Triathlon racing in the US is slowly making a comeback in this time of COVID with new safety guidelines to make them safe as possible. Sadly for me there were none close enough for me to attend and not affect other commitments. I needed to make use of all my new gains from my new training plan so I turned to virtual racing. They don’t have as much fanfare as a real race but they offered me the opportunity push myself well beyond my training paces. I completed my first virtual race of the year on 4/12 and have done one every weekend except one (I had to take a break after running a 5k a day for about 2 months as part of another challenge) over 31 weeks. For the most part they’ve all taken place indoors on my bike trainer and treadmill. While that doesn’t make them easy to do at the pace I run them it is somewhat easy not being out in the elements and there is a lot less impact on the body making recovery time quicker. They have been at all different distances from Sprint to Half Ironman triathlons (well most were considered duathlons because they were run\bike\run but I did do one swim\bike\run race when the local beach was open). I also did a few virtual road races along the way.
Going into this season I had all Sprint triathlon distance races and one Olympic distance race schedule so my training was geared towards them. My training plan had me in my best shape ever and I had no doubt I’d be ready to achieve my ultimate goal of securing the USA Triathlon All American status. However, not having any actual races under my belt made that impossible because you had to complete two USAT sanctioned races to get a ranking this year. So my achievements this year had to be a little more personal to me meaning I just wanted to check off some new challenges.
For those who don’t know there are 4 primary distance triathlons.
- Sprint – .49 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run (5k)
- Olympic\Intermediate – .98 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run (10k)
- Half Ironman\HIM\70.3 – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run (Half Marathon)
- Ironman\IM\140.6 – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run (Marathon)
Going into this year I’d never done a HIM or IM. To tell you the truth I had no interest in doing either because I have a little issue with the mental aspect of thinking about the long distances. The thought of being out there for hours on end and the thought of the time and effort it would take to get from point A to B just messes with my head. After getting into triathlons it was years before I even attempted an Olympic distance and couldn’t imagine doubling or quadrupling that effort. I never thought that I couldn’t do it I just didn’t want to do it.
Well that changed when I started doing the Ironman Virtual Club Races. The first one I did was an Olympic distance (IMVR6). I couldn’t believe how well I did considering I was competing (loosely said, it’s virtual, people cheat and it’s easy to do in this format) against thousands of people from all over the world. I finished 533rd overall in a field of 12,740, 25th in my age group out of 750 and 5th in my AG in the US and I set a new PR time for my running. I was hooked and wanted to do better. Next up was a Sprint, I knew I’d do well in this one because this was my distance. I finished 7th in the world in my AG and finished 2nd in the US and set another new 5k running PR with a sub 18 minute run (I was blown away by the run because I only managed a high 19 once this year). Next up was another Olympic, I finished 38th, with a podium US finish and was astounded when I dipped under 44 minutes for the 10k run. I had never run that far at that pace but knew I had a lot more in me. They were treadmill times but even in the past my best treadmill 10k was around 46 minutes and I thought, maybe if I could maintain close to my 5k pace I’d be able to drop that time significantly. Next up was a 70.3\HIM. When I saw it on the schedule I said well, I’ll skip that one. But after thinking about it I said I have 3 days to complete it and It will allow me to check off my first half century bike ride and I’ve done a few half marathons so know I can get through that run. So I said what the heck, I’ll take the challenge and do each part on a different day. First up was the 5k on Friday. OMG, I smashed it and I set a new PR with a 17:23 5k. Next was the 56 mile bike on Saturday…that hurt. When I got off the bike I couldn’t walk. I was thinking there would be no way for me to run 13 miles right off the bike. But I was happy to set a new distance PR on the bike. I had to go shower, plop on my bed and slide on my recovery boots and chill. At that point I was just hoping I’d be able to run