Training & Racing Update

The last few months have been crazy. I have been working a ton, both at the shop and making sure the CI crew is geared up for race season. However, I have been able to keep a solid handle on my training.

One major change this year has been my focus on the bike. I spent the entire winter outdoors riding. BEST THING EVER...well, except when it was 15 degrees and my water bottle froze! Due to this extra time riding, my swim did suffer, however, being out in Walden for 2+ months now has brought me generally up to speed. I am still a bit slow, but am close enough to be effective.

Once the weather really got nice, I as able to take all those slow bike miles and translate them into some speed. This was never more evident at the Ridgefield Sprint Triathlon in early June. I went out and felt smooth through the swim, coming out in about 15th in my wave. Not my typical swim speed, but at least not to far off the pack. Immediately out of the water, I passed 3 people on the run to transition and got out on the bike.

One thing I did, that paid huge dividends, was to pre-ride the course. I knew people were going to hit the early hills to hard, then after a sharp & fast downhill, they would blow up on the rollers coming back into T2. I paced myself early and started picking off people. I hit the downhill with 4 other riders (had to slow down so I wouldn't crash into them) and then once we all hit this road, I punched it and dropped them! I picked up one more racer coming in and then got out on the run.

One on the run, I employed a similar strategy. It was all uphill to the midway point, then all down coming in. Slowly I reeled 2 or 3 people, hit the top of the hill with 2 others, then kicked it into high gear for the run in.

Overall, I took 3rd in my age group and finished 28th out of about 400 people. However, the take home is, I rode and ran well. I was thrilled that my leg turnover on the run was solid and I was able to push a sub-7 minute pace. On the bike, those winter miles turned into a 21+ average on a hard course. For that early in the year, that is a good sign.

Now, back into training, I am logging more miles on the bike and really picking up my swim. As for the run, I am consistently pushing the pace and trying to get a bit more leg speed.

So far, in early July now, I am really rocking and am ahead of where I though I would be. Next race on the calendar is the MA State Triathlon on July 18th. This is an Olympic distance which is really my best. It allows me to use my overall power & strength combined with the solid base to push hard and fast...can't wait!

See you all at the races!

Coach Jared