The Calm Before the Storm

I will probably use this blog post title more than once over the next 4 weeks. I think it to be quite relevant in the broad scheme of things to come in near future for my triathlete friends as well as myself. We've all put in an enormous amount of time and effort into our training over the past 10-12 months. It's literally been a whole year in the making. Well that's just for me since this is my first, so I guess you could say that for many people its been multiple years in the making. But just think about where we all were about a year ago. For me personally I was about to do my second triathlon ever, a sprint tri in Buffalo called the Quakerman. Although it is but a small race in the grand scheme of things I think I placed third in my AG and they gave me a trophy. Well slap me on the butt and call me silly but when I get something along the lines of a trophy or a plaque, no matter if I was an overall winner or just a participant, I am going to be the happiest boy in town. So I think it was also around this time where I got up the nerve and got one of the last spots in the Musselman 1/2 Ironman race in Geneva. I literally had no idea what I was doing at the time but I knew that anything with the word Ironman in it (relating to Triathlon, and well cartoons for that matter) WAS FREAKING COOL AS ALL GET OUT! So I just jumped in the race and figured I'd give it my best shot. The race was a lot of firsts for me, the first time I swam the 1/2 distance, biked the bike distance at a high intensity level (previously my longest rides consisted of two practice runs of the route the two weekends before the race with my good buddy Joe Crispino who got me hooked in this whole endurance sports game, Thanks for making me broke Joe :) haha..wouldn't trade it for anything). So yeah to make a long race recap story short I'll just say that it hurt. I thought all was going well until about mile 8 or 9 on the 1/2 marathon. I had never run this long in my life and never run this long on a run that had so many darn hills. The last 3 miles or so are on a pancake flat section that runs along the edge of the lake and well I felt like I was running in molasses, I just could not move the legs. I was alone and contemplated walking for a bit, but I knew if I completely stopped the legs I would never get them moving again. Alas I made it to the finish line, collected my sweet finishers medal (a small chain ring..very cool idea!) and then proceeded to have some of the worst pains in my legs I have ever felt, I also had a ton of salt residue on my body, something that I had never experienced before in my life and something that I have since not experienced again, hopefully I won't either as I know that this is something that I can control by monitoring my salt intake and utilizing salt tabs on long race days. There ya go, my first try at a real big triathlon..a total time of 5:28 with a run pace of over 9 minutes...YUCK! Thankfully I found Mary Eggers who helped me figure some things out over the winter and in a matter of a few months I put up a 4:45 down in Galveston, Texas this past April. I truly hope that I am only scratching the surface here and can really improve on my performance in Texas, I KNOW I CAN! The thing is..I really went all in to the Ironman game and signed up for not 1 but 2 ironman distance races this year (Placid and Florida). Probably a stupid beginners move but hey if you wanna qualify and then race in Kona you have to do 2 Ironman distances in one year anyways so I mean why not start practicing now so I can nail it in the future, haha! But anyways I am going to see how everything turns out this year. I have been battling some injuries over the past few months and I just want to be healthy going into Placid in 4 weeks, thats the main goal. Then I will go on a 2 week mandatory rest and assess my situation. I may not even race again until the end of September when the 1/2 Ironman in Syracuse, NY takes place. This year is all about testing the waters and seeing what its all about. As of now I think that I am going to totally focus on the 70.3 (1/2 Ironman) distances next year and really try to improve upon my speed. Maybe I will even head to Oceanside or Eagleman and try to claim a spot for Kona in the 70.3 distance...you never know right? Everyone's gotta have dreams and aspirations! But this will all be throught about after Placid, after I take my body through the hurtlocker, hahahaah!

On we go...

Yes, today is truly one of those "Calm before the Storm days". I am up here in Ludlow, VT with the QT2 triathlon team. These guys seem to have an amazing system going. Obviously my own coach Mary Eggers is a firm believer and you can tell that just by what she says like in her blog or whatnot. But everyone that I have met up here that is a member of the team is fully on-board with the "protocol" its very cool to see. So the place that they have put me up in is one of two townhouses that the team has rented out this weekend. Its sooooo cool! It's just a huge townhouse place with tons of furnished rooms, multiple kitchens and bathroom, tv's, wireless internet, etc...etc...I think it is mainly set up for huge parties to come up here and stay in the winter while they are here to ski at the nearby ski resort. Ludlow, VT as you would probably guess is definitely a ski town and I can only imagine that being here during the winter would be killer as it is a totally small, quaint little town that probably knows how to have a ton of fun.

I got in here yesterday afternoon, had some lunch and drove around the area to get a lay of the land. After getting lost and finding my way back again I lounged in my car and waited for the "Bostonians" as the whole team is from the Boston area, to arrive. Tim and Cait Snow both who are both professional triathletes and both QT2 coaches arrived first. I had never met them before but they were totally cool and introduced themselves to me as well as invited me to come along on a bike ride with them as they were gonna head out for a couple hours before the rest of the crew got in. Well I am never going to turn down going for a bike ride, let alone turn down an offer to head out with someone with as much experience and pedigree as Tim Snow. So out we went, Cait (who is preparing once again to win Placid, oh yeah..did I mention she has freaking won the whole darn race! Yeah..that's badass!..she just got a new bike so she is out to kill it this year!) turned and went a different direction than Tim and I. I stayed with Tim and we headed out for what would be about a 2 hour ride. I must say that it is exceptionally beautiful up here in VT. Lots of streams, hills, rocks, Mountains, etc...For the first hour we were pretty much going at a really good clip since it was downhill and with the wind. Although it started raining a bunch at various times during the ride it really wasn't that bad, kinda of cooled things off and also produced this magnificent piece of scenery that I captured with my water logged iPhone, thankfully it still worked then and is still working now :) But check this out...


Tim and I searched for the pot o gold at the end of the rainbow but alas we could not find the end..sneaky rainbow! I blame the Lucky Charms guy for messing with us. However, Ken a Train This teammate gave me a tip about where the pot o gold was, he said that it was at the finish line of IMLP..so now I have some motivation (not that I didn't have any before, haha) and I am definitely going to go as fast as possible so nobody gets to that gold before me!

Well I could go on and on but I need to get ready for the day, 1 cup of coffee down, time to finish breakfast and get the bike ready for a nice Friday morning ride with the new crew. I am really looking forward to learning a TON this weekend, its going to be so much fun!

On tap for the day is I think 2-3 hours on the bike, a swim time trial (ut oh!) and then a run. Details to come later.

Have a great day everyone!

-Turbo