the next day. Next up was the half marathon. I hadn’t run this distance in years but I had done several long 10 & 11 mile runs during my training this year so I had a pacing strategy ready. I got through it OK with a good pace. I was hurting on the last few miles but was happy with the time. I just missed a top 20 world age group finish but was happy to be done with it. I got some valuable information on this run. I realized that I could go faster on the opening 5k of my 10k runs. I was able to hold a sub 7 minute pace for the last three miles of this long run which showed I had plenty of energy and should be able to go faster for 10k. I wouldn’t have to wait long as the Olympic distance was on the schedule next. I was going to run each part over three days again so I could go all out for each part. I did the short run on Friday, did the bike Saturday late in the morning but decided I wanted to take a break Sunday so I headed to the treadmill Saturday night for the 10k. To tell you the truth I was nervous, this was going to be a go big or bust effort and it had the excitement of a race for me. I’d never even considered hitting the speed button 9 on the treadmill to start a 10k but I knew I was ready for it. I walked a bit then jogged a bit to warm up then I hit the button. I told myself to breath, keep my shoulders and head up and run smooth. The first 5k ticked by, 18:47, oh snap I thought to myself, if I hold this pace and don’t blow up I’ll do a sub 38 minute 10k…calm down, don’t get excited and get that HR up I told myself. Mile 4 ticked pass and I felt good, let’s increase the speed a bit. I was good until mile 5 and that’s when I started to lose form. I tried dialing the speed back to where it was but still felt like I was falling off form but I was not going to stop. I was alternating between long and short strides and was fighting off the dry heaves. With about a quarter of a mile to go I thought for sure I was going to toss the cookies all over the place with only a tenth of a mile to go I slowed things down. My watch went BEEP and the workout was over. I slammed the button to stop the treadmill and once it stopped I dropped to my knees. My HR was through the roof and didn’t seem like it would ever come down. I looked at my watch and went WOW, and took a double take…37:56…If I hadn’t felt like I almost died doing it I wouldn’t believe it. Now I needed to see where that put me in the race. 4th place in AG overall, missed the podium by 30 seconds but I was on the top step in the US…I’ll take it!!!
The one and only swim\bike\run virtual race I did this year was the Tupper Lake Sprint Triathlon. I was already signed up for it and when it went virtual and we had the option of refund, deferral, or virtual I picked the virtual. I knew at my level of fitness it was going to be hard for anyone to beat me but my only worry was I wouldn’t have a pool or lake to swim in. But after some checking I found out that Delta Lake State Park would be open so I was good to go. I did my swim in the outside beach coral. I basically swam in an L shape pattern to avoid people and get in my 800 yards. I went over by a lot so I had to extrapolate to get my time of 14 minutes and change. After that I did the other two legs on my bike trainer and treadmill. I ended up winning the event by almost 14 minutes and received some nice swag in the mail. However, this was to be one of my A races on the year. I have somewhat of a grudge match going on with a guy in my age group. I’ve finished second to him every year, once by only 27 seconds. Last year was supposed to be my year but a major screw up on the swim cost me the opportunity so he gets the deferral of a spanking until next year.
After that is was just a steady rotation IMVR’s of Sprint\Olympic\HIM. My running and biking were getting faster and faster. I set at least one new PR every week for about 10 straight weeks. I couldn’t believe how fast I was recovering from week to week considering I was pushing race pace every weekend. I eventually achieved PR’s in the 5k at 17:15, 10k at 37:28 and Half Marathon at 1:30:21. I tried a couple times to beat that 17:15 5k but couldn’t get it so I don’t know what I did right that day. I know I can’t go sub 17 because my treadmill isn’t fast enough. On an attempt to do a sub 5 minute mile I kept running up to the front of the treadmill and would have to slow down. I should have tried it on a track but at the time covid was raging in the state and I didn’t think I could get on the college campus at that time. Having the option to do the segments in any order I wanted over three days helped in deciding to go after PR’s because as long as I time to recover there was no detriment to going all out for a segment.
