Diamondman & IM Poconos

This year i wanted to see how i'd handle a few 70.3's so registered for diamondman on 9/11 and IM poconos on 10/2.  My goal for diamondman was to better my times from last year and from eagleman in June.  The goal for poconos was to finish and have fun.

Diamondman

I trained for this one like my "A" race and went in feeling pretty good. Everyone was worried about flooding since apparently we now live in a subtropical rainforest.  There was no significant impact on the course though, and the weather was pretty good on race day.  I like this race because its a small venue and easy to travel to from philly.  i think there were about 200 people in the half.

On race morning i hung around transition area chatting until about 5 minutes before the swim start.  i like to walk down to the swim start just in time to walk right in and swim out to the strat area, so that what i did and the gun went off just as i got there.  it took a little longer to find some open water but eventually i did and settled in.  nice calm swim but what is it about covering the distance from the last booey to the shore?  seems like time slows to a crawl and it takes forever to get there.  anyway i came out in about 0:35 then another 3 minutes plus jog back to transition.  basically same swim time as last year which was my goal.

The bike course was well marked and there was hardly any traffic.  the weather was good, somewhat cool, and i didnt over hydrate the way i did last year, so no pit stops.  i felt great on the bike.  There wasnt as many PTC people in the race this year but i did see a few people ive met along the way.  cruised to the turnaround and then was able to pick it up a little on the way back.  i cut a good 8 minutes off last years time and came off the bike in about 2:52, so i was excited.   

Now, i felt awesome in T2 at Diamondman 2010 and Eagleman 2011 too but quickly blew up by about mile 1 on the run.  i didnt learn anything from those experiences, though, and set an agressive pace (for me) right out of the shoot.  my goal was a 2hr run and i was running about 8:30 pace until the turnaround at mile 7ish, which is where i started to fatigue pretty good.  from there i ran about 9's to each water stop where i walked a second or two to regroup and talked to all the nice people volunteering on the course.  by the last mile i was completely blown up and slowing but not cramping and was able to hold on for a 1:59 run split. 

My total time was about 5:35 which was awesome (last year was 6:05).  I was proud to finish 10 out of 16 in my age group and in awe of how fast people can finish these things.  I'm greatful just to be able to take the field and humbled by the experience.

IM Poconos

This race was dubbed a "69.1" by some PTCers after they cancelled the swim due to raging river conditions.  I was disappointed when i heard but understood when i looked at the river on saturday.  its probably been swollen like that for 6 weeks due to the rain, which i guess also killed any chance of fall foliage in the area.  everything seemed way too green for October in the water gap. 

They did a TT start and i was off at around 8am, after 2 hours of struggling to decide whether or not to wear a rain jacket over my long cycling gear.  for a guy who hates the cold i sure picked a good race.  anyway, the roads were wet and the first stretch was a short out and back where we rode on the left side of the road, which seemed to cause a lot of confusion over whether to ride right and pass left.  we hit the first decent hill within the first 5 miles and i was surprised to see a good number of people already off their bikes and walking. i'd be surprised if these folks finished, it was a challenging hilly course on slick roads.  i almost didnt make it up the last big hill around mile 42 or 44, but barely squeaked it lout and rolled in to transition with burning quads and a big smile.  this was an awesome ride on a serious course.  i had no idea how long it took because i decided to go no watch.  i didnt miss it at all.

When i rolled in to T2 i had to strip off all the long clothes a don my running shorts and tri top, which took a few extra minutes but i didnt care at all.  i also hit the porta john which had a line.  I had no time goals this day which was a great way to approach this race for me.  The hard work on the bike was evident immediately when i startd running, and my quads were locking up at the first water stop.  oh boy.  i put in some gel and water, and the legs loosened up a bit.  i found a decent stride and tried to get lost in my head for a while.  it didnt work, this was a hillier run course and i had to work pretty hard up to the turnaround.  i felt pretty strong from the turnaround through mile 10 where i didnt take the nutrition i needed.  i hammered to mile 12 and was totally blown up.  i tried to take some calories at 12 but they never kicked in, so i dragged my leaded legs to the finish.  at the last turn i tried to sprint down the shoot but everything cramped up on me so i just hobbled in.  what a day.

This was definitely the toughest course i've done in the short time i've been doing tri's, and therfore the most gratifying to finish.  The race directors seemed to have their hands full, especially with traffic.  there was much heavier traffic volume on the roads in this area than i would have expected.  hopefully this race is around for a while and the residents of the area get used to alternate routes on race day.  i saw some angry drivers stopped in long lines that were going nowhere fast.  Since i didnt wear my watch, i had no idea about my finish times.  i figured something like 3:20 on the bike and 2:10 on the run.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my times when i got home - 3:05 on the bike and 2:05 on the run.  Not bad.  Total time was 5:17 with my 6 minute T2. 

This was an awesome race with a challenging course and tough weather conditions (for me at least, i was freezing all day).  It was great to be there for the inaugural event but now i have to go back to tackle the whole course, including the swim.  I dont think its in the cards for next year but i will be back.  Its been one hell of a tri season for me, and hard to believe i struggled to finish my first two sprints just 2 years ago in 2009.  Hopefully I can hold on to this willingness to put the work in.  Now i need a few weeks off.