Well, the month of June sure threw a bit of everything my way. I started the month in San Fransisco with a cold swim in the San Fran harbor shark infested waters and finished with a great race in Philadelphia last weekend. These two events were sandwiched by a crap fest in Muskoka.
Muskoka was a tough day for me. I struggled to put it bluntly. It was disappointing to perform poorly there as it has always been a place where I have stepped up and raced well in the past. In sport there are plenty of opportunities to offer up excuses for garbage like that but the bottom line is that we are all dealing with something, training is never perfect for anyone and quite frankly, people just don’t care about the reasons….a result is a result, show up and perform your best and the outcome will be what it will be and then you move on to the next one and do your best there, it’s quite simple really, results don’t come with a part in brackets for excuses.
So, fast forward a week, I decided to pull the plug on Guelph and head south to the Philadelphia triathlon…..a slightly larger stage and an opportunity to redeem myself. I had no idea what to expect from Philly, infact, I am embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t place it on a map before I went down. So, I did what I usually do with big cities, I associate them with big pro sports teams in an attempt to get organized in my head. So we have the 76’ers, the Eagles and the Flyers…..that helped matters significantly. What did it even more for me was learning that Rocky Balboa’s famous run up those stairs in the movie Rocky took place at the memorial museum right downtown, a building we biked and ran past several times in the race. I almost donned a grey hoodie to show my respect for the Italian stallion!
Sometimes you know when you’re going to hit it, despite last weekend my confidence was good and I was calm about the whole thing. Racing is slowly taking on a new perspective for me, it’s much less stressful and a great deal more enjoyable. I just want to show up and kick some ass then move on to the next one.
A scheduled triathlon turned rapidly into a duathlon after heavy rains turned the swim venue into a chocolate milk colored, debris filled swamp. So, we ran a 5km at the start instead of swimming which suits me either way these days.
Perhaps it’s an age thing but I am continually amazed at how quickly athletes start these events. The lead group went through the first mile in what was probably a sub 15 minute 5km pace which is completely ludicrous by all accounts. I ran about 15 seconds off the back after the first mile and hedged a good bet that the second half of the run would be easier than the first. I caught the leaders by mile two and feeling great by the end of the run managed to open a 15 second gap on the field heading into transition. I decided to take a risk on that first run and leave the safety of the group to try and hold off the strong riders as long as I could on the bike. Biking has been up and down for me this year so I expected several of the stronger riders to bust by me by the 5-10km mark. I rode as hard as I could and managed to hold everyone off except one guy who was smashing it off the front. The biggest success for me on Sunday was the bike. I actually had the second fastest bike split and it was a huge confidence booster on all accounts. I came off the bike in second just over a minute down. I started the second run fast to try and get myself into the race……I made up almost 30 seconds in the first 2 miles but that risk was too great and I barely hung on for the next 4 miles but still remained steady.
Blab bla bla…….it was a good race, good effort and I was completely smashed at the end.
Props to the Trainer family for the sweet digs and the best sleeps I have in ages….you guys rock.
Until next time keep fit and have fun yo!