I eventually had to take a break and took a week off from all activities. My fitness level started to drop after that and the PR’s went away. I continued to do the VR races and my bike speed was getting faster because I had learned to balance my cadence and power. With my new found speed on the bike I started finishing higher up in the standings in the world overall and consistently finished on or near the podium in my AG overall. I finally nabbed the top spot in my 16th race and moved into the top 10 overall standings. The best thing about the Ironman VR’s is they have your countries flag next to your name and picture in the standings. It kind of gives you that Olympic feel when your flag is next to you on the top step amongst other country flags. I eventually challenged myself to start doing them all in one day. I knew I wanted to do a Half IM all in one day.
So on Aug. 23rd I began IMVR20 HIM distance race. It started off with a 5k run and I probably ran it a little faster than I wanted. I took a 20 minute break then got on the bike for 56 miles. It wasn’t too bad and the legs felt OK. I rode that one differently than I had ridden the last two HIM VR’s. Instead of pushing the power at a low cadence I used a high cadence at a lower power. I could have gone right into the run but my plan was to wait 20 minutes so I stuck to it. I hopped on the treadmill for the 13.1 mile run. Because my legs felt OK I probably went out a little too fast. 9 miles in I was really feeling it and starting to struggle. I didn’t think I was going to make it. My shoulders and back were aching. My posture was falling apart and at 11 miles I started doing this walk run walk run thing. My form was shot and I was barely keeping myself centered on the treadmill. My legs were on fire but I couldn’t give up so close to the end. It was all happening on a Sunday with only a few hours left in the challenge so if I didn’t finish the run in one segment then it would have been a DNF for the race. So I summoned the will to finish that last mile and plopped down on my workout bench afterward. That was the hardest thing I’d ever done. So what did I get for my efforts, 4th place in AG in the world…I’ll take it! My fitness level was just not up to it. I hadn’t been training as much and I hadn’t done any long training sessions that would have prepared me to go the 5+ hours it took.
September 1st is when Ironman VC promoted that they would be having their first full Ironman VR (VR27) the week of Oct. 5th-11th. I was like “No Way”, “Not me”, “I’m not doing that one”! Especially after the pain I went through in that last HIM race. So I went the next week thinking I’d just do the last 5 VR’s then call it quits. I didn’t think I could get myself close to being ready for that type of challenge in such a short amount of time. Besides, in the last few weeks my fitness level had fallen from a high of 58 to about 38. It had taken me about 3 months to get to that 58. Even though I was still racing I was taking more off days and not pushing hard efforts during the week and nothing of any long duration. I was chatting with a guy in a FB Triathlon group who had signed up to do the VR27. While chatting another one of my FB friends popped in and said she was going to do it also. I had signed out at that point telling them no, that I wasn’t. After thinking about it for a night and noticing that it was the week of my birthday I said what the heck, it won’t kill me (I think) and it would be a nice B-Day present to myself to have done a century ride and a marathon which neither I’ve never before and to do it on a memorable day would add more significance to it. So I chimed back in on the post and said I was in! Now came the hard part as I had to get more mileage in my legs and get my fitness level back up. Oh, I should mention that I also had several road races during this time frame that I needed to get ready for. The Boilermaker 15k, The Falling Leaves 14k and The Skeleton run 5k. They all happen while I was increasing my workout load so I had some tired legs while running those events. I still managed to do well in them. I ran the actual Boilermaker course with friends which was awesome. A nice relaxed pace for the 15k while chatting the whole way. Because it was virtual we had the option to run it on any course or on a treadmill. We just had to submit tracked times. So I ran it again on my treadmill a few days later. It was late on a Wednesday night when I decided to get it done. I had other things going on over the weekend so that odd day was my best option. I didn’t get to it until late after work and dinner and was a little tired at the start. I carried a decent pace throughout but got a little wobbly towards the end. My goal was to go under 65 minutes and I finished in under 64 minutes. I was in first place in the age group for a bit but eventually fell to third. When I saw the second place time I knew I could have beat that on a rested day. The first place time was fast but I might have been able to give it a shot also. It was a nice surprise when I received a bronze medal in the mail for the event. Had I known podium medals were being given I would have gone after that gold!
