2020 Year in Review

Are you sick of hearing 2020 was NOT the year we expected... well, I am.  However, it was probably just fine and has been lined with many blessings.  At least that is what I am trying to do with this post.

On the training and racing front, there were zero "real" races.  I mocked up my own races, participated in a whole host of virtual events, and enjoyed virtual racing on Zwift including team time trialing.  I would have never considered some of these things if not for COVID.  Here is the list of virtual events and challenges that I took on this year:

I was fortunate to stay healthy and set a few new personal records for multiple distances and disciplines.  I set a new 5k, 10k, and half marathon personal record.  I set and then beat my 40k time trial personal record.  Granted, I had never done a stand alone 40k, but out of the five attempts this year (standalone or part of the Ironman VR series), I improved over five and half minutes from my slowest to fastest effort.  Last and certainly not least, I beat my 10 hour goal time to tackle the Appalachian Trail from the Pennsylvania border, through Maryland, West Virginia, and to the Virginia border.  Both my half marathon and AT efforts were supported by my dad.  I really enjoyed the extra time with him, especially now due to quarantine keeping us separated.

As expected, every in-person race I registered for was cancelled and immediately deferred to 2021.  The only exception was the ITU Age Group World Championships in Edmonton, AB.  That was a roller coaster of developments from July to December.  At first it was all moved to Bermuda, so I declined my position on Team USA.  Then, it was back on and moved back to Edmonton, so I quickly emailed wanting to change my decision.  When it came to register, low and behold they did not have me on the list because of my initial response.  Therefore, I acted swiftly and was reinstated.  Therefore, we are trying to go back to Canada again next year!  We'll see!

On the home front, life with my wife and kids has been very eventful trying to manage virtual school and maintain our health.  Fortunately to date, we have not caught the virus and continue to self quarantine and follow as many precautions as possible.  It is very difficult socially because everyone has such divergent views.  We are managing our responsibilities to my employer (thankfully I still have a job), our family members, and the family members which are relying on us to keep our kids safe and healthy so they can still participate in some social activities.  It is quite the juggling act and I know feelings have been hurt.  Hopefully, we can all repair our relationships when all this is over.  

Lastly, and not as much along the lines as blessings, my older brother was diagnosed with ALS this past summer.  This has been a big blow to the family and we are certainly doing our best to rally around him.  It is difficult because he lives in California and none of our family lives there.  With all the COVID restrictions on travel and quarantines, it is a delicate balancing act to provide support.  Maybe the blessing is we are all trying to work together to support one another in this crisis.  2021 will have a lot to say about this situation.

Anyhow, no need to prolong this 2020 recap... it has already been a long year!

2020 Season Starts Now!

New Years Day is two days away, but the 2020 season starts today for me!  Let's get this party started!  

Since November 7th, I have recovered from sinus surgery and simply done a slow build back to structured training.  I have felt like a caged bull the last few weeks and am so motivated and ready to get going again.  That is exactly what I hoped would happen with the longest layoff I have taken since starting triathlon five years ago.  Today, I began with a 3,500 meter swim session of broken 300s.  After a six-week layoff from swimming during my sinus recovery, I have been slowly building back my swim fitness the last few weeks.  This workout felt fairly normal and I finally feel like I am ready to do some quality swim sets.

Below is what I have on tap for 2020, so far:

3/15/2020 - Annapolis Striders - B&A Trail Half Marathon

6/21/2020 - Kinetic Multisports - Lums Pond Olympic Triathlon

07/11/2020 - Kinetic Multisports - Diamond in the Rough Olympic Triathlon

08/23/2020 - ITU Age Group Standard Distance World Championships 

I have my eye on a few other races, but they will likely be some tune-up 5k and 10k runs and maybe a duathlon or one more olympic in May.  These will all be determined by the kids sports schedule which we won't know for a few more weeks/months.  I would also like to participate in a couple of cycling time trials near my home, as long as they fit in with my training sessions.

As I have noted before, I work with my coach Sierra Snyder, using a platform called TriDot.  I have been an ambassador for them now for three years and totally trust their process.  Sierra helps me fine tune everything as needed and gives me the insights on how to race.  Ultimately though, the artificial intelligence driving the TriDot system optimizes my training load to me specifically based on my regular assessments and how well I complete each week's training.  Every work out is given a "TrainX" score and gives me immediate feedback on how well I performed to the intent and purpose of the workout.  

In parallel, to fuel my engineering brain, I track my progress in Training Peaks.  I also like to compare TP's annual training plan and periodization to my actual results that TriDot prescribes.  They tend to be pretty different.  I don't worry because I know TriDot is optimized for me specifically.  Below is a screen capture of the training plan for 2020.  

