Running with Eric

On sunday I ran (biked and swam) the peasantman triathlon in Penn Yan. This was my first triathlon since 2017 my first return to the peasantman since completing the half in 2015. Going into the race I knew that I was being powered more by enthusiasm and excitement than by actual training, and opted to step down to the intermediate distance. I finished the race in 4:11:54.

Going into this race I am fairly sure that I have not actually swam at all within the past two years. Probably not the best prep for what was the second longest swim of my life. Still I finished the mile in 55:06 which while near the tail end of the pack, was more or less in line with what I expected and actually slightly quicker than my average pace during my last tri.

I biked the 29 mile lap in 2:12 in what was the most difficult part of the course for me. With my slow swim I had a fairly lonely bike ride after turning away from the bikers on the sprint distance course. I did pass one rider (and gained ground on many others), but didn’t see to many people on the course until some of the other distance competitors started catching me towards the end of the loop. Maybe it is because I could only really compare myself to the sprinters and the leaders of the full, but it felt like my bike just didn’t go that fast even when I was maxed out going downhill. Still the final downhill into Penn Yan was a ton of fun and allowed me to reach some speeds that would have been reckless without someone directing traffic at the bottom of the hill.

The bike portion (and my lack of training on the bike) is what really held me back from going for the half distance. I could have managed a longer run, and the swim distance is barely different, but I would have really been in trouble had I needed to do a second lap on the bike.

The transitions between events are not the most exciting parts of the race, but they are a part of it nonetheless. I mention this only to point out that my 39 second transition was actually the quickest in the field. I may not have won the swimming, or the biking, or the running, but I was the T2 champion.

For the run I completed the quarter marathon in 1:01:25. This was the one discipline that I was actually prepared for, and while I passed a handful of people I started too far back to really move up the field. The run was quick and steady even if I didn’t have much of a finishing kick after racing for four hours.

This is going to be my one and only triathlon for the year, but I should have some more foot races coming up before too long.

On Sunday I finished my first half distance triathlon at the Peasantman race on Keuka Lake. At a combined 72.3 miles, the race was two biking miles longer than your standard half-ironman race. Overall, I finished in 8 hours and 36 minutes.

The swim actually went very well. The distance of 1.2 miles is by far the longest I have ever swam, yet I was able to maintain the same pace that I did for the shorter swim in last month’s triathlon. While my time of 63 minutes was no where near the fastest, I felt pretty good after finishing.

The 58 mile bike course is the farthest that I have ever rode on a bike, and consisted of two 29 mile loops. The first loop went very well, and although I don’t have an official split I think the first loop was a bit under two hours. Additionally the course ended with a rather significant downhill, so I got the unique experience of passing some motorcycles. The second loop started well enough, but around mile 34 I began to hit the wall. I struggled through until a water stop at mile 39 where I stopped a bit to get recharged. I was able to bike pretty consistently for the rest of the course, but I no longer had the same speed. Still I was at least quick enough to pass a few Amish buggies along the way. I finished the full 58 miles in 4 hours and 24 minutes.

Finally there was the run which is the one part of the triathlon that I am supposed to be good at. Unfortunately the course had very little shade, and after the first mile I was already worn out. Being beat up from the bike, and unable to get away from the sun I ended up walking a significant portion of the half-marathon. While my time of 3:05 was about an hour slower than I had been hoping for, given the conditions the run could have ended much worse.

Overall, I am now done with triathlons for the year, and won’t need to worry about biking or swimming until 2016. My next big race is the Rochester Marathon on September 20th, but first I have another trail race on Wednesday night.