To Lake Placid and Beyond
The preparation to this year’s Ironman in Lake Placid has
been every evolving since participation in my first triathlon back in 2010.
Since finding the running group at Running etc. in 2009 to biking with and
racing for the folks over at Fat Frogs and most recently our relationship with
Final Kick which started at the first of the year it has been a journey in
which I have always had high hopes and dreams. Running and triathlon have had
such a positive influence in my life. I met my wife in running community and as
of June I have been sober for 4 years now. I developed a love for the endurance
community and it is a love that I am not yet ready to let go of.
Some know the struggles I had with running last season and
it weighed heavy on me leading into last year’s race at Louisville. For those
in the long course community you know the time and effort both physically and
mentally it takes to try to be competitive in the sport. I put so much of my
heart into training but was limited by an injury which is out of my control. I
have been having issues with my lower back particularly at L4-L5 and L5-S1.
With the nerve involvement on the right side it has made running a constant
struggle. I was somewhere in the mid 20’s overall after the bike last year in
Louisville but followed that up with a 3:57ish marathon. Triathlon is a balance
of all three disciplines so to be so limited in one it is disheartening. I
spent the remainder of 2013 off my feet and focused some extra time into
swimming and biking. At the start of 2014 I made the decision to find a
temporary fix for my back and make one more push towards 2014 Lake Placid. At
the start of the year I went to see a few doctors. Got an MRI, a nerve study,
biomechanical checks, and so forth. It came down to getting a steroid epidural
and seeing if that would relieve any of the discomfort and allow me to get back
to running again. It wasn’t a cure all but it allowed me to get back on my feet
and start what I felt was going to be a successful season.
Since about this time last year I have kicked around the
idea of parting ways with triathlon. I was already signed up for Lake Placid
and had some financial obligation to race but more than that I had something to
prove to myself. Starting in January I was back out and running if that’s what
you want to call it. My long runs were only about 20 mins or so at this time.
It was a step in the right direction though. While working with my coach Jessie
we kept in constant contact about the situation and were working through it in
the best way we found fit. Speed work seemed to be too much of a stress to the
body at the time so we worked on building some endurance back and kept
everything in check with some tempo sessions. I had a plan to keep racing to a
minimum and put focus on the end goal of Lake Placid. I only had 3 races on the
schedule an early season Olympic, Rev 3 Williamsburg Half, then the race at
Placid. By the time I was ready for the first race of the year swimming was
take form, the bike was solid, and we were able to get the long runs back to
around 2 hrs. The running was looking good but it was hit or miss, some days I
could crush a workout other days if it was tough at work or life was catching
up I could barely run. The hit or miss aspect made it mentally challenging this
season. There is just something free I love about running, it is something I am
truly going to miss in the future. So the first race of the season was upon us
it was time to kick it off at Monticello Man Oly. in Charlottesville Va. Chris
Stock roped me into showing up here. All in all at the end of the day the race
was a success and put me one step closer to goals I had for Palcid. My swim
there was solid and I rode what I had on the bike. It is hard for us flat
landers to ride the courses of western Va. I came off the bike in a good place
and hit the road running. I closed out the run in 38 and some change nothing
super-fast but it was a win in my mind and it allowed me to run myself into 4th
overall while holding off Chris Stock until the finish.
