Lake Stevens IM 70.3 coming up!

It's been quite a season so far. Seems like all I've done is train, train, train, since the beginning of January! Which is a good thing, but now it's time to RACE! I had to cancell the first two races of the season due to a wicked virus that wrecked my lungs for racing. The flu came on just before my first race, an Olympic distance race in Walla Walla, WA over Memorial Daw weekend. After raising the white flag at Onion Man (I actually started the swim--- dumb!) I settled into recovering from flu and getting ready to race Boise IM 70.3 only two weeks later. Three days before Boise, the virus came back with a vengeance and knocked me out for the next two plus weeks. No training at all for most of the month of June!

The flu was winding down by June 26th, the weekend of Ironman CDA, where I met up to cheer on my teammates from QT2 Systems - many of whom were ready to bring it to the CDA course. I resumed training in earnest the day after, June 27. That next Saturday, July 2, I raced a local sprint triathlon, still coughing occasionally. I won my age group! One week later, I raced Portland Rev3 Half on July 10th. I went 4:46:23 in my first 70.3 and ran a 7:03 pace 1:32:xx run split, second fastest in my age group! Hey, maybe a month of "recovery" did me some good! I was very surprised the fitness was still there to a large degree.

We triathletes tend to get pretty twitchy if we're on the couch for any length of time not able to train. What I learned from that experience is there is a very fine line between breaking the stress budget and staying healthy! I was shattered from having just completed my two weeks of critical volume and not allowing enough time for sleep! I paid the price and I've learned. I now protect my sleep like a pitbull on a tenderloin. 

It's been over three weeks since racing Portland Rev3 Half. I've sustained a very agressive high volume training regimen under the watchful eye of pro triathlete and QT2 Systems coach, Tim Snow. I'm now just over a week out from racing my first true A race of the season, Lake Stevens IM 70.3. It's exciting. Just one more weekend of huge training volumes then a taper week. It's exciting.

I'm proud to be racing on QT2 Systems' advanced team. It's a huge motivator for me to do my best out there on the course. I want to put them on the map! You'll soon learn I'm a QT2 disciple. I've embraced their training protocols and want to put them on the map out here in the Pacific Northwest.

Stay tuned for a race report from IM Lake Stevens 70.3.

Greg