Marysville. Swimming. Running. Time trails. Commuting. Fatigue.
Joy. Surprises. Hidden strength. Realizations.
Its been a long week, and with a new weekend rapidly
approaching my mind begins to wander. It wanders in retrospect of the
Marysville stage races, with excitement for the Steelman triathlon, and with
the satisfaction of a week that I can honestly say blew my body apart in the
best possible way.
For those of you who missed it, Marysville is the premiere
stage racing weekend on the MASS schedule that includes three days of racing in
five different formats. The weekend started off with a dreary drizzle and fog,
perfectly slimy conditions for a night time trial. A 3.7 mile course was laid
out around the Oesterling farm and at 9:15 the race began with Kuhn taking the
opening run. Every 30 seconds another rider saddled up, lit up, and rode into
the foggy night. Lights reflected back to your eyes in the misty-mess, tires
squirmed around for traction, and in the humid night air people rode the ‘race
of truth’ through a tunnel of wet
darkness that led both through the forest as well as through themselves. I
loved every second of it. Saturday morning clouds opened the racing for the
beginners and endurance riders, but were soon burned off for sport and expert.
Heat was high, humidity was higher, and the race became one as much about
survival as it was about speed. My first lap was fantastic with a low time and
a strong feel. My custom tires threw the mud off perfectly and when leaned far
into a corner clawed at the tacky earth to find a wonderful amount of grip. And
they made fun of me for cutting knobs. Amateurs. My second lap started just as
strong, but about 2 miles from the finish I cramped. Hard. Both sets of quads
and both hamstrings decided I hadn’t had enough to drink and outright stopped
me from riding for about 10 minutes. Ouch. Again I am reminded that my body doesn’t
perform well in heat. Oh well- I refused to take another DNF so I soft-pedaled
the rest of the race and didn’t come in DFL. Sunday started early with the hill
climb so knowing this wasn’t a strong event for me my goal was to just get some
finish points and save myself for the short-track. Im glad I did because by the
time the STXC came around I was fired up and ready.
My legs ached on the fast start. Mike Melnick yelled for me
to pace myself. I hung onto the lead group. We made our way down the soft
grassy area and into the only real climb of the course which was just long
enough to sling me off the back of the lead group. No worries, dig in, corner
well, and make power in the flats. Each lap the leaders got a little farther in
front of me but it didn’t matter- we had 20 minutes to suffer and I was going
to pour everything I had left into the pedals no matter where I ended up. I
learned more and more about the course and how deep I could corner, where I
could accelerate, and what was going to make me suffer a little more. I kept
losing time on that climb, but was enjoying the corners more and more each lap.
On the last lap, the leaders came around- Matt needed some passing room going
into the big downhill sweeper turn right in the main spectator area and I knew
we could go two wide in it. I told him to take the inside line (the grippiest
part) so if I slid I wouldn’t take him out. We hit the corner at full speed and
I went to the outside- my front wheel washed out a little so I pushed the bike
over kicked the ground hard and kept pedaling. It was sweet! I chased them as long as I could but they
pulled on me again on the hill. I finally got my opportunity to pull on someone
else in the last corner where I knew my tires would stick and he was unsure, so
I sprinted for the line and took it. It was a great end to a great weekend.
After coming home and unpacking, it was time to settle into
the training rhythm again since the Steelman is only 5 weeks away. With the
confidence of two open water swims under my belt and a rest day on Monday I
took to the pool on Tuesday over lunch. I was able to swim the entire 800 yards
in one go- plus some. I totaled 1100 yards in a single session and then
followed that session with a 26 mile bike ride that included about 13 miles of
TT/LT effort. Surprisingly my legs still felt like they had power in them and I
was able to maintain 22mph average over rolling terrain. Wednesday was a four
mile run, and then Thursday was my day to bike commute for the week. I took the
long way, but by then my legs were screaming ‘uncle’ and my body longed for
some real rest. So here we are- into Friday, resting today and tomorrow….but
still contemplating a century on Sunday.
Something that a week like this does for me is makes me
realize how lucky I am to be doing this, as well as realize that my strengths
seem to lie in different areas from where I have been focusing. That said, it
looks like next year will be pretty different from this year yet again with
endurance races early, then transitioning into short events in the fall….we
will see how it goes, but Im sure it will bring a smile to my face.
Ride fast, take chances,
/Dan