Just for comparison's sake, below is a screen capture of 2019's season with my actual results using TriDot.  You can see that I reached a far higher CTL with TriDot than Training Peaks prescribed.  No injuries, plenty of podiums, and qualification for Team USA speaks loudly for TriDot's methods!

Lastly, I am proud to represent as an ambassador this year for a couple of brands and will be racing for a few teams this year.  Looking forward to seeing my teammates out there crushing it!

Well, here we go, let's "get after it!"

Race Resume

2023

• 04/29/2023 - Kinetic Multisport General Smallwood Olympic Triathlon - Marbury, MD - 2:10:22 - 1st Masters, 4th OA / 185
• 06/11/2023 - Ironman 70.3 Eagleman - Cambridge, MD - TBD
• 07/02/2023 - Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley - Happy Valley, PA - TBD
• 09/10/2023 - Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City - Atlantic City, NJ - TBD

2022

• 05/15/2022 - Kinetic Multisport Independence Olympic Triathlon - Quakertown, PA - 2:10:00 - 1st Masters, 7th OA / 182
• 06/12/2022 - Ironman 70.3 Eagleman - Cambridge, MD - DNF - 2 flat tires
• 07/24/2022 - Ironman Lake Placid - Lake Placid, NY - 10:56:22 - 10th 45-49 AG / 215, 112th OA / 1,817 - Qualified 2022 Ironman World Championships
• 10/08/2022 - Ironman World Championships - Kona, HI - 10:30:15 - 204th 45-49 AG / 566, 1,060 OA / 2,375
• 10/28/2022 - Ironman 70.3 World Championships - St. George, UT - 4:48:54 - 68th 45-49 AG / 495, 1,011th OA / 3,552

2021

• 04/10/2021 - Racine Multisports - Hagerstown Duathlon - Hagerstown, MD - 0:59:35 - 3rd 40-44 AG / 14
• 05/18/2021 - Baltimore Bicycle Club - Tuesday Night Time-Trial - Hunt Valley, MD - 0:36:59 - 2nd OA / 14
• 07/10/2021 - Kinetic Multisport Diamond in the Rough Olympic Triathlon - Perryville, MD - 2:21:51 - 1st Masters, 7th OA / 162
• 08/22/2021- Ironman 70.3 Timberman - Laconia, NH - 4:45:45 - 5th 40-44 AG / 54, 50th OA / 702 - Qualified 2022 70.3 World Championships
• 10/03/2021- Baltimore Triathlon, Sprint - Chase, MD - Cancelled Swim - 0:51:45 - 2nd OA / 168
• 10/23/2021- River Valley Trail Run Festival Half Marathon - Manchester, MD - 1:48:30 - 2nd OA / 129

2020

• COVID - ALL RACES CANCELLED

2019

• 10/27/2019 - Fight Ageism 5k - San Diego, CA - 18:27 - 1st Overall / 76
• 09/13 - 09/15/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Savageman Challenge - 8:36:56 - 10th OA / 93 
• 09/15/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Savageman 70 - 5:43:04 - 3rd 40-44 AG / 23
• 09/14/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Savageman 30 - 2:16:49 - 2nd OA
• 09/13/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Swim-Run Prologue - 0:37:07 - 19 OA / 79
• 08/10/2019 - USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships - Cleveland, OH - 1:57:09 - 17th 40-44 AG- Qualified ITU Worlds
• 07/13/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Diamond in the Rough Olympic - North East, MD - 2:29:10 - 2nd OA Masters
• 06/16/2019 - Kinetic Multisports - Tri It Olympic - Bear, DE - 2:04:01 - 1st OA Masters
• 05/04/2019 - Ironman 70.3 Virginia - Williamsburg, VA - 4:50:05 - 21 / 173 40-44 AG

2018 

• 09/28/2018 - Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City - Atlantic City, NJ - 4:45:27 - 14 / 212 40-44 AG
• 08/11/2018 - USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships - Cleveland, OH - 2:39:01 - 115 / 195 40-44 AG
• 06/10/2018 - Ironman 70.3 Eagleman - Cambridge, MD - 4:54:55 - 19 / 163 40-44 AG
• 05/06/2018 - Kinetic Multisports - Devilman Olympic - Millville, NJ - 2:01:13 - 3rd OA Masters
• 04/14/2018 - Racine Multisports - Hagerstown Duathlon - Hagerstown, MD - 0:57:44 - 3rd Overall