Next up was Rev 3 Williamsburg, a few weeks before this race
I was able to run an open half at the Marine Corps historic half in
Fredericksburg Va. and I just broke 1:20 for the day. Not a PR but with how
running has been I was happy. I ran well ran relatively pain free and broke the
top 10 for the race. It was my 7th year in a row up there and is I
race I plan to be at every year until I no longer can. This run brought me
confidence leading into Willimasburg, the James River is a place we visit for
swims and after some weekend rides on the bike course the prep for this race
was coming together. On race day the conditions were looking good, I had a good
swim split given the conditions and it left me in a good spot to ride sometime
into the field, I rode most of the 56 miles back and forth between second and
third with another fella. Little did we know we would come into t2 7mins back
of first. I was left hoping this first place fella couldn’t run well. Coming
out of t2 with 3rd the race was on, we passed 1st at mile
9 which meant if things continued like this one of the two of us would win. We
ran the better half of 11.5 miles together before I made the decision to see
what I had left. In the last 1.5 miles I was able to put around 20secs on 2nd
to hang on for the win. I ran a 1:25 that day which truly wasn’t what I wanted
to see but given the situation I was ecstatic with it and it was right where I
needed to be for the last push to Placid. Williamsburg was a half PR for me at
4:18 and it is always nice to take the overall win somewhere. We had so much
support going into the race and it was great to share the course with some many
friends. I also want to mention I was able to hold of Chris Stock again at this
race. Good work taking 3rd though buddy.
I had all my eggs in one basket for Placid this included a 4
day training weekend in Placid over the 4th of July. I can’t thank
JV and Amy Cole enough for having us and being such great training partners.
The weekend was 4 days of solid training, getting into town Friday we had a
little swim then hit the road for a ride out to and climb up Whiteface Mtn.
Little did I know how this ride would put me in the pain cave for tomorrows
double loop of the course. Saturday morning we did a double loop of the swim
course then hit the road for 112 miles of biking. The great company I had for
the day made the ride go by in a hurry. It was Rachel, JV, me and another fella
Ryan joined for one loop. We rode the course in 6 hrs that day thinking about
riding it an hr. faster on race day was a little discouraging. Sunday led way
to a one loop swim and a good long run. Hitting the road on foot today led by
the awesome Amy Cole made for a great group run. I ended the day at 18 miles on
the course just around race pace and it was one of the better runs I have had
in a couple weeks. For the last big push things were looking up. I want to rag
on Rachel for a minute this girl rides well now and it is hard to drop her but
after riding with the boys and taking advantage of us she decided to attack at
mile 109 and I had no answer for her. I can’t wait to see what she can do in
this sport the girl is getting strong. One more moderate weekend at the farm
for hills then the taper to race day was on. I was in a good place for this
race, training has been spot on I was swimming well, riding better than ever
and I was back on my feet running over the last 6 months.
Race day, like I mentioned earlier things were in place and
all the eggs were in one basket. I knew coming into the day if all things were
to work out I was going to have a kick ass race. Little did I know what was in
store for me, I seeded myself at the back of the 60min and under group. Hoping
to swim 60 flat I felt like this was the group I needed to be with. Little did
I know how other would misjudge their abilities, by the second buoy I was
swimming over the mass of people and folks were already breast stroking and
stopping by this point. It made for a tough swim course the second loop was
even harder to work through. At the end on the second lap I exited the water in
1:03 given everything I was happy to see this. By the start of the bike the
rain and thunder storms rolled in. I knew what I needed to ride but in the
conditions it wasn’t worth pushing too hard and risk crashing out. I rode
moderate out of town its way to early in the day to hammer the climb, then onto
the descent into Keene I took it conservative but I was still racing the rain
was really coming down now and made things pretty sketchy, I knew at the bottom
I would turn and had some nice fast rollers to make up time. I pushed the ride
into jay pretty good had a couple other strong riders around and I was
surprised to see some age groupers really pushing the pace by this point they
were riding out of my league. I made the turn to upper jay and now it was a
steady solid effort back to town. Coming into 56 miles I was at 2:33 right on
where I needed to be I would have loved to see 2:30 even but given the
conditions what’s 3mins. Onto the second lap this is where the bike race really
starts to go bad for me it was on its way to being over. I flatted on the short
descent behind transition, getting to the bottom I made a hasty change of tubes
and was on my way I lost time but not so much that I couldn’t ride some of it
back. The rain was gone and the roads were drying up by lap two and things were
looking good. Well on the climb out of town the tire was feeling low so I
hopped off real quick and topped it off with another co2 back on my way or at
least I thought so. Going down the first descent boom the tire is flat again.
