Cape Cod Marathon Race Weekend

Some lousy New England weather always encourages a scaled down taper. The body is okay with some early week trails. Plan remains the same; cruise the first 10 miles in around 65 minutes or so and see how it goes. Looking forward to racing with the BAA gang. Small group this race though - even looks I might be the solo master and only a few guys in the open catagory.

Anyway, possible Nor'easter on Saturday; will definitely be windy on race day. Looking forward to putting in a solid performance and capping off 2011 with one final big race!

Winding Down Training

Another unusual training period; I guess I started this back in 2008, when I trained for Manchester Marathon on only 10 weeks of marathon training. It worked then, so hopefully it will yield the same result for Cape Cod. Of course, coming off a long summer tri season has left me moderately fit. Numbers: 68 miles last week and it looks like I will breach 70 again this week. The numbers are deceiving though! 10/11-17 I had 90 miles, which is a lot. I will probably continue to train into next week and then shut everything down. It looks to be a pretty stacked race with decent prize money, which always brings them out of the woodwork. Anyway, I get the message that the latter part of this race is hilly and will be challenging. Expectations will be reasonable for this race and the strategy is to cruise the first ten in 65 minutes or so, and then see how it goes the rest of the race. I will err on the side of being comfortable throughout this race and avoid any possibility of blowing-up in the latter stages. Also, plan is to continue into November with some short fast stuff and shoot for a decent 5K and then go off-season in December. I hope everyone is doing well; lots of marathons this month and early November. I hope everyone's races go or have gone well. -Kyle

All Systems Go For Cape Cod Marathon

Less than three weeks to go before my first shot at the Cape Cod course. I am now committed to running, barring any disasters over the next couple of weeks. This is the New England Grand Prix Championships. It would be nice to have a good race and get myself somewhere in the standings - without blowing myself apart like at Boston this year! Expectations will be reasonable, since this has been a very short training period. Last weeks numbers: 75 miles, some riding and not much swimming. Trying to focus on the running here for another week or so - then start mixing some cross-training in. I had a very tender heel last week and forced myself to take a complete day off Monday. My body seems to be very sensitive to running on roads. No problems on soft trails and I will try to focus all workouts toward soft surfaces. Anyway, there seems to be two camps on the CC course; one camps says hilly and hard, the other camp says it's not too bad. Feel free to leave your opinion! I am looking forward to finding out for myself! -Kyle

Four Weeks until Cape Cod Marathon

This is going to be a very, very short training period for me. I'm lucky to still have some fitness from the tri-season and I did run a marathon only a couple of months ago (3:30 at LP), so I can't be that far out of marathon shape. The biggest issue has been long runs, but I finally got a 20+ run in this week and will shoot for a 3 hour run next week. At the Octoberfest 5K 18:30 3rd overall - I would have had a shot, but too many miles in the legs and no kick at the end left me in third place. That is the fastest 5K I have run in a few years (5:59s), so I am happy and that seems to be my annual 5k. Numbers last two weeks; 68 and 50 miles. I need an 80+ week to get some confidence that I can have a good race. Expectations will be lowered, but I may still try to PR. Not much else going on; some riding but not much swimming. I may try to get back into Walden a couple of times this week, as the water is still warm, but the count down begins. I hope everyone's fall training is going well. Lots of marathons to choose from over the next 5 weeks. Cheers! -Kyle

Tri Season Ends, Focused On Cape Cod Marathon

A quick end to summer and another reminder that we are in for a change of season here in New England. Lobsterman went well and was a fun race to end the year. It turned out to be a pretty competitive race with Cranberry getting canceled - a lot of people signed up last minute to get a race in before the season ends. Here's the report:

The swim is in a protected bay up by Winslow park. It felt a lot better to be swimming with a wetsuit and ... the water temperature wasn't too bad. At the first turn I could not see the next buoy and opted to sight on the furthest swimmer I could see. At the second buoy, I could see the third, but it looked like folks were swimming out into the middle of the ocean. Absolutely, no one on the line. Same thing at the final turn, people were still way right. The bike, dropped a chain on the first hill - never happens except during a race. Course: very hilly, not long but some steep climbs, I was out fast and furious. The run course: hilly. I (only) made two mistakes during this race: (1) I decided to take my water bottle cage off the bike and only take water at the half way station. The temperature has now climbed a lot higher than they predicted and direct sun was very hot. Definitely dehydrating on the run. (2) No socks on run. My new flats, supposed to be forgiving, drill a hole the size of a quarter in the side of my right foot. 26min at 4 miles - I fall way off pace at the end of the run.

19th Overall, 3rd AG, 2:21

Great party and podium afterwards, and two lobsters!! Definitely a race to do and I am glad I did it. Festive outing with lots of friendly, low key competitors from all over the place - lot's of out of state travelers.

Drum roll please ...... Next race will be Cape Cod Marathon on October 30th. Nothing like cutting it close. I have been running A LOT and am trying to get my running legs back. We'll see - I have 5 1/2 weeks before the race. Looking to ride off my tri fitness into fall marathon season. If that fails, I will lower expectations and run anyway. As this is another race on my todo list. Will be running with the BAA masters as this is the USATF grand prix finale. At least I am getting some new races in this year! Cheers! -Kyle

Lobsterman Triathlon

Change in plans - I will be racing at the lobsterman Tri in Freeport Maine on Sept 11th - the tenth anniversary-memorial. This is an Olympic distance, which is working well for me here at the end of the summer. A lot less training time and focusing on speedwork. I look forward to closing the season with a good race. Would like to see the Lake Denison 2008 PR fall. -Kyle

Post IM Recovery

Moving on with the rest of the season - looks like next race wil be the Naragansett Half IM and probably my last tri for the year. Recovery has gone well and letting my rib heal (still hurts) has been keeping me from any real training and swimming has been out altogether. Starting to consider fall plans; maybe Manchester marathon again? or maybe Baystate for upping my BQ seed. Everything is good and the body is in good shape, so I will resume again and try to have a fast race on 9/11. It's just for fun, but I would like to go out with a good finishing place.