2017

• 12/02/2017 - Race 13.1 Baltimore - Baltimore, MD - 1:30:44 - 1 / 46 40-44 AG
• 09/17/2017 - Ironman Atlantic City 70.3 - Atlantic City, NJ - 5:05:27 - 20 / 212 40-44 AG
• 08/13/2017 - Steelman Olympic - Pennsylvania - 2:26:35 - 1 / 19 40-44 AG
• 06/11/2017 - Ironman 70.3 Eagleman - Cambridge, MD - 5:05:54 - 32 / 208 40-44 AG
• 05/07/2017 - Piranha Sports - NJ Devilman 50 - 3:24:07 - 1 / 11 40-44 AG
• 04/22/2017 - River Valley Ranch Trail Half Marathon - 1:52:58 - 5th OA, 1 / 70 40-44 AG

2016

• 12/03/2016 - Race 13.1 Baltimore, Baltimore, MD - 1:34:17 - 2 / 45 35-39 AG
• 11/06/2016 - Across the Bay Bridge 10k - Annapolis, MD -  42:44 - 12 / 847 35-39 AG
• 10/01/2016 - Baltimore Triathlon Olympic - Baltimore, MD - 2:20:23 - 7th OA, 1 / 9 35-39 AG
• 09/11/2016 - Nations Triathlon Sprint (cancelled swim) - Washington, DC - 1:09:20 - 1 / 66 35-39 AG
• 06/05/2016 - Virginia Maryland Multisports - Rock Hall Sprint - Rock Hall, MD - 1:18:23 - 2 / 90 35-39 AG
• 04/16/2016 - Racine Multisports - Hagerstown Duathlon - Hagerstown, MD - 1:04:45 - 6 / 13 35-39 AG

2015

• 09/26/2019 - Osprey Sprint Triathlon (cancelled swim)- Eastern Shore, MD -  1:10:27 - 3 / 6 35-39 AG

USAT RANKINGS

*All American

USAT Age Group National Championships - 08/11/2019 Race Report

Swim:

1. I pushed the time between warming up and moving to the swim start to the last very moment.  Last year I sat waiting at the start for too long.  This year was perfect moving right to the beach and into the warm up area just adjacent to the swim start.
2. I completed  three- 25 - 50 yard sprints to get the heart rate up and lungs expanded.  I felt good in the wave action and felt like it was not nearly as rough as last year.
3. I found Andy at the start and lined up next to him.  The horn blew and we were off.  I did not get much of a draft off him as things were really rough for the first 50 yards or so.  There was tons of climbing and smashing about from all sides. 
4. After things settled in, I was pushing the pace fairly hard but still felt comfortable by the first turn buoy.  With the shortened swim, the first buoy came up much quicker than I anticipated, but fortunately I was not in a bad position to make the turn.
5. After the turn, the sun was right in our face and it was impossible to get a good sight on the trees and tents that I had scouted out.  I simply tried to stay in the herd and trust that we were all headed in the right direction.  I clued in on the support kayaks to help sight. 
6. Mid-way through the long parallel leg to the shoreline, I had a problem that I never experienced before, I took a huge splash of water right when I was breathing.  I have definitely swallowed water before, but this time, the water went right down my windpipe and choaked me.  I tried to swim and cough it out, but it was not coming out.  I had to stop completely to get it coughed up.  In the meantime, I was ran over several times and nearly lost my composure.  Fortunately, I took a minute to pray and keep my wits and get back to work.
7. I slowly regained my stroke and focused on getting to the next turn buoy.  From there, I just kept building on my pace and tried to finish strong.  I knew the race wasn’t over, the swim was short and I could make up time on the bike.
8. I swam in as far as I could before having to run out of the water… it was knee deep for a lot farther than I would have preferred. 
9. It was a long run to T1, so I simply settled into the jog.
10. T1 was smooth and I made up a few spots passing some folks on the way out.

 

Bike:

