Sunday, May 11, 2008

More Racing and Some Catch Up

My apologies for the long lag between posts. I'm not sure why its taken so long, except that I assume its been an issue of laziness. Well, with that said, let me begin.

Fresh off my first 70.3, I decided to sign up for another early season 1/2 Iron distance race and so on the first weekend in may, I drove up to southern New Jersey to race in "Devilman". It was billed as a fast, flat course, and the weather looked semi-promising (initially showers and storms were promised but it turned out to be picture perfect, if not a little cold in the morning). This was overall a good race, although the swim was a bit less than ideal because of the muddiness of the lake. It was virtually black with one's head down. I persevered and made it out of the swim in 32 minutes or so. Not fast, but 10 minutes faster than lake anna.

The ride was very nice - flat, well managed without too much traffic. I felt like I got off to a good start and was able to again get my nutrition dialed in (cliff bars at miles 10 and 40, GUs at miles 20, 30, 50). I averaged a bit below 21 miles per hour, a speed I'm relatively happy with. Here's the track. The run was also pleasant and rather flat - and interestingly in the shape of a big Y. I tried to go fast and finished the run in 1:48, which felt fast anyhow. Here's the track. I finished up in 5:04, which would be smokin', except that I think the bike was two miles short, so let's call it 5:10, which is still, I think, semi-smokin. My goal from now own is to be shooting for sun-five hour 70.3s.

This weekend, I traveled to New Hampshire for a 1/2 Marathon. Another very pleasant race. Beautiful, if chilly, weather, and it was well supported. Best of all, I went much faster than I thought I could - 1:37! Here's the track. It was a really great time and has gotten me to think that maybe I could qualify for Boston with enough hard work. That would be amazing.

Finally, I raced a practice duathlon this morning. This was quite a bit of fun and I think I did rather well, getting a lot of my run down under the 7:30 mark, including I think a good chunk under 7:00. Here's the track. I really pushed hard throughout the whole thing and as I've said a few times now, I really think I can be fast.

No more competition until 1 June or so, which stinks. A lot of time for hard miles between now and then though. Speaking of long miles, here are some totals thus far -

2008 running through 11 May - 218 miles (plus a bit more that wasn't accounted for with GPS) .
2008 cycling through 11 May - 1231.23 miles (plus a bit more that wasn't accounted for with GPS).