On September 7th it was time to get to work with 5 weeks to my birthday\race day and only 4 weeks to train for it. By the end of the week my mileage load had increased from 66 miles the week before to 161 miles to end week 1 with a 48 fitness score. That was a 10 point jump in two weeks, crazy. Week 2 ended with 166 miles and a 54 score. I really needed to get in a long bike session to make sure my pelvis could withstand being on the bike for a long period so I cranked out a 3 hour and 15 minute 60 mile ride at a slow pace then hopped on the treadmill for a two mile run. I felt good and I ended week 3 at 172 miles and a 59 score. That matched my highest score of the year at the height of my training so I felt I was at a good place fitness wise. At the end of Week 4 I posted 163 miles and I maintained the 59 score. I’ve never increased my score so much so fast but I had 3 days till my B-Day and I needed to rest. I did some light bike spinning and a very short slow run on the 5th. I did that just to stretch out some slight soreness. No physical activities on the 6th other than some race prep and nutrition planning.
The Falling Leaves 14k road race was just around the corner on the 27th. It was condensed to about 4.6 miles through the toughest part of the normal race course (the switchbacks in the golf course) for the virtual\real event. It’s a winding series of twisting turning trail roads uphill with an elevation gain of about 1000 feet. The task was to complete the 2.3 mile loop twice in one activity. Walk, jog, run, crawl, your time, get it done. I had done a practice run a few weeks prior so I knew what it would be a tough run. It’s hard on the knees coming down it at speed and even more to do it twice. We were given a week starting on the 27th to get it done. I looked at the extended forecast and saw that Sunday the 27th was probably going to be the best day to do it. However, I had a VR the day before that I planned to do all in one day. Oh well I thought, get it done, get your mileage then get at those switchbacks! So, on Saturday the 26th I did the VR. .75 mile run, 34.8 mile bike then an 8.14 mile run, all back to back. When I got up Sunday morning I was feeling it in my legs. My quads, shins and ankles were sore. I felt I needed a good warmup before I tackled those hills so I hopped on the treadmill and ran an easy 5k. After that I changed into dry running clothes and headed to the golf course. At the start I felt like my HR was a little elevated over the first mile but the legs felt good and I was able to push up the hills. I felt like I settled in at about 2 miles however, after making the turn for the second loop I could feel all the fatigue in my quads. I couldn’t push going back up the hill like I did before. On the way back down I tried pushing a bit more. That put a lot more impact on my knees but I thought it was necessary to make up for the slow accent. When I got to the finish I checked my watch and saw 38:23, about 2 minutes faster than my test run but not what I thought I could do. I didn’t post the time that day because I was going to take another shot at it but with all the other things going on I just never really found the time to do it. I could have done it the day before the Skeleton run which was taking place on Oct. 11th but then I’d just be setting myself up for a slow run that day. So I submitted my time and took second place in my age group and 10th overall.
I have to admit, this virtual IM race had me a little nervous because I know what it takes to do an Ironman race. I have several great friends who have done one or more of these and I know they start their training early and commit to doing the long hard work to get ready for them over months. I hear about the long runs and bike session and I think to myself, “Nope, Not Me…I’ll see you at the Sprints”. I know this will be easier than an actual land based race but I still have to keep my body going for the 9 to 10 hours I was expecting it to take. And the fact that my longest session ever of 3.5 hours just took place about a week ago is a little concerning. Normally an IM would start with a 2.4 mile swim which would probably take me an hour and fifteen minutes. However, running it will be much faster and allow me to chop an hour off a real race time. I’m not too worried about the bike as long as my pelvis holds up (the pain of sitting on that hard seat can get unbearable) and I’m sure my legs can churn out the 112 miles needed. It’s the marathon run that has me worried. My longest run ever was 18 miles and I don’t like thinking about running for that long. I’d done several half marathon runs this year and got more comfortable with them each time out and the plan was just to run it at a moderate 8:30 pace.
Oct 7th, 10:21 AM was the start of my challenge…Happy Birthday to me J time to journey to the hurt locker! I’d eaten a big breakfast about an hour or so earlier and wanted to give it time to settle. I was going to need a distraction during this journey so I loaded up YouTube on the TV and started my Liked Video Music list.
