Race recaps and Wisconsin Ironman hopes
You blink and summer is almost over. Ahh! I’m just getting going and it’s already mid August. Since my last post I’ve done the Lifetime Fitness Tri, Miracle Kids with my buddy Shane, Chisago half and Turtleman. There has been a mix of results, but all in all things are looking great for Ironman Wisconsin this September.
I finally started doing some rehab again for the remaining scar tissue present in my lower leg. My original pt, Mike Mancini, moved back to Canada (Winnepeg to be precise) last October and I’ve been left to my own devises since. Granted, everything looked great before Mike left, but when you’re racing a lot you find some final touches that need to be addressed. Fortunately I started seeing Dr. Josh Sandell at Spine and Sports Institute. This guy and his team are amazing and are getting me in tip top shape in regards to full range of motion which allows for a proper gait. I no longer look like I’m limping when running and can get a bit more oomph in my stride. It’s going to take until next season to be competent at short course again, but I’ll be up with the top dogs in short course come next year and have full confidence in my long course abilities right now.
Liftime Fitness was a bit of a training session when it came to the run. My swim was alright and I had a ton of fun on the bike – great roadie course for sure! My race was relatively uneventful overall but our team had a great showing and a ton of fun.
Miracle Kids was a blast again this year. I raced with my buddy Shane who has spina bifida and uses a hand cycle and race wheelchair. Shane knocked a ton of time of his last year’s race and we had plenty of time to eat burgers afterwards! I’ll be racing with Shane again next weekend at the Chaska Miracle Kids. My nephew also did Miracle kids part 1 and will be at Chaska as well. He has a great road bike now and can really hammer the bike!
Chisago was a breakthrough race for me. The field was stacked but I had a great swim, super fun bike and incredible run. My goal was to go 4:15 or less and do the run in under 1:30. I went 4:02 (a pr but the course was a bit short) and ran a 1:26. I’d had 2 treatments with Dr. Josh and this really showed on the run – smooth gait and zero pain. I caught everyone on the bike except that David Thompson character but was unable to get away from the two Wisconsin pros. I road the last 20 miles with those guys and put in a couple of digs, but I wasn’t able to shake them unless I really burried it. Since I was uncertain of the run, I choose to be conservative on the bike and ride it in more easily. I’ll be blasting everything at Pigman and will certainly attack the crap out of anybody that I catch and attempts to pace off me. If puking is racing then puking it shall be at Pigman!
Turtleman was one of those epic races that shall always be remembered. I went into it very tired from boat loads of trainig (24 hours in before the race starting the previous Sunday) and then they cancelled the swim due to heavy storm clouds. The race started as a time trial start and we went off solo running over the swim timing mat, along the water line of the beach, up over the T1 timing mat and off to our bikes. The ‘swim’ only took 20 seconds. I went off 4th mixed in with all the ladies as I received a number that originally was assigned to an elite female. I was then in first position on the bike (but not first place overall) very quickly. I hammered the first 5 miles and then backed it off a bit. My head wasn’t in the game and my body was fighting staying up near anaerobic threshold. Devon Palmer and Dan Cohen caught me around mile 15. I went with for a couple of miles but was feeling the fatigue of training coupled with Devon’s pace of 27mph into a friggin headwind. This kid is totally legit and it’s great to see him ripping the crap out of every race he enters. Devon is a super cool kid and my bets are on him at nationals. My run was pokie but I chalked it up to a tempo training run and truly enjoyed myself.
This weekend is Miracle of Mitch with my buddy Shane and then it’s off to Iowa for the Pigman half. There’s a stacked field again and there will certainly be some fast times. This is an A race for me and will be great preparation for IM Wisconsin. After that it’s the St. Paul Tri which is just a couple of blocks from my abode. Nothing is in the books after that, but I may jump into something else if I’m feeling motivated.
Overall training is fantastic. Work is incredibly stressful right now as we are less than two weeks from starting with students. This is always the busiest time of year for me but this year I seem to be staying somewhat relaxed and positive. I’m giving precidence to my training and blocking that time off. Past year’s I’ve sacrificed training for work during this time and lost ground going into Wisconsin. My prep has been focussed mainly on Wisconsin Ironman and I’m simply not willing to let that go. I think that as you get ‘old’ you finally figure out how to prioritize better. Still room for improvement, but it is comming on the prioritization end!
That’s the summary for now. I’ll post in detail about Miracle of Mitch tri and Pigman early next week.
Jeremy Sartain