Where did July go????

So July is here and gone...wow that was fast.

The end of June flew by with all the work the last 2 weeks putting on the Damtri. Overall it was a great success. A few bugs to work out but not too bad for a first time event.

After settling down from the Damtri it was time to get ready for the bike leg of the quad games. I was feeling good and ready to set a good time. I rode a 28:50 something here 2 years ago on the gently rolling 12 mile course and I am in much better shape now. Plus I've been putting up times over a minute better than my time 2 years ago at the Presque Isle Time Trials, so I was bound and determined to do a sub 28 minute ride and my goal was 27:30. Alas, it was not meant to be. The start times are supposed to go by alphabetical order and my name put me in the 140's out of 400, or a 9:35am start. Unfortunately there was a lot of weather moving and the wind really started to pick up.

I rode the first 7 miles at a 26 mph pace, conserving for the final 5 miles after the turn around. As soon as I made the turn however I knew I was in trouble as the headwind was awful and I was killing myself to hold 23-24 mph. I had good strong legs and felt great and kept my HR right at 186-187, which meant I was right at my limit where I needed to be, but the wind killed me. Ended up with a 28:50, or about the same time I had 2 years ago. And to cap it all off, I got beat by several people I had beat by 30-90 seconds just 2 weeks earlier that had start times 20-30 minutes before me and did not have to deal with the headwind (and a lot of them had last names that should have put them after me.....hmmmm). Oh well, the people that had the real late starts were really getting a rough go of it though due to the storm that by the end of my ride was almost on top of the course, so it could have been worse. At least I looked good in the new TT Suit from Coach John/Team Continum! Sunday after the Quad TT was the Milton Man Olympic tri in Lake Milton, Ohio. Up at 4 am and off to the races, again.
This was a last minute decision but turned out to be a nice race, and I recognized numerous people that had done the Damtri a few weeks earlier and talked to several of them.

The swim was a 2 loop affair (they also had a sprint going on at the same time) and I took off hard at the gun. I quickly found myself in 2nd place with first place about 10 feet off to my right. I angled over to him to catch his feet but he was going at a blistering pace that I knew I could not hold for both laps, so I let him go and saw another guy about 20 feet to my left get by me too. I settled in and drafted off a 3rd guy for most of the race and came in at 22:13 for the 4th fastest swim.

The bike was a 2 loop course, pretty decent roads except for one spot and with no major hills to speak of other than towards the end of the loop there was one short steep hill. I caught 2 guys (one about 1/2 way through the second loop) and got passed by 2, which I did not like but the legs were a little sore from the previous day's TT. About mile 20 I heard a metal on asphalt sound as something from my bike rattled off and down the road. Later I would find out it was my micro-flate and CO2 cartridge. As I looked down to see what fell off my bike I also realized I had no timeing chip on! Uh-OH! I prayed it was stuck in my wetsuit and figured I'd just have a really long T-1 time!. Got off the bike in around 1:03 or so, averaged somewhere between 23 and 24mph (I later found out they had a problem with the mats so no one got splits between swim end and the race end). Ran into transition and quickly found my timing chip stuck in the bottom of my wetsuit, threw it back on and headed off on the run.

The run was a 2 loop course also, again a nice little run. Short bit through a park/trail, along a main road and then an out and back through some side roads before the last 1/4 mile or so back in the park to the second loop/finish. I felt good on the run and hit the first mile in 6 minutes flat, passing the really fast swimmer guy right out of transition. Kept a good pace for the first lap and did not get passed by anyone, although 1 guy was gaining on me pretty good. Finished the first lap in right around 20 minutes and finally got caught by the fast runner about 1/2 mile into the 2nd lap. Turns out he was one of the guys that raced elite at the Damtri a few weeks earlier. Held my position for the remainder of the run and finished with a 10k of 40 and change, which is a PB for me! I felt I could have gone a little harder but had no one around. Sub 40 is definitely close though. Ended up 5th overall, 1st Male 35-39. They did not have splits but I did have the 4th fastest combined T-1, bike, T-2 and run time.

After Milton man it was just some good solid training weeks. Headed to a beautiful winery down by Seven Springs PA for my cousin Erin's wedding, then came back and got ready for the trip to Lake Placid to volunteer and sign up for Ironman LP 2010, but that's another post.