later I would find out that the biker behind me was actually a Wisconsin uber-cyclist who was part of a relay. Those relays started at the same time as us. This information would have been nice to know, but I will chalk it up as my own fault for not knowing enough about the race. Anyway, I was happy with the win and happy to share it with fellow friend, pro triathlete, and local Madisonian Jackie Arendt.
Later I would find out that the biker behind me was actually a Wisconsin uber-cyclist who was part of a relay. Those relays started at the same time as us. This information would have been nice to know, but I will chalk it up as my own fault for not knowing enough about the race. Anyway, I was happy with the win and happy to share it with fellow friend, pro triathlete, and local Madisonian Jackie Arendt.
Here are my weekly swim, bike, and run totals:
Total: 92 Miles / 11 hours 25 minutes
Swim: 15,946 yards / ~9 miles / 5 hours 37 minutes
Bike: 66 miles / 3 hours 48 minutes
Run: 17 miles / 1 hours 59 minutes
Core: 0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes
Weight: N/A
Body Fat: N/A
Calories Consumed: N/A
Calories Burned: N/A
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