1. I mounted fairly well, but I need to work on this.  Right out of transition was a steady climb up to the Shoreway.   Racing this course again was very helpful because I knew to simply get up the climb with decent power and get the heart rate down. 
2. After the climb, I started to build but not really hard, yet.  I recalled one more climb was coming to pass the football stadium.  I decided on that downhill side of the bridges will be where I start to go.  This was about 2 miles into the ride.
3. As planned, I started hammering and was very happy with how I felt.  I quickly passed a lot of packs of riders in my age group and reached a point where I could see another pack.  They were really close together and I decided to match their speed but not become part of the group. 
4. It wasn’t long before an official moto came by really quickly and I knew that group was going to be broken up.  Ultimately, I am convinced that two folks in that pack ahead of me were penalized and probably were the ones that allowed me to move up from 19th to 17th.  I don’t know for sure, but it is a reasonable conclusion.
5. We reached the decent at the museums and I just let it rip and had a lot of fun doing it.  At this point, I was essentially locked in with another rider that was pushing as hard as I was.  I had a blast!
6. After the turn around, we had to climb the hill we just decended and I remember being surprised at how good I felt climbing and decided to keep pushing hard.  I reached the top and made my move to pass the guy I had been riding with for a while.  From there, I decided to keep going and made a ton of passes in my age group on the way back in. 
7. On the climb back up the bridges at the football stadium, I was traded places with three other guys in my age group. With only a few miles left, I took in a caffeinated gel to set-up the run.  When we finally reached the top and the final stretch of hills home, I decided to push past them and go hard all the way in.  I was feeling good.
8. T2 was really smooth and I was off and running.  I glanced over at my friend Andy’s transition spot and noticed he was gone, but I used it as a motivator to get moving at a good pace early.

 Run:

1. The revised run course was a lot better than last year, although it had several steady hills that made it respectable.  As I made my way to the first aid station after 1 mile, I saw Andy running back after the turn around… I was really amped because that meant I was not very far from the leaders.   I guessed at that point, that I might have been only five minutes down or less.  A surge of adrenaline came and I just tried to relax into a good pace.
2. I worked really hard to get water at every aid station, without stopping I was drinking one and dumping the other on me to stay cool. 
3. After the first turn around and passing the same aid station, I started getting a left side stitch.  It was a significant one but I was determined to not let this stop me.  I kept pushing up the climb back to the North side of the park.  I reached another aid station, dumped water and sipped a little bit. 
4. At the top of the hill, I saw a guy dressed like Elvis cheering everyone on, I ran by him and gave him a high five and said, “give me some love Elvis!”  Amazingly after that, my stitch disappeared! 
5. I had already taken one gel with caffeine by this point and was starting to contemplate taking another around mile 4.  I followed through with this plan and mentally told myself that I was going to push it from there.
6. The North side of the park had a lot of zig zagging paths and one steep little hill section that put a hurting on me.  I was verbally yelling at the course and trying to will myself home with everything I had.  With less than a mile to go, I was gassed but still running as hard as I could.  About 50 feet from the downhill run to home, two guys in my age group passed me!  It was the two guys that I was trading places with on the bike on that last climb past the football stadium.  Unfortunately, those burnt matches might have hurt me.
7. Anyhow, I let gravity do the work of pushing my pace up on the way home and did my best to keep the sprint up to the finishing chute.  The pictures are pretty telling, but I was putting everything I had into the final chute.  My outside right quad was cramping but I was still moving hard to the finish.
8. As I crossed the line, my right quad seized up and I just slowly limped in and stood still as my timing chip was removed.  I grabbed Gatorade and chugged it.  In a few moments, my cramp was gone and I was ecstatic. 
9. I was teased a little bit because after announcing my name, the announcer indicated that I had made a podium spot!  I was baffled but that was a promising comment.
10. As I came out and saw my dad, he told me 19th and I was stoked!  I met my stretch goal of top 20.  I knew Andy was not going to take his worlds slot, so I knew I would be in!  Fortunately, when the final results were posted two guys ahead of me were penalized and I moved up to 17th!

Overall Comments:

1. Aside from the swim, this race was SO MUCH FUN!!  I loved every minute of how it felt to push the red line.  Even with the moment on the swim, I really felt good out in the water and felt like I was putting in a good effort there too.
2. To put out a top ten bike split (9th) in my age group  is really satisfying considering how my bike legs had been feeling the last few weeks.  I was really worried that I might not have it on race day.  The taper plan was spot on! 
3. The run measured short of a 10k.  Andy confirmed the same at 6.09 miles.  My pace of 6:47 was spot on with what I thought I was capable of, so I am very satisfied.  I still have a lot of room to improve on my pace, but this is the area I am also most susceptible to injury so a slow and steady progression is fine with me.
4. Having my mom and dad at the finish line and then having an old friend present for the qualification to Worlds was icing on the cake.

