It’s been a long time since I’ve written on the blog. \u00a0I guess that some of the reason was due to other priorities but mostly due to the post-Ironman blues. \u00a0Although I’ve had an enjoyable season since Brazil, I’ve found that my focus has been intermittent… and the results reflect it.<\/p>\n
In the Philadelphia Triathlon (Olympic distance), I came early to support my buddy Craig who raced in the Sprint distance which was on the Saturday of the triathlon weekend. \u00a0It was good to spectate and get the competitive juices flowing by feeling the energy of the athletes competing. \u00a0When it was my turn the next day, I had a lot of internal questions about how much intensity I should apply given my long course training over the year. \u00a0I did however put together a decent swim, and on the bike, though a little reserved on the first loop, I managed to be very aggressive on the second loop and got out to the run feeling pretty good. \u00a0That sensation was short-lived though; I’ve not had a good season with the bike-to-run transition (“T2”) and my first three miles averaged about 9:15 per mile… which is dreadfully slow. \u00a0At the halfway point, something naturally clicked and I found myself checking off faster and faster miles, eventually finishing with a 7:50 final mile. \u00a0It felt good even if Craig overslept and wasn’t there to congratulate me!<\/p>\n
A few weeks later I raced in the Montauk Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon which is always a lot of fun given the location and the community of folks who race there. \u00a0With the start of my triathlon “career” on Long Island, so many of my friends are there and since I don’t race on the island that often, this was a big treat for me to reconnect. \u00a0The race itself is pretty short, so a high intensity effort is important.<\/p>\n
The swim was supposed to be a half-mile but the course was either mismarked or the final buoy moved; as a result, it felt more like three-quarters of a mile. \u00a0That hurt me, so I was absolutely committed to going all out on the bike. \u00a0I felt as if I had an incredible effort and it showed; I was 26th out of 500 on the bike leg. \u00a0This was also only the second race of my career where I went without socks throughout, so my T2 was pretty quick… but just like the Philly race, my run start was slow and not fun. \u00a0And again, just like Philly, I got faster and faster as the miles ticked by. \u00a0It was only a 4 mile run, but in the last 1.5 miles, no one passed me while I blazed by a few guys in my age group. \u00a0Ultimately, I finished going up the hill to the lighthouse passing two people in a sprint for the final 100 feet. \u00a0I was totally spent but felt great!<\/p>\n
Next race was the NYC Triathlon but I wasn’t able to participate. \u00a0With this sport gaining an incredible amount of press and popularity, events sell out in hours or minutes. \u00a0This NYC Tri was no different. \u00a0I was vaguely aware that back on November 1st, 2007, registration opened up at midnight. \u00a0So, to find out that at 9 a.m. that morning that the race had closed out, I was in shock. \u00a0I had hope that some kind of hook-up to get in through a connection might work, but that failed and I was s.o.l. \u00a0So, to ensure that I’d get in for 2009, I decided to volunteer, my first time doing so. \u00a0It was a good experience as I got to meet some very nice people, root for the 20+ friends I knew racing, and not be subjected to the awful conditions that day. \u00a0There were jellyfish in the water (tons of people had stings and welts), it was 90 degrees at 4 a.m., and it was 10,000 % humid. \u00a0Heat and humidity are my kryptonite, so not participating wound up being a blessing.<\/p>\n
Next up for me was the Central Park Triathlon which is easily one of my top 2 or 3 favorite races. \u00a0It couldn’t be much shorter as it consists of a quarter-mile pool swim, two loops around Central Park on the bike (=12.2 miles), and a 5k run. \u00a0In 2004, I won my age group by a whopping 0.2 seconds with a crazy finish line sprint. \u00a0In 2006, I came in second in my age group. \u00a0Seeing the even-numbered years trend, I had strong aspirations of keeping the streak alive.<\/p>\n
The swim was better than last year and I charged into transition with great intensity. \u00a0This was my first race ever where I’d mount the bike with the shoes already attached; it’s sometimes called the “flying mount” and the intent is to save precious seconds in a race where, as 2004 showed, every little moment counts. \u00a0I got out onto the bike course and climbed the Harlem Hill well. \u00a0As I finished the first loop, my telemetry reflected a slower lap time that I had wanted or predicted, so I went out even harder on each hill (that’s where one can really make up time gaps) and finished the second loop a good 30 seconds faster. \u00a0I went into the run in 8th place but got passed by 6 people. \u00a0Again, just like in Philly and Montauk, I was slow as molasses in the first half, but I found something inside me to get that speed up especially after the turn-around point since it allowed me to see who was behind me and how far back they were. \u00a0Up ahead, one of my best friends, Fernando, was in the park on a training run and he did everything he could to shout at me to run faster. \u00a0Another buddy, Javier, was cycling and together, and the two of them were drill sergeants. \u00a0I saw that someone was closing in on me and from what I could gather from Fernando and Javier, it was a guy in my age group. \u00a0Frankly, I was so maxed out in terms of effort that I couldn’t understand anything they said! \u00a0I ran the final half-mile as if my life depended on it and finished strong. \u00a0Shortly thereafter, a woman finished; that’s who it was behind me just a few minutes earlier, not a guy in my age group! \u00a0Dammit.<\/p>\n
When it was time for the medals ceremony, I prayed that my performance would merit a podium position in my age group. \u00a0It was not meant to be; the third place guy in my age group was about 4 minutes faster which is an eternity. \u00a0Turns out that I was 16th out of 200 or so, but of the top 16 places, 6 of them were men between 35 and 39 years of age. \u00a0That unequal distribution killed any shot I had. \u00a0Oh well; I was slower than last year by about 45 seconds and that disappoints me too, but life goes on.<\/p>\n
So, that brings me to this weekend in Chicago. \u00a0It’s another Olympic distance event and I’m admittedly a little under-trained. \u00a0Sitting on a jury trial for 3 weeks, traveling, and job-hunting has been time-consuming and I wasn’t been as motivated to train as I should have been. \u00a0I’ll still do fine I’m sure, but I don’t expect to crack the 2:30 mark. \u00a0It is however a flat bike course which could translate into fast times for me, and it appears as if this run course, which is a flat 6.2 miles, will also benefit me based on my second-half performances this season. \u00a0We shall see.<\/p>\n
Next up after this race is the Malibu Triathlon on September 14th. \u00a0It’s supposed to be a sprint distance event, but the bike course is a bit longer, 18 miles, and features some climbs from what I can tell. \u00a0That’ll help distance me from others. \u00a0It’s also on the day following the USC-Ohio State game in Pasadena, so we’ll see how disciplined I am about not tailgating before the race!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s been a long time since I’ve written on the blog. \u00a0I guess that some of the reason was due to other priorities but mostly due to the post-Ironman blues. \u00a0Although I’ve had an enjoyable season since Brazil, I’ve found that my focus has been intermittent… and the results reflect it. In the Philadelphia Triathlon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}