One year ago this past weekend I graduated from medical school and made the uncharacteristic choice to take a break from my medical career and challenge myself in new and painful ways in the sport of triathlon. I have now been training and racing as a professional triathelte for 1 year and the lessons continue to arrive fast and furiously. This past weekend at Ironman Florida 70.3 was no exception…in fact it was probably one of the most glaring examples of what I have learned over the last year.

First off, racing at Disney World is fun, although next time I need to bring Ashley…and maybe the kid if we have one by then. I arrived on Friday, got everything taken care of and was ready to test my fitness, just one week after racing a previous weekend at the White Lake half triathlon.

As a professional triathelte the swim can make or break your race and unfortunately on this day it broke mine. I have been working very hard on my swim over the last 6 months and have made huge improvement, both in terms of my speed as well as my swimming endurance. I had put together great swims at IMAZ last fall and this spring at California 70.3 and was excited to put together another solid swim thinking I had figured out how to do it. The pro wave went off at 6:20AM and the sun was not even up yet. I had made the mistake of wearing tinted goggles and I had trouble seeing the buoys as well as other athletes. I began swimming very hard, as I usually do, and found some feet and then settled in to a steady rhythm after a few minutes. However, I got over confident and before I realized what had happened I had veered off course a little, the pack surged and I was left swimming alone. This has happened before, but this time it was not because I was not a strong enough swimmer, or I didn’t know what I was doing, it was because for a brief moment I lost concentration and stopped fighting to stay with the group. Lesson learned, never stop fighting to stay with pack, never! In that brief moment when I let the pack slip away my desired top ten finish also became much more difficult.

I stayed positive and came of out the water with a small group and jumped on my Trek. The bike course is smooth and fast and after a few minutes I found a great rhythm and a group of athletes and we help push each other along as we tired to chase down the main pack of 12 cyclists. However, despite a solid PR ride I remained about 2-3 minutes behind the group the entire way into T2.

The run course consists of 3 loops, which was a nice change from the “out and back” routes most courses have. The first mile I felt pretty good and was happy with my sub 6min split knowing I would catch several of the athletes ahead of me if I was able to maintain it. However, the middle 2 miles or so of the loop was on a wide grass trail and I had a very difficult time getting into a rhythm on the soft uneven footing. In addition to the grass the temperature and humidity began to climb and the sun began to feel very intense sapping my energy. I managed to stay relaxed and smooth and I was able to pick up the pace a little on the last lap where I passed a few guys and moved up to 17th overall.

The process of training and building fitness and seeing improvements is hugely gratifying and I have seen great improvements over the last year. However, I am still leaning the best way to execute a great race as a pro and give myself every opportunity to put that fitness to use. Many top athletes have told me the best way to become the best in the world is to train a lot, but race even more, and I am beginning to believe them. Every time I race I learn something new and especially when I am racing against some of the best in the world. Some people ask me why I constantly enter races that have a very deep pro field or that I probably won’t win. The answer is that I want to be one of the best in the world and the only way to get there is to continually, challenge myself and race the best in the world. I know that I now have the fitness and ability to race against some of the best athletes in the world, now I just need the experience! Next up Rev3 and Ironman CDA!

IM FL 70.3 Race Results

Thanks,

Alex www.alexmmtri.com

Race 2- Hardest Oly Course ever!

When I finished this course last year I proclaimed it the hardest course of any distance that I had ever done. Now I can proudly say that it is the hardest course that I have ever done at any distance… twice. The bike course is sick, and the run… well the run is the same for the two races today and the Half tomorrow, and it’s just a cruel, cruel joke.

So here is my photo race report for race 2/4 of the Triple T

Here I am donning the wetsuit. This race definitely merited the full suit.

And off to start the hardest race ever…

The swim was great. I love this course. The time trial start makes it relatively contact free and the lake is like glass. The consistency is a little nasty, but as long as you don’t mind swimming in pea soup it’s all good. I think I took around 24 minutes for the 1500 meters

Coming out, SOOOO excited to hit this bike course (NOT!)

The bike was hilly. Big Thompson hill was grueling as always. You start the hill at 18% from practically a standstill after a 160 degree turn. The first 50 meters are 15-18% and then the remainder is about 9%. It’s not a fun thing to do when you know you have a hilly run in your future. But the field is much stronger this year. Last year I saw several people walk up the hill. This year most people took it with no difficulty. The bike course took me in the ballpark of 1:25. Close to what it took me last year.

Here I am starting the run:

The run was really, really tough. It is never, ever flat and quite steep for much of it (all trail). The humidity when we started was 88% with a high of 87 degrees. I absolutely wilted in the heat. There were several times where I took 10-20 step walk breaks up the steep hills. My HR stayed around 180 for the majority of the run. When I started to get the chills towards the end of the run it made me a little nervous. But the last 2.5 miles is all downhill, so it is quite the mental boost after the crazy climbing.

Here I am coming into the finish. I think I did the race in around 2:46, a couple minutes slower than last year, but for this course and conditions it’s fine with me!

