Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Busy Weekend

My friend Dave “The Man with the Moustache” Messenheimer visited Seattle this weekend to visit some friends and to race Starcrossed.  We packed in a lot of activities.  Here’s a quick summary.

Wed: AM long swim, PM track workout with Tony, Andrew and Paul, late-night airport pickup

Thu: sleep in, cyclocross practice at Marymoor, dinner at Gordito’s

Fri: AM swim, PM cyclocross practice at Marymoor, dinner at Ivar’s, Girl Talk show at the Showbox SoDo

Sat: packet pickup for Kirkland Triathlon, race at Starcrossed, prep our TT bikes for Sunday.

Sun: Kirkland Triathlon, volunteer at the Brooks Outlet semi-annual sidewalk sale, afternoon snack at Dick’s Drive-In, check out the Colonnade, dinner at Sushi Land

Mon: easy ride on CX bikes, Pearl Jam show in the evening

Tue: awake at 4:30am for the airport drop-off, then a quick nap in the car before a 7am swim with Ben and Courtenay

The cyclocross race went pretty well for me.  It was my second time racing CX on a CX bike and my first time not double-flatting, and I managed to finish in the top ten!  I didn’t get off the line very quickly and had to work my way up from 30th or 40th, but it was very encouraging to be able to do so.  My weak-but-improving handling skills didn’t hold me back all that much and my TT power helped me move up on the straightaways. It was cool to watch the elite races later in the day, especially once the rain started falling.

P1000682   P1000690  P1000693

The triathlon on Sunday brought out an impressive field for a local sprint race – Ben Collins, Rusty Pruden, Dave Messenheimer and I were the top for finishers, in that order.  My splits were a bit slower than the last time that I did this race, back in 2007, so I was a bit disappointed about that.  But it was fun to get to race against such a solid field without having to travel.  I was second out of the water behind Ben but I was surprised at what a large time gap he was able to open up during the swim.  I picked up some time in transition but he just buried us all on the bike.  Dave and Rusty caught me about halfway through the bike.  I stayed with them for a bit, gained some ground on the big hill but then they slipped away on the flats.  Lame.  I started the run feeling strong but faded a bit after the first mile.  My form didn’t look terribly smooth, either.  I think that I need to pick up my run volume a bit once my PG blisters fade away.

But my biggest offseason training focus is going to be my swim, at least until January.  While I need plenty of work in all three disciplines, I can’t really “race” draft-legal without swimming my way into that first pack.  I’m going up to six workouts a week for awhile to see what kind of impact that has.

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