Admittedly, I didn’t have a lot of time to practice my open water swimming…largely due to the never-ending winter here in the northeast. I wasn’t too concerned as I am a generally comfortable swimmer and have accepted my MOP status based on the amount of effort I put into swim training. The swim course was shaped like the big dipper constellation or a frying pan. We swam parallel to shore for probably half a mile in calm water before making a hard left ‘out to sea’. The water seemed to become choppier once we made the left turn and I found it hard to swim through the choppiness and navigate through the swarms of people on the course. The choppiness continued as we made a right, again swimming parallel to shore before one final right turn toward shore. There was a stair exit with volunteers helping to pull swimmers out of the water.
I was not prepared for the choppiness of the water and although I wasn’t surprised to see 33:xx when I exited, I did feel slightly disappointed. I swam a 28:xx last year in CT only a few months removed from my broken collar-bone. Was the time difference because of conditions or did I let my training slip? In any event, I felt comfortable and fresh coming out of the water and was ready to attack the bike course.


Practice OWS. Swim more in general.

Hopped on the bike and started the relatively flat course. I did a 1:17 bike last year on a similar course. I was excited to see if the shortie aero bars I had installed (I was also re-fitted to my bike) on my road bike and increased training would shave a few minutes off of my bike split. My legs felt great the day before the race as I went out for a short training ride with my charity team. My legs just didn’t quite feel there the day of the race. I feel that I have a better performance in me on the bike but rode a solid 1:16. Going to spend more time in the saddle and re-evaluate the type of training I do to see if I can become a stronger biker.

Re-evaluate bike training. More intervals?

Wow, was it hot! My inner quads were quite sore coming off the bike, which I was little surprised by. I started off at what felt like a slow plodding pace. I use HRM and RPE only and do not gauge pace on my watch. My heart rate was in the 160s at the start so plan was to maintain and pick it up at mile 4 if I had the energy. I’ve run a half marathon in the high 160s / low 170s for HR so I felt I could sustain this pace. Key word being thought. Although I felt like I was absolutely crawling along, I was passing a ton of people, many of whom had already begun walking. I hit the 1st mile marker and peaked at the elapsed time on my watch and realized I was running an 8 min/mile pace. Not as fast as I was expecting (especially since I had trained long bricks @ tempo pace faster) but reasonable given the heat. I continued on, stopping only at aid stations to grab water or ice. The desire to walk grew stronger and stronger as the race progressed. I walked way more than I would have liked during the second half of the race and my 8 min / mile pace turned to a 9 min/mile pace. I finished with 8:30 pace which is disappointing since I ran just as fast last year with far less run miles in training. I was also far speedier this year in the running I did do (both racing and training paces for the same HR). Did the weather get the best of me? Did I overcook the bike? Did I go out too fast on the run? Hard to say, probably a combination. I need to do more long brick workouts and also work on my mental toughness. I regret giving in to the temptation to walk as much as I did.

Longer brick workouts.