Thursday, June 14, 2018

Hello, 2018...

Hello there.  How ya been?  Been a while, I'd say.

Thought I'd do a little checkup so this blog isn't considered completely dead.  I pay for the domain name, so might as well make use of it?

Last time I posted I was leading up to KC Half Marathon.  I actually did write an entire race report.  Too lazy to hit "publish" I guess?  Basically I ran a 1:43, which I was hoping for 1:45 so that felt good.  Pretty soon I was back on with full training because I gave Coach Ken with Midwest Triathlon Coaching a call and signed back up.  All I needed to do to keep the injury bug away was stretching, so I dedicated time to that.

2018 was returning to true endurance triathlon competition and hopefully a marathon.  I'm signed up for Boulder 70.3 in August and Space Coast Marathon in November.  I also signed up for KC Triathlon in May.

Leading up to the end of March, training was going great.  I believe I hit 14 miles and the pace was picking up.  I decided to sign up for Space Coast with BQ aspirations.  I signed up to finally race with Jill again.  Been way too long!

Then April hit.  Work exploded on me and I probably skipped 80% of my work outs.  Lost ~35% of my fitness (per TrainingPeaks TSS).  I hated wasting Coach Ken's time setting up training plans for me just to miss them.  I enjoy what I do for a living, it was just a crazy month (I say that because my training partner is also my boss who likely will read this, Hi Kevin!).

I actually had an awesome run a week into April.  I ran an 8 mile segment of Brew-to-Brew at 7:38 pace. But about a week later I could barely muster 9 minute pace.  I ended up bailing on the half marathon I was planning to run mid-April.  A couple reasons being I just didn't feel I would get the race I had been training for and it was also TKBs birthday (yes, I got approval to run a half marathon on her birthday in advance anyway).  But this gave me the opportunity take her to brunch at our favorite brunch place.

I was even considering bailing on KC Tri in mid-May but raced anyway.  It was a true olympic.  I've raced it multiple times and it was my first time racing in my new age group (40-45... I need to change my bio on this blog! Ugh!).  I raced my race and had plenty of moments on the HOT run that I wanted to walk.  I almost did but heard one of my teammates come up on me... Olympic distance World Champion, Kelly Dippold.  I kept pace with her for a couple miles.  She gave me plenty of motivation to keep pushing.  Definitely helped!

I was fine with my results.  Finished ahead of a couple people that I figured would blow me out of the water.  Wasn't my goal but gotta brag!  I did mention my buddy, training partner, and boss might read this? :P

That was about a month ago and I've been getting my lost fitness back (still off a bit).  Summer arrived in full force right before the KC Tri (When I did the brew-to-brew run on April 8, it snowed on me during that 8 mile run).  So my running in the heat has fully zapped my speed.  I need to suck it up and get back on the treadmill.  I probably still have gremlins floating in my head but I will work through it with more training.

I'm pretty confident my chances at a BQ are lost but not giving up on getting my fitness back because I plan to parlay that marathon fitness into ironman training in 2019.

Here's a few photos to share....

Rieger is weird. 
Kristen and John doing a practice wetsuit swim at Smithville Lake prior to KC Tri.

My nephew Sam and me running a 5k together.  He was doing a 7 week run club that culminated in the Heritage Park 5k.

Rieger and his chew toy, Turdle.

I think that's it for tonight... maybe the next 10 months?  I'll see what I can do.