Run 2.4 miles – 00:16:51
I took a quick drink then got after it. I might have run this a little faster than I wanted. My goal was to run it at an 8 minute pace instead of the 7 minute pace I’d done however, it seemed to go by in a blink. Probably due to the fact that I was thinking about the 5.5 hours or so I was going to be on the bike and that thought distracted me. I could have gone much faster but I was trying to pace myself.
T1 – 6 minutes
I forced myself to take a quick pee break just to make sure I got on the bike without the need to go early on. At this point I wasn’t ready to take any nutrition because of the big breakfast so I just took my running shoes off and hopped on the bike.
Bike 112 miles – 5:15:31
I started off slow with a moderate power and cadence with the goal of taking my first gel 30 minutes in. I took a sip of my Sports In Science electrolyte infused drink at the start and would try and take a drink\sip every 20 minutes or so and would adjust as needed. I was concerned that I felt like I was already twitching on the seat less than 10 miles in but maybe I was just trying to get comfortable. My HR was only at about 125 pedaling at 80 rpm at 20mph. My goal was to keep my HR out of the 160’s. I finished my first gel then settled into the aero bars to take the pressure off my seat and watched my HR climb into the 130’s. After an hour I felt good so I increased my power and cadence because my HR was still low and I had plenty of room to work with. At 1.5 hours in I ate my first energy bar. No issues at this point with the HR just starting to get close to 140. At the 2 hour mark I increased the power but dropped the cadence a bit as I dropped into a lower gear. That got the HR moving up into the mid 140’s as my speed crept into the 21mph range. I was still feeling good and didn’t feel stressed at all. I was however moving around on the seat a little too much. My HR entered the 150 range just before the half way mark. I rode until about 60 miles then backed off the cadence a bit to make sure my HR didn’t go into the 160 range. I never really got it to go down much lower than 150 after that and the salt crystals from my sweat were starting to show on my kit. At the 80 mile mark I was starting to get a little more unsettled on the seat. I kept alternating between sitting up and being on the aero bars and shifting from one side of the seat to the other. At 90 miles I was dying to get off the bike. I was alternating between pedaling really fast so I could stand up and stretch while allowing the wheel to keep going in a coast. I had taken several gels at this point and an energy bar and a half and just wanted to be running already. Anything to get me off the seat. With two miles to go I dropped to a lower gear and cranked up the speed…I wanted off as soon as possible! My watch finally beeped, end of session and I hopped off that bike. I stood there for a bit hunched over because my frontal hip joints between the top of my quads and pelvis ached. I needed to take a minute to stretch them back out. This was a new sensation and I wondered if I’d be able to run.
T2 – 12 minutes
I took another pee break and the joints felt better after that short walk. I took half a gel, drank some sugar free soda (because it was ice cold) and some Gatorade. I put my running shoes on then got on the treadmill. In hind sight I should have eaten something a little more substantial that was not sugary.
Run 14.22 miles – 2:40:23
This was going to be uncharted territory for me on this run so I started slow for two reason, 1) to let my hips get settled in and 2) to make sure I had the strength to finish. So I eased into a 9:30 pace for the first mile. I felt OK and the soreness in my hips was gone so I stepped it up to my goal pace around 8:30. This was a slow pace for me and it felt a little awkward holding my form in it but I felt OK so I tried to stay with it. At about 3 miles I started to feel the ache in my shoulders. My legs felt great but I wasn’t maintaining a good arm swing. At 5 miles my back started to ache and I could feel discomfort from it each time I took a deep breath. I made it to 6 miles then started walking so I could take a drink. I walked for about 2 minutes then started running again and it took some effort to get back going. At mile 9 I started walking again so I could take another drink. I opened a gel but only managed to get about a quarter of it down. At this point I didn’t think I was going to make it. My shoulders and arms were burning and my back was tight and aching. I manage to take one more shot at running and only ran a mile before I started walking again. I looked at the energy gels and power bars and my brain wouldn’t let me take one. My appetite had just been turned off from them because of the sugary taste. I had walked about 3.5 miles and my shoulders, arms and back were no longer aching however, I knew if I couldn’t get any fuel in me I wouldn’t make it and I knew if I continued to walk, it would take me 3+ hours to finish. At that point I decided I was going to go to 14 miles and stop. It was a hard bitter pill to swallow when I pressed that stop button. I hesitated 2 or 3 times before actually pressing it. I had made it so far but it was the right decision to make at that time. I had plenty of time to take a long rest break and come back and finish in the 17 hour window but once I stopped I would not give myself credit for a marathon run meaning, as I saw it, I couldn’t take credit in my view for the full Ironman.
