Third Time's The Charm!

The end of September in the Pacific Northwest is a crap shoot, as far as the weather is concerned. It’s late for a triathlon. The Black Diamond half iron distance triathlon was the featured event on a spectacularly clear and warm Saturday September 24^th at Nolte State Park near Enumclaw, Washington. It is a small race that attracts less than 200 participants. I had slated this event in my race schedule to be my last race of the season. I wanted to turn in my best performance of the season, which included a sprint and three half iron distance races. Had it not been for a nasty bug early in the season, I would have completed four half irons, an Olympic and a sprint. All things considered, I had a successful season.

In late August I attended the QT2 Systems Vermont Training Camp in Ludlow Vermont. For three days, we swam, rode, and ran and enjoyed superb weather, company, and training; that is, until Hurricane Irene rolled through Vermont wreaking havoc and destruction. We finished camp a day early as Irene was forecasted to hit Boston and New York where many of the athletes live. Little did we know, we were literally at the bullseye of this destructive storm. YouTube has all the evidence you’ll need. Just type in Ludlow and you’ll see for yourself.

Training camp was instrumental in helping me prepare for the Black Diamond Half. I discovered that my heart rate training zones had changed and I had been training at very low heart rates – we call that base aerobic training! I had a ton of it this season. Upon returning from camp, I did a fitness test on my trainer and submitted my results to my coach. He promptly adjusted my zones at least 14 beats up from where they were. In a nutshell to the layman, that means my training just got a lot harder! It also means I could race with a lot more confidence as I can push myself to higher heart rates than I had been training in to produce faster results. And that is exactly what happened at Black Diamond Half. I set my goal to ride and run at a heart rate that I’ve never raced at. The result? I had the fastest bike split I’ve ever had in a half iron distance race. I shaved almost ten minutes off my bike split and swam and ran essentially the same as my last two races.

I finished the race with a top ten over all finish and a podium in my age group. I finished with a 4:37:54, less than thirty seconds from a seventh place overall. It’s a great reminder to hurry it up in transitions! I’m very happy with my final race.

So, what was the 2011 season all about? In 2010, I raced my first full Ironman at Coeur D’Alene. The first time at anything can almost always be improved upon. I decided that in 2011, I was going to concentrate on racing half iron distance races and just practice triathlon with the intention of taking that experience into my 2012 full Ironman distance race season. I can honestly say the confidence I have now after this season will help my mental game in 2012. I pushed limits I didn’t know I could push this season. And Ironman races force us to come face-to-face with our limits and our fears!

I have a huge goal for 2012. I’m going to train harder than I’ve ever trained and with some luck line up at Ironman Texas in the best shape of my life.

I’m deconditioning the entire month of October. Two weeks with practically no training or exercise and a couple weeks at the end of the month with minimal swim/bike/run volume. My 2012 Ironman journey begins November 1^st. I have some serious sleep and deep healing to catch up on. I’m going to nail this “training” block!

Triathlon is a lifestyle. Are you ready to take the plunge and enter your first race? You can do it.

Until next time.