Week in review Monday 10-10-2011 to Sunday 10-16-2011

Week 33 of 36 had 15 hours and 30 minutes of training in it. This week was going to get a bit crazy. I signed up for an out of town event, King of the Causeway Challenge, in South Padre Island. This meant that I would have to travel a total of 18 to 20 hours this week, work three days and figure out a way to squeeze in my training.

I stuck to my normal routine for Monday and Tuesday. I decided to move one of my Thursday workouts to Wednesday to free up my Thursday evening. It worked out pretty well. I ended up putting in three workouts on Wednesday and an early morning workout on Thursday morning.

The drive from DFW to the Rio Grande Valley would prove to be long as expected. I had been up since 4:20 a.m. and I knew my day wasn’t going to end anytime soon. I knew I had a long hard training weekend ahead of me and wasn’t sure how the drive was going to affect me. I’m originally from the Rio Grande Valley and had a family event to attend to plus packet pick up for the King of the Causeway Challenge. My day would come to an end at 12 midnight. It made for a very long day.

Friday came around and I was not feeling good. My energy was low and I was just felt crappy. I had a 45 minute swim to put in and luckily I found a public pool to get my swim in. Swim options in the valley are pretty limited. It was the middle of the day and the pool was outside. I ended up getting just enough sun to leave me with a headache. Now not only did I feel weak I also had a headache. I was not too confident about the upcoming weekend’s events. I took something to help boost my immunity system and decided to turn in by 10:30 p.m.

Saturday was here and I was up again at 4:20 a.m. It was KOC Challenge weekend. The event consisted of a two stage bike race on Saturday and a Sunday sprint triathlon. I knew I was going to have to put in more hours than what the event would provide so I threw in a couple extra workouts.

The Saturday morning stage one road race was a 58 mile ride through the southern tip of Texas. The Saturday evening stage two road race was an 11 mile sprint that went over a 3 mile causeway. I had a 4 hour and 25 minute ride to put in along with a run and a swim. I knew the two races would not give me the time I needed. I ended up showing up early and spun on my trainer for an hour before the 58 mile ride.

Before the road race began I was told that since I had a tri bike I was not to ride in a pack or draft off of anyone. I was completely fine with that since I wouldn’t be able to draft in my IM event. The morning ride went well. I missed my training average by a little bit but given I road the course all on my own effort I was very happy with the ride. I was also pretty excited about the fact that I was ridding outside for a change. The south Texas weather was perfect. I finished the ride and got in a quick 30 minute run. I was feeling pretty good after the first event. I knew my recovery and nutrition would be crucial to get me through the weekend. I immediately refueled and rehydrated after the event.

Saturday evening’s event was a quick 11 mile road race. Aside from a little wind the conditions for this race were excellent. I had another great ride and I hit my mark this time on my bike average.

Saturday evening rolled in and I was now feeling a bit fatigued. I was unable to get a nap in during the day as I had planned so I knew I would have to get to bed at a decent time. The next morning was the sprint triathlon and I had family and friends who were going to come by and see the event. It’s very rare that they get to see me race so I wanted to do well for them.

Sunday morning was here and I was hurting. I knew I was fatigued but, there was nothing I could do about it. It was go time and I had to mentally prepare myself for the race. This sprint event had two transition areas so I had to set up my run gear in T2 and road my bike over to T1 to set my bike up. It was maybe a 3 to 4 mile ride between transition areas. I figure it would make for a good little warm up.

The swim would take place on the bay side of the island. This would be my first salt water swim. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I hear that salt water was buoyant so now I would be able to experience it. The race officials called my wave into the water. He mentioned to be carful as there may be some barnacles on the floating doc. I sat on the lip of the floating doc and eased my way into the water. Yes, sir it was buoyant. In fact the buoyancy caught me by surprised and I floated over to the left just far enough to nick a barnacle with my elbow.

I enjoyed the swim. I did not hit the swim time I was looking for but, I still enjoyed the swim. I quickly transitioned to my bike I knew my legs were fatigued but, I also knew the route was going to be flat. I tired to hold a pace the best I could the whole way through. As I was on the bike I noticed a huge blood spot on my knee and quad. I wasn’t sure why I was bleeding. I then noticed my elbow. The barnacle had cut me when I entered the swim area. I blew it off and focused back on my bike.

Coming off the bike I felt I had put in a pretty solid effort. I jumped out onto the run course. I was looking forward to this run and was expecting to hold a certain pace. It didn’t take long to figure out that I was going to miss my run goal. My quads and legs were heaving and hurting. I had to focus hard on my form and depend on it to get me through the run.

I had lost a sprint earlier this year by 13 seconds and I just knew that every second counted. With about a mile to go I was running on fumes. I pushed what I could and got across the finish line. I was happy with my effort and was completely exhausted from the push. I took a few minutes to get myself together. I washed the cut on my elbow and spoke with a few of the athletes along with my family members for a few minutes.

I had a one hour run to do and thought about passing on it. I knew I wasn’t going to pass on the run but, I did think about it for a second. My goal for this weekend just like every past weekend is to put in my training hours. I changed into a fresh pair of running shoes and got my run in. When I got back to the race site I ran into a friend of mine who told me he got second overall. I congratulated him on his placing. He then told me that I took the overall win beating him by 3 seconds. Yes, 3 seconds. I know how that feels. In a sprint every second counts. I was defiantly excited about winning the inaugural KOC Triathlon. Wally and his crew did a fantastic job putting on this event. There was a lot of sweat and time that was put in behind the scenes to make this event come together.

In addition to the sprint triathlon overall win I also took 1^st in my age group for the Saturday two stage bike race. Laura Reyna and her crew also did an outstanding job. I would love to come back next year and do this all again. We’ll see what 2012 has in store for me.

I met several new friends in the area. A great group of guy and girls who I know will be better and stronger next year. There were a couple of triathlon first timers who did an awesome job. I also met a gutsy gentleman who had a badly sprained ankle but, still went ahead with the swim and bike portion of the triathlon. Both Wally and Laura are doing a fantastic job by hosting these events in the Rio Grande Valley area. I hope they continue putting on these events. The valley needs more of them.

For now this week has come to a close. It was a week of accomplishments for me. I had a list of goals at the beginning of the year. I will recap those as we get closer to December. I’ve already hit three of them. Winning a triathlon event was one of my goals. Please see my Facebook page for event pictures.

As always feel free to email me of you have any questions, comments or random thoughts. If you have a story to share I’d love to hear about it.

..ej
ej@trilifeblog.com
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