Thursday, July 30, 2009

First at Mudwater

After spending several weeks back in base training my legs felt fresher for the July 19 Mudwater Tri here in Wichita. Thanks to some great dolphining I led the first, oh 100 yds or so before being over taken by some young swimmers. Again I was hoping for a better showing on the swim, but overall the day went much better than the previous race. I was especially pleased to have some of my smoothest transitions of the year after finally spending some quality time practicing them. My bike was also back up above a 25 avg with the legs responding much better and I cruised it home with a 17.25 5k for a 1.5 min gap over 2nd in my comfy new Brooks Racer ST 4's that have eliminated my foot pains.
Enjoyed my 1 week training camp in CO; on to Hutchinson Salty Dog, Aug 8, 7am at Carey Park.

Friday, July 17, 2009

HyVee


Well, a little late getting to this post. Partly from being busy, partly due to the outcome. I choose 2 or 3 A races each year to focus on. This year my early season was on HyVee. I knew by choosing to do Kansas 70.3 2 weeks before that it would be a tough double, but that it would be adequate time to recover. Although my swim didn't go well this has happened before, the real trouble came when I got on my bike and found I did not have the power I usually have for this type of race. I forced my legs through an average ride and being 8 minutes out of the lead at this point decided to cut my losses due to a nagging foot injury I had been having while running. I jogged it home in 32nd, 8 minutes slower than 2008. Of course you always learn more in the races that don't go well, and I have since re-thought my tapering strategies, race planning, etc. in regards to big races. I hope to implement these changes for the US Open. Until then I have changed my schedule to include 4 local races, a possible appearance at the club championships in OK, and the Open. Check out the locations on my website and come see a race. First off is this Sunday at Lake Afton by Wichita, 7:30am.