One of the toughest part of this race is trying to recover between races. There isn’t much time with the starts at 7:30 and 3pm. This is my strategy…

Step one: Ice bath

With Peanut butter bagels (I choked down 2 between races):

Then step two is sitting with my legs in the air for 10 minutes. Lets the blood flow out:

And finally TP massage! I can’t say my legs feel awesome, but I think I’ll survive the afternoon. No telling about tomorrow though…

The next race is in a couple hours and features a Bike – Swim – Run. It’s always fun getting the wetsuit on in transition. I bring a sleeveless for this race because it’s easier to get on. I can’t believe I have to do that run 3 more times. This is a sickness….

We arrived today in Portsmouth Ohio, Home of the American Triple T, otherwise known as:

It was very hard to leave the dogs at home, especially when they looked at us like this:

But alas, with 4 races waiting we headed down and picked up the outfit that I will be wearing for 3 days of races (yeah, it will stand on its own by Sunday). That’s one neat thing about this race. Everyone wears the same thing. Makes it feel like a big team. Very cool and unique (I did wear my Timex visor, though!)

Then time to set up transition for the first of four times in the next 3 days.

And it was time for the prologue- 250 meter swim, 5 mile hilly bike and 1 mile run. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to resist going out a little too hard for a race of this distance. Here is the start. It is a time trial start with 2 people leaving every 3 seconds.

The water was WAY, WAY warmer this year. Most people, myself included did the race without a wetsuit. Just easier for a race of this distance. And it was very hot tonight. So standing around in a wetsuit for 30 minutes before the start would have been grueling. Here I am headed to T1

The bike went by fast. It’s just basically 2 big hills within the park. I took it way more conservatively this year (downhill) because it’s just not worth crashing on the first day. But it was very fun. Here I am coming back into T2:

And then off to the run:

Being only 1 mile it’s over before you know it. I think my heart rate maxed out around 190. Oops…

All in all a total adrenaline rush! I had a great time and saw a bunch of old friends and met some new ones. Then it was off to carb load and then now to BED! Well, after I spend about 20 minutes doing Trigger Point Massage. 2 very challenging Olympic Distance races tomorrow. 7:30 am and 3pm. Forecast is for 86 degrees and very humid. I’ll be wearing my Nathan hydration belt on the run. The results of getting behind in hydration this weekend are NOT pretty.

Talk after the next race!

• So one exciting race for me on the schedule this year is the Trans Rockies 6 day ultra run in Colorado in August. Very much a novice when it comes to (a) trail running and (b) ultra running, my training schedule has been adjusted slightly. The first major changes were to my long runs which are getting longer and hillier, and my purchasing a pair of trail running shoes. It turns out that the more difficult of these two things was the choice of footwear. Having taken various advice, I chose some Salomon XT Wings. I wanted something light but that would also do the job over challenging terrain. The main differences from road shoes are the protective toe, much more aggressive grip and large heel. I’m not 100% convinced that I have the right shoes for me yet though – while comfortable in the shop, a few runs later and I’m not really sold on them, but this may be because I’ve not yet had them out in properly full-on extreme conditions.

  So when the Endurancelife Exmoor Coastal Trail Marathon rolled around last weekend, I had some choices to make. Having had to go out and buy a space blanket to meet the required kit component, I was fully prepped and raring to go in beautiful Exmoor. Luckily the weather was looking good, the trails seemed dry (despite some overnight rain) and a few kms of road on the course meant that I actually opted to run in my road shoes. I wondered at the start line if this was going to prove to be a rookie mistake…

  The gun went at 9am, and 100 or so of us started in earnest. The first 10km was going to be the hardest in terms of carrying the worst section of climbing and descending, but when the race was advertised as having over 10,000 feet of climbing, the ‘hardest’ section is all a bit relative. My natural competitive streak meant that I was out in front within the first couple of minutes and pushed the pace for the first hour. I settled into a good rhythm after this and was happy to let the guy behind push past on an uphill. A bit of course confusion later meant that we ran together for the next hour or so. Just over 2 hours in and a comfortable lead gathered from the chasing pack, disaster struck when I missed a turning marker and I ended up with a 25 minute or so hilly detour (taking the guy in second place with me!). I wasn’t the only one however, so I didn’t feel too stupid! But that was pretty much the end of vying for contention for the win and hitting sub 4 hours!

  I must admit to being a little broken at this point, and the second half was at a more reasonable pace. The up side of this was that I got to enjoy the stunning scenery and breathtaking views as we followed coastal paths, crested peaks in moorland and descended through woodland.

  Clawing my way back to a respectable 9^th position and a run time of a little under 4:30 seemed to be a bonus by the end.

  So lessons learnt by a rookie trail runner?

  1. Look where you are going more carefully (or be more conservative and follow someone who knows where they are going…!).

  2. Carry more water/fluids – I ran out too soon between water stops (every 7 miles or so), not helped by my ‘bonus mileage’. I opted for the lightweight Nathan Race/Speed Trail Mix belt, with 2 10oz bottles and some PowerBar gels on it (and room for the windproof jacket, space blanket, mobile etc), but I overestimated the aid stations on the course and a better choice for this course would have been one of the HPL series race vests.

  3. Trail shoes may not be the best option – this course certainly had its fair share of tarmac, even if only for a few miles, but in dry conditions, I was very happy in my road shoes (Newtons).

  4. Getting straight in the car and driving 4 hours back to London post run is not the best way to recover!