End of Season Push
It has gotten to be that time again. The time where the races stack up and its time to see if all the hard work and less than stellar results have made me stronger. The resounding answer so far is Yes.
We’ll go back to Buffalo Springs and pick up the season with a less then my best outing. Leading up to the race was perfect. Natasha had come into town to stay with us,all of the race prep, meals and workouts had been great. Really seamless actually. I was geared up to really rip it up. Going into the water I knew I hadn’t been focusing on the swim as much as the run and bike, so I was planning on staying calm and just maintaining a healthy pace in the water. Which I did until I go to shore. When I put my feet down however… my right hamstring seized and knotted up like crazy. I limped out of the water trying to stretch my leg out, knowing there was a giant hill on the bike course immediately out of transition. The bike leg suffered due to not being able to/being scared to push harder than a moderate pace. I followed my nutrition plan anyway and just took more fluids, which was good because at 10mi to go, an entire bottle cage came off my bike and left me with no fluids of any type to drink until I got into transition. The run as you can imagine was hell from the get go. David was out on the bike and was encouraging me, but there was nothing left in the tank. At this point I was just praying to finish. I didn’t want to have another DNF on my resume. A very slow half marathon later and a complete leg seize/cramp as I crossed the finish line and I passed out. I came to sitting in the IV tent next to Natasha and William Ritter. Overall it was a rough day. I can’t call it a race, it was just a long, long mental exercise. This has proven to be a block to build off of for the back end of the season.
One week before the Toyota US Open I have done two smaller sprints to work on top end speed and building into the longer distances again. It was a two spritns in two days weekend, the first being the Comanche Warrior Sprint in Big Spring, Texas. a 500m swim, 30K bike, and a 5K run. We woke up early and headed to the race. Chas, David, and I were the only three we knew going down there. Upon arrival we found it to be cold and raining… after signing in and getting the bikes out it began to clear and stay overcast. It turned out to be a nice morning for a race. Hitting the water I felt pretty good and when we rounded the first buoy I noticed I was in 4th place…. jumping at it a bit I worked to stay smooth and fight the urge to overswim what I knew I could do. With a slow swim i was still 4th out of the water and that made me really excited. A mostly flat windy bike course was ahead of me, and that is where Ive been doing most of my work the last month. Taking off out of transition i pressed and really felt strong. I kept looking for the two people in front of me, I finally found them at the turnaround of the out and back bike course…. They were still a ways ahead of me. I managed to close over 2 minutes on the leaders on the bike and still felt great coming into T2 with a 25.5mph average for the bike leg.
Now those of you who know me can attest to me never having been able to run faster than 7:30’s off the bike… And this has always been my MO… running “backwards” in races. Not today. Coming out of T2 ith a bit of a pop in my step I managed to hold a steady 6:12/mi pace and finish the race strong. This was the second time I had done this sprint and I managed a 7 minute new best on the course and a 3rd overall finish. We grabbed lunch and headed back to the house and started focusing on the Texas Tech Rec Tri the next morning.
This has always been a fun “super-sprint.” the 400yd swim, 12mi bike,2.5mi run course is a very flat and very fast course. Its a time trial start so its impossible to really keep track of who is where on the course. Its pretty much a threshold effort for a little under an hour. No letting up. The swim again was my weak link, but I managed to hold a steady pace and felt pretty good about it. I got passed by 5 people… meaning I was already over a minute in the hole to a few of my stronger competitors. Getting on the bike, the pursuit began. My main goal was to have David in my sight by the end of the bike… which I almost accomplished. Along the way I managed to overtake everyone who had passed me in the water. I also managed to put a good amount of time into them on the bike. Coming into T2 with a 26.6mph average i was very pleased with my effort. My HR was still down and I was ready to go.
Running out of T2 I knew I was in second overall and could see david about a quarter mile ahead of me on the run course. I tried as hard as i could to hold him even… Which I managed to do for the most part. I made sure to not look over my shoulder on the run… always a bad idea. I knew that at the turnaround the real race would probably be starting. But when I hit the turnaround I couldnt see anyone behind me. the next person in the race was over a minute behind me still. I got excited and began to push harder… wanting to make sure I held the gap. Finishing in 50:24 (a new PR by 4:30) I took 2nd overall and managed 6:07’s. Which is big progress in the right direction.
Since those races, I have spent three weeks really pushing the top speed and extending the endurance. Really focusing on not pressuring myself and really having fun with the races I get to do. I’m happy with how things are going and thankful for the friends/roomates/training partners that I have. I wouldn’t be able to make the progress that I have without them. Thanks also to HydroTrain Outfitters for the swim gear, its helping with the pool work that I have been doing a lot of since the sprints, thank you to HTFU for the kits and the support, my friends and family, a special thanks to Patrick for being patient with me and working with me to really start pushing and making me even stronger. Its been a fun year and its not quite over yet 🙂
Cam's Corner 
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