"They'll always be someone higher up the food chain then you..." That's definitely how I felt today. Training has been going pretty good over the last few weeks as I prepare for IMMoo and Kona. This week I covered 350 miles on the bike, 66 on the run, and swimming...well, let's just say I've got some work to do in the pool. Friday was my long bike (120 miles) and yesterday was my long run (23 miles). Today was scheduled as a recovery brick (50/10). I knocked out the 10 mile run early this morning and then headed out for an easy 50 at a comfortable pace. That's where I had a conflict with my ego. For those of you who've ridden in Colorado Springs, you might be familiar with the Air Force Academy loop. I live and breathe on these grounds; whether it's for work or training, I'm somewhere within the 18,000 acres of this instillation. On Sunday's there's also a group ride that starts downtown and head's North to complete the Academy loop. I decided to meet up with "said" group in order to minimize the boredom of riding alone. Once I made my rejoin, I realized I was surrounded by some serious talent. In attendance was Danny Pate of Garmin Transition, Michael Weiss (IM St George winner), and several top USOC residential triathletes. So much for taking it easy. One of these days my old age is going to influence my decision making process... The first sprint wasn't even a contest. Several miles prior to the theoretical finish I decided to push the pace, mainly because no one was taking the initiative. Weiss immediately responded (something he was waiting for I assume) and so did Danny Pate. This quickly thinned the herd to a half dozen. The paceline continued to work together until about 1 mile from the finish. That's when Weiss and Pate walked away from the rest of us. I hung on to third, however, I had taxed my stores beyond what was planned. Besides, we still had several healthy climbs to conquer. At the finish of the flat sprint we gathered once again as a peloton and headed up the first long climb (2+miles of 1200' elevation gain). This time I was a little more conservative and sucked wheel from Weiss and Pate until I couldn't hang anymore. Those two simply walked away from the rest of us without any disregard for our well being. That left the OTC guys (Joe Umphenour and another guy who is top 10 in the world for 70.3) and myself to battle for third. We traded pulls until the last few hundred meters where I decided to test my limits once again. This time I was a little more successful (although I'm sure they had several more gears left with approaching races in the coming weeks). We gathered as a group (40 riders) once again and headed around the backside of the loop for a dramatic 3 mile descent. I worked my way to the front and watched as Weiss took off. Once again, with an ego of an eighteen year old, I sprinted after him in hopes of holding on. I reached his back wheel and hung on for dear life. We worked together to separate from everyone else as we reached speeds of 50 mph. I was on my TT bike so I had no problems taking my turn at the front. As we reached a long straight section of the descent I noticed we were actually gaining a little on an SUV several hundred feet in front of us. My only chance to achieve success! I stood and sprinted with everything I had left, trying to close the gap. This apparently caught Weiss off guard and he was unable to respond in time because God know's he would have crushed me otherwise. The SUV dragged me down most of the hill and I could see behind me that the group was closing the gap on Weiss, led by Pate. At this point I considered myself a cheater and sat up to wait for Weiss. I knew it was going to be a close sprint finish at the bottom of the hill between Weiss (breakaway) and the peloton (led by Pate). As I waited for Weiss to close the gap on me I started to accelerate to see if I could provide any pull prior to being swallowed up by the peloton. I maybe gave Weiss a 5 second pull before I completely blew up. The sprint once again was between Weiss and Pate with us stragglers hanging on. At this point I rode a few more miles with the group before I had to turn around and head home. Unfortunately I had to cut my ride down a few miles because I was completely destroyed and had nothing left. The lesson I learned from today's experience is that training for Ironman's can be a lonely business and any confidence you develop can quickly be put into check when surrounded by a more dominant species. Training continues...
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