It was looking more and more like I wasn’t going to have a good outlet for my training efforts this year because of the pandemic. I had a new training plan and a dedication to a nutrition plan that has seen me make some great performance gains that I didn’t think I would get to put to use. I was lighter, faster, and stronger than I had been in past years and I was posting record times in my training sessions along with record level VO2 Max and FTP (Functional Threshold Power). So I started looking at virtual races. I have done virtual races in the past but never looked at them as a competitive outlet for me because there were always those that posted times that just couldn’t be real. I needed to do something so I signed up for a virtual duathlon, 2mile run, 10mile bike, 2mile run, with times entered manually. It took place about a month into my training. I did well in it placing 1st in my age group and 7th overall but it was a small group of about 50 people, and again, some crazy times by the leaders. About a week or so after that I signed up for another race. This one was run by USA Triathlon. Slightly different format 2.5k run, 20k bike, 5k run, with more people, about 1500 on my last count. No manually entered times on this one. Times must come from an approved tracking device i.e. my Garmin watch. I’d done this one last year on a whim so I was just looking to see if could improve on my time. I did improve finishing in 37th place overall. Both were paid events so I was expecting finisher’s medals for my efforts.
After all my early season races were canceled it was finally time for me to get on the Ironman Virtual Race bandwagon. This one kind of exploded in popularity in the Facebook triathlon group I’m in and has people competing in it from all over the world. They are called #IRONMANVR. They have a setup where professional triathlete competes also. A few of my local Tri friends had done it so I wanted to give it a shot. When I logged in I was surprised to see over 20,000 participants and thought, this should be fun! My first race was #IMVR6, Olympic distance, 3km run, 40km bike, 10km run. I usually compete in Sprint distances but my training plan this year was for Olympic distance so I was excited to see how I’d do. The format is you get 54 hours over 3 days to complete the three stages. Without going into detail on this one, I smashed it and created new record times for myself in my run and cycling in the process. With about 2 hours left in the race I was sitting in the #1 spot in my age group in the US. By the time the race ended I was dropped to 5th and with time left in the race I re-ran the 3k and took 2.5 minutes off the time however, I didn’t know the procedure to get it to reload. I still managed to finish near the top 5% overall in the world and that was OK with me.
I knew I was getting faster but this kind of astounded me. I immediately signed up for the next race #IMVR7. This one is Sprint distance, 1.5km run, 20k bike, 5k run. I was really looking forward to this one and I was counting the days for Friday to roll around. All the VR races start on Fridays at 2pm est. I was in a great mood all week because I had that excitement about an upcoming race, even if it was virtual. I had a game plan, do both the runs on Friday, rest Saturday then do the bike on Sunday on fresh legs. Mind you I was still sticking to my training schedule workouts and on Thursday I had to do a bike\run brick session. I told myself at the start of training that I would not skip or change any workouts. The workout was about 30 miles on the bike followed immediately by a 5-mile medium-paced run. Thankfully because I was well-conditioned for it being over 2 months into my training it didn’t take my legs out from me for the start of the VR race.
First up, 1.5km run (.93 mile)
I did some stretching first because the legs were a little tight for my Thursday workout, then I hopped on the treadmill, did a quick warm-up then I hit the speed and started the watch to count down my distance. 5:10 later the watch beeped. I was breathing very hard and took some time to walk it off. I was happy with that effort, a 5:34mph pace. The fastest I’d ever run for almost a mile. It wasn’t an official 1mile PR for me until I did the distance.
Next up, 5km run (3.11 miles)
After some dinner and some time in the recovery boots it was time to get it on. I knew this was going to be hard because the plan was to try and use that 1.5k pace. I hopped on the treadmill and nervously began my warm-up. The nerves were there because I had no idea if I would blow up trying to run that pace for 3 miles. Once I got up to speed I hit the watch to begin the countdown. My watch beeped after the first mile so I took a look, 5:55 pace. I thought that’s a little slow from what I wanted, I have to pick it up. At mile two it beeps again, 5:36 pace, better, but I need a little more to make up for the first mile. So I picked up the pace, however, at about 2.5 miles I was losing form and my brain was screaming at me to stop. I was starting to ache a bit and looking at the watch more. The tenths miles were ticking by fast but taking forever if that makes sense. The watch beeped on the third mile, 5:31 but I had that dull pain under my rib cage and I was dry heaving. My brain said enough is enough and I reached up and tapped the 8 mph button on the treadmill to slow it down and finished off at that speed. The watch beeped to end the session and I just shut it down. I was gassed, that was all I had to give. I looked at the watch, 17:39! Wow, I was going to be happy in the low 18’s but this just blew me away! I took a 10-minute walk to get the legs to calm down. My calf muscles were twitching and my hamstrings were getting tight. The veins in my legs looked like someone attached to an air pump and inflated them.