Run 12.1 – 1:23:44
About 26 hours later I geared up to finish the run. I had gone through a full day of work without any leg soreness. I did have some saddle soreness from the chaffing but that was to be expected. I did not expect my legs to feel the way they did right out of the gate. I started with a walk and jog to warm them up and didn’t feel any fatigue. So I started the session with a 7:30 pace for the first mile and everything felt OK. 3 miles in I felt really settled in and said OK, let’s go so I stepped it up but in small increments while watching my HR with the intent of not letting it go over 160bpm. I wanted to keep it below for the whole run. However, with 3 miles to go and some quick time calculations, I could see that if I sped up I could put myself on a pace to PR for my half marathon time. I knew the run workout was going to stop at 12 miles but I still wanted to be on pace to PR the half when I did. So I sped up to a 6:30-6:20 pace which pushed my HR into the 160’s but it was OK because I knew I could hang on for those last 3 miles. The workout ended at 1:23:44 so to get the half PR I would have had to do that 13th mile in a 6:14 or better pace and that was very doable because when I stopped I was on a 6 minute pace!
So with that run I earned my Kona Ironman VR27 badge. There were no race rankings on this one, probably due to the wide variances on how it could be completed. I still don’t have a marathon run under my belt, but I’ll get it in due time! All the IM VR’s are free to do and when you complete them you get the option to purchase a finisher’s package that includes a medal, a shirt, a hat or some other option\combination. I’ve only purchased the package for VR6 & VR7. The cost is basically what you would spend to register for a small race. If you’ve ever seen a picture of my fitness room you would know that I have a ton of medals even several from this year alone.
Had I finished the race in one day I probably would have definitely ordered the package but at this point I’m on the fence. Maybe I’m just being a little hard on myself considering I did complete it in the time given to me. Besides, I always give myself goal times in regular races and I don’t say “No, I can’t accept that finishers medal and age group award because I didn’t beat the time I set for myself”. So I guess I will order it.
My first actual in-person group race of 2020 was the Deerfield Skeleton Run (5k). It was a chilly mid 40 degree morning and I was expecting it to be a muddy mess because it rained overnight. The race was being run in waves staggered 15 minutes apart with no more than 50 runners. I was in the 5th wave which was the last one to go so I didn’t have to be there until 9am and by that time the sun had been out long enough to make it a little warmer. It was a hilly trail course through cornfields and farm land so the going was sketchy with rocks, sticks, and tractor wheel tracks but not muddy at all. I rolled my ankle just past a mile in but I kept going. It took about 2 miles for me to settle in and I slowly started too real in one of the guys that past me but I just couldn’t get to him at the end. That day of all days would be the first time I felt fatigue in my legs after the virtual Ironman I did a few days before. Oh well, 15th overall and 1st in AG will do. It looked like everyone was starving for a real race because there were 175 runners, which had to be a record, for the race! I liked the wave starts; it made for a less congested run but I did catch several back markers from the wave that went ahead of mine.
So, in all since April I’ve completed 29 races and so many challenges I’ve lost count. From September 1st through October 11th, from workouts to races and in-between, I logged 906 miles of effort on my legs in that short period of time. You would think that after that I’d be shutting things down but I haven’t. I signed up for another challenge. The St, Jude Virtual Marathon! The good thing about this one is it’s for a good cause and I’ll be part of my jobs corporate team. Besides, I still need to check the marathon off my list!
Diary of an Age Group Triathlete 