It ended up being a cut tire with a shard of glass in it. I got the course
support to call for tech support. I was a sitting duck and at their mercy now.
It took them around 20mins to get to me. I truly don’t know how much time I
lost on lap two but I do know the total lap time was 3:11. I won’t lie after
tech support taking so long I was kind of defeated. I got rolling again and did
what I could I still rode the shit out of my bike to finish out the last lap.
The day was catching up to me though. The run started with negative thoughts,
after the shitty bike ride I didn’t want to continue, to top it off after the
turn onto river road my running was shit, after such a strong training block
this was the worst day possibly to not be able to get functioning on the run. I
thought about calling it quits at this point but there was something in me, I
wasn’t going to let my last Tri be a DNF and I was going to do what I could and
I was going to finish. I am strong, I love what I do, I love the faith I have
in myself, I love the others I share the course with, I love those who have been
lost, I am thankful for what I can physically do, for these reasons and many
others I continued. I ended the run with a 3:44ish marathon not anywhere close
to what I wanted but when I crossed that finish line I heard the words “You Are
An Ironman” for this I am grateful. It was an awesome end to an even better
journey.
I made the decision earlier this year to walk away from
triathlon after racing Placid. I haven’t been extremely vocal about this
decision because I wanted my energy focused on the goals at Placid. It is time
to close a chapter in life and turn the pages to write another. I’m not gone
forever friends I will be back there is just a ? of when. Leaving long course
racing will leave a void in my life. I have been kicking around many ideas. I
love the endurance community and I am not ready to leave it. I have set my
goals on pursuing endurance cycling while trying to refine my swimming with
hopes of returning to triathlon on day. In the mean time I am going to start
this cycling journey at the Mid-Atlantic 12/24 in the end of August. I have to
sign up still but this is the plan. Cycling has no ill physical effects on me
so it seems like I can do it. The training volume I am at now is fine so I go
into this with the hopes that as I build into longer and longer rides I will hold
on physically, only time will tell. I have had year goals of completing Ironman
races for the last couple of seasons, so after this year I was looking for what’s
next, what is a year away I can set my sights on. This year’s goal is looking
like it could be a 4 man team for RAAM I have put some feelers out for riders
but there is still a lot to look at before making it a definite. The logistics,
the financial obligations, and more are definitely larger than anything I have
thought about doing before. So when I get settled back in after getting home
from Placid it will be onto the planning stages and seeing if it will be
feasible to make happen.
The time up until now could not have been possibly if it
weren’t for my lovely wife Rachel Jastresbky and the others in our life. Thanks
Jesse Vondracek for the last two years and some change of coaching, I love the
friendship we developed and thanks to Amy Cole for being your support and both
of y’all for having us over the 4th of July weekend and for the
race. Fat Frogs is where I got my start and I thank y’all for this, Ghent
chiropractic for doing what you do to keep us going, Final Kick has been our
local support for the 2014 season and it has been great, The support from y’all
is awesome thanks for having me, Zoot sports has been the greatest tri team I
could ask to be part of, an awesome company and we built great relationships
through them, Tara Norton had a large influence on my racing in the first year
and I thank you for your support through Lack Placid and Kona in 2011, I also
thanks you for your continued support of Rachel. Matt Long you had a larger
impact on my decisions probably more than you know, you are an influence for
many, I wish you the best in life, “ I Will…….” The triathlon community has
been amazing there have been so many new relationships built and many more to
come. I’m stepping away but I will be around to support y’all now. I am looking
forward to what the future has in store. Congrats to everyone on their
performance this past weekend at Placid it was a joy to share the day with
y’all, Danny Royce you went against our plan buddy but rest up recover and get
back at it, I will be looking for big things at Chattanooga.
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