Next up, 20km bike (12.43 miles)
I know the plan was to do this on Sunday but I was feeling good and I was desperate to see where I was in the standing so with the bike settled on the trainer I hopped on late in the evening. I felt rested, a little sore from the runs the day before but ready to get at it. I warmed up with about a mile of spinning then I hit the speed. I was shooting for 30 minutes which meant I needed to average a little over 24mph. I was there for the first ten minutes but couldn’t maintain it. My pace slipped to just under it but I was able to maintain that pace for the rest of the ride. I finished the ride in 31:33, 23.6mph average, and a whole bunch of new performance records. Not what I wanted but it had to do. Maybe on a full normal race tapper I could do better, that will have to wait until my training plan ends.
Some quick math told me my time was about 54 minutes and I knew that was going to be a good time. So I nervously went to the Ironman VR site to see where I stood. I click the link to show results and was shocked…it said, Congratulations Dale! You finished in 00:54:21 and are currently in 118th place! I said to myself wow, that’s 118th place in the world. Then I checked to see how many finishers, 7131. I was excited to see where I stood in my age group, I clicked the filter and there I stood, #1 in the world! I had to screenshot it because I couldn’t believe it. There’s something to be said about seeing your name on the leader board with the US flag next to it amongst other names with their countries flag next to them. I honestly felt like I was having an Olympic moment. There were about 23 hours left in the race so I knew there was a good chance I would get bumped off the top spot but I’d go to bed at that point the best in the world in my AG at least for a little while!
Sunday morning I was in no hurry to check the results. I woke up early and was aching from head to toe. It was 6am and I decided I was getting in the shower. After that I jumped back in bed for about an hour or so. Then I got up, got some breakfast then got on the computer to check where I was. I had been bumped off the top. I got dropped down to 8th place in the world, 3rd place in the US. I was only 22 seconds out of third in the world and 1st in the US. You would think that I would just be happy to be doing so well that I would accept my position. If you think that then you don’t know me well…lol. I mulled around the whole day thinking about it, how I should take another shot. The rules allow for redoing a segment, you just have to delete the segment for the segment they took, and then it will load a new one. I thought to myself, no way I could do the 5k run or 20k bike because they both took a lot out of me and I didn’t think I could match those times on little rest. So I thought the 1.5k would be the way to go. But I was sore and I knew 22 seconds was going to be hard to get in a short sprint. So I went about the day trying to decide what to do. The day seemed to fly by, I looked up while I was lying in bed watching TV and it was 7:15pm…the race ends in 45 minutes, what are you going to do? I jumped up, strapped on my heart monitor, put on running shorts and a shirt, and headed to the treadmill. I did some quick stretches to shake off the soreness, got on the treadmill and warmed up for about a minute, hit 9.7 on the treadmill to get up to speed then hit go on the watch to count down the distance. 4 minutes 58 seconds later the watch beeps…done…not fast enough, I only dropped 12 seconds. 15 minutes left in the race, should I give it another try I thought to myself. I took a look at the pacing from the run. I maxed out at 5:13. I did some quick math in my head and said even if I was able to do that for the whole 1.5k I’d still fall a little short. So, I watched as the timer expired on the race then checked my final position. 260th place out of 17048 in 00:54:09, 7th place overall in AG, 2nd overall in the US. Am I satisfied with how I did, yes sir, I think I did awesome!!!
So you might ask, what did he get for his efforts? Not much other than the thrill of competition (which I dearly miss). The option to purchase a finishers bundle (did I mention the VR races are free). And some stressed out legs!
Diary of an Age Group Triathlete 