Kinetic Multisports- Tri It Olympic - 06/16/2019 Race Report

Swim - 23:51 - 11 / 108 OA, 11 / 62 Male, 1 / 12 AG

The swim went fairly well.  This was a wetsuit swim.  I was able to get a good warm up in the water before we started and that helped get my breathing under control right away.  I lost contact with the front packers by the first buoy and based on the times ahead of me, there was no way I was going to hang with those fish.  However, I stayed together with a few other swimmers and benefited from the draft and was very comfortable getting out of the water.  T1 was smooth and I passed several people in transition on my way out.  T2 = 0:58.2

Bike - 56:48 - 5 / 108 OA, 5 / 62 Male, 1 / 12 AG

The bike was an interesting one.  First, this was the first race that I had my disc wheel and it was windy.  Surprisingly as you had told me, it wasn’t the disc it was the 80mm front wheel that was catching the wind.  I never had a problem, but it was a big confidence boost to know that I can ride the disc in a decent wind.  I left transition right behind a younger racer and we ended up pushing each other the entire time.  We exchanged passes a few times.  Surprisingly, we did not seem to pass any other Olympic racers the entire three loop course.  However, it was hard to tell because of the mixing in of sprint and duathlon athletes after the first loop.  Regardless, I felt like I pushed right at my limit the entire ride.  I successfully never looked at my bike computer and only looked at my watch to see what my time split was per loop.  I never let up on the gas though and was very happy with the result.  It did measure about ¾ mile short.  After looking at the results, the top five finishes also had the top 4 bike splits so that explains why we never caught them.  Despite the short distance measured, it was still a PR by at least three minutes from my PR last year which measured only 0.2 of a mile longer. 

T2 was fast and smooth and it was fun to see Tammy recording my transition.  I stuck out my tongue at her and ran out!  T2 = 0:55

Run - 41:28 - 10 / 108 OA, 10 / 62 Male, 3 / 12 AG

Leaving transition I felt ok, but not great.  It took about a half mile before my legs settled in to a stride that felt normal.  From there, I settled in and just went.  Again, not one glance of the watch the entire run except for the turnaround for the second loop.  That actually inspired me to pick it up.  During the end of the first loop and into the start of the second loop, I started feeling a side stitch but it was nothing serious.  It eventually subsided and was a non-factor.  On my way back out, I noticed the young man that I was chasing on the bike was behind me and looking strong.  There was also a man that looked to be in my age group that also looked strong.  I used them for a reason to pick up the pace and “run scared” of being passed.  This proved to be a very good mental game because there were several parts of this course that I could simply measure how I was doing staying ahead of them.  I also figured out who the race leader was and could see he was pounding it out which kept inspiring me to push harder.  Ultimately, I am very satisfied with this run as I felt like I ran very well.  Again, the course measured short on my watch but being completely wooded and my Garmin does not do well under cover, it is possibly a decent 10k.   I pushed all the way to the finish as I looked up at the clock in the chute and tried to crack 2:04 and missed it by a few tenths of a second.  It turns out, I ran the exact same run split as Devilman Olympic last year which was a PR for me. 

Nutrition notes:

We woke really early to get to this race which was a little over an hour drive.  I ate overnight oats (mixed with all my favorites stuff to bring up the protein content) before leaving at 4:30 AM.  My pre-race hydration was Advocare Spark.  It has amino acids, vitamins, and caffeine to get me going.  This is a new approach I was testing out in this race.  About 30 mins out, I drank one scoop of UCAN with protein mixed with amino acids, peanut butter powder, and cinnamon.   At 35 - 40 minutes on the bike which was about 1 hour into the race, I had another scoop of ucan with protein, ucan hydrate, and amino acids.  The amino acid supplementation was also new for pre-race and during race nutrition.  I had a 20 oz water bottle BTA with 2 GU tablets in it.  At two miles onto the run, I had a SIS Energy Gel with Caffeine which was really only for the mental boost of the caffeine.   Overall, I think this was the best I felt the entire race ever.  Energy felt level, muscles felt strong, and I never had a sensation of a muscle cramp.  Something clicked here.

Lessons Learned / Reflection:

I really enjoyed the peace of not looking at data.  I had no choice but to remain in touch with how I felt and just keep pushing.  I have never looked at data during the swim, so that was nothing new.  On the bike however, I was always testing myself to see how much more I could push.  Having a rabbit out front helped and the constant desire to find the front pack kept me motivated.  At the end of the bike, I did not rest on my laurels and just follow my rabbit but stayed aggressive and kept the pedal to the metal.  The run was the most challenging and I found some inspiration on finding the leaders and seeing how hard they were running.  Later in the run, seeing the two who would ultimately finish behind me was another push. 

One of my goals of this race were to see where I stood with speed. Clearly my bike was on par and my run isn’t far off from my top end thus far.  I am excited to see what the next block of training will bring in preparing for my next Olympic in about 5 weeks.