Territorial Setback…
Territorial Setback…
Altitude: 39,000 ft (11,887 meters). Speed: 548 mph (883km/h). Air space: Canada. Destination: Washington, DC.
So here I am again, collecting more bonus points from SAS coming home from Denmark again. It’s been another one of those gut wrenching 3-day trips with little or no sleep, bad food, lots of coffee and no exercise…..Every time I do one of these trips, I feel like writing USA Triathlon to ask them to institute a special ‘handicap’ for travelling amateur athletes like me… Not sure what is worse right now, the jet lag or the screaming toddler two rows up from me….I swear it is almost as a annoying as getting a flat 5km into the ride of an important triathlon….
But that this is exactly what happened to me last Sunday at the Philadelphia Triathlon…..I got through the swim, jumped on my brand new Jamis T1 Carbon bike, found a great rhythm and then ‘pooooooof’- my front tire just petered out……I couldn’t believe it but so it went. I was looking for a ‘spare’ wheel or new tubular I could put on but unfortunately very few people bring that kind of ‘spare parts’ in a short Olympic Distance race….I guess I wasn’t meant to finish that one so I walked (bare foot) back to T1, packed my bag, checked out of the hotel and headed south on I-95 to DC……I haven’t even bothered to look at what my swim time was. It was one of those races where I thought: ‘perhaps I really wasn’t meant to complete this race….” I had just gotten through two 3 days of an upset stomach and had fueled up on both Pepto-Bismol (over the counter medicine for diarrhea), Pedialyte (electrolyte replacement for kids), driven to New York City to pick up my new bikes from Jamis, tried to re-energize myself with all kinds of nutritional supplements and drinks along the way, and – not to forget - I had seen the hatch back locking ‘handle’ of my Toyota Sequoia ‘freeze’ from the outside while all three bikes + everything else needed for the triathlon was inaccessible from the outside……I was, luckily, able to get to it all from the side doors but it was a pain in the neck to do……I tried not to let this get to me (so much to be grateful for otherwise) but I had just spent $300.00 to replace the damn thing 3 weeks ago….hopefully, the guys at Alexandria Toyota in VA will help me get the lock replaced a second(!) time tomorrow….
Anyways, the bottom-line was that I didn’t feel 100% fresh that day. Besides, I had to rush out of there to catch my flight to Copenhagen from Dulles Airport later that afternoon…..I did manage to get a 30 minute run workout just as I arrived DC to burn off some of the steam, though…..That felt pretty good and I did convince myself to sign up for this triathlon again next year since it really is a wonderful course – particularly the bike which has 4 nice hills in it and would be perfect for a guy like me.
Since my last update (Canada), I haven’t been able to do a lot of swimming or running. The time I’ve had to spare has gone to complete a couple of bike races locally. One was an individual TT at Church Creek, Maryland, on June 15 (it was windy and hot and I placed 6th in the 30+ category. I was not happy with that but blame it on insufficient bike training before the race, the hot weather and wind. I also did the Wilmington, DE, state criterium championships on Sunday June 16th where I placed 8th in the 30+ category as well as the Greenbelt June 19th training series where I placed 7th in the A category. I was pleased with both of those performances and have become convinced that I can actually hang with some of the best riders in the DC region if I get sufficient miles in the legs between races (that remains a challenge given my current work). I’ve also made a lot of nice new friends from the broader DC biking scene and I enjoy that a lot. Finally, I need to mention that I did my first evening swim at the outdoor pool at Haines Point with my the ‘master’s swim guys from DC. They’re all such nice people (and great swimmers) and I will try to swim with them as much as I can this summer.
So, despite the disappointing outcome of Philadelphia, I’m now looking forward to NYC triathlon on July 20th. It will be the 3rd time I do that race. The swim is relatively ‘short’ (in time given the strong current down the Hudson River), the bike is fast (out and back going north, then south on West Highway) with the final run of 10k in Central Park. I’ll be doing the 35-39 age group category for Team Full Throttle and look forward to bringing home a decent performance there – barring any more unexpected incidents like flat tires or an upset stomach that – invariably – come with the territory in the sport of triathlon. I am also contemplating participating in the World’s Triathlon Championships in the Half Ironman distance for Team USA which takes place in Holland on September 1st. I will have been in Norway before hand on vacation so that could be just perfect timing to do another half this year. Will keep you all posted on that one.
Until next time – in sports,
Espen
Altitude: 39,000 ft (11,887 meters). Speed: 548 mph (883km/h). Air space: Canada. Destination: Washington, DC.
So here I am again, collecting more bonus points from SAS coming home from Denmark again. It’s been another one of those gut wrenching 3-day trips with little or no sleep, bad food, lots of coffee and no exercise…..Every time I do one of these trips, I feel like writing USA Triathlon to ask them to institute a special ‘handicap’ for travelling amateur athletes like me… Not sure what is worse right now, the jet lag or the screaming toddler two rows up from me….I swear it is almost as a annoying as getting a flat 5km into the ride of an important triathlon….
But that this is exactly what happened to me last Sunday at the Philadelphia Triathlon…..I got through the swim, jumped on my brand new Jamis T1 Carbon bike, found a great rhythm and then ‘pooooooof’- my front tire just petered out……I couldn’t believe it but so it went. I was looking for a ‘spare’ wheel or new tubular I could put on but unfortunately very few people bring that kind of ‘spare parts’ in a short Olympic Distance race….I guess I wasn’t meant to finish that one so I walked (bare foot) back to T1, packed my bag, checked out of the hotel and headed south on I-95 to DC……I haven’t even bothered to look at what my swim time was. It was one of those races where I thought: ‘perhaps I really wasn’t meant to complete this race….” I had just gotten through two 3 days of an upset stomach and had fueled up on both Pepto-Bismol (over the counter medicine for diarrhea), Pedialyte (electrolyte replacement for kids), driven to New York City to pick up my new bikes from Jamis, tried to re-energize myself with all kinds of nutritional supplements and drinks along the way, and – not to forget - I had seen the hatch back locking ‘handle’ of my Toyota Sequoia ‘freeze’ from the outside while all three bikes + everything else needed for the triathlon was inaccessible from the outside……I was, luckily, able to get to it all from the side doors but it was a pain in the neck to do……I tried not to let this get to me (so much to be grateful for otherwise) but I had just spent $300.00 to replace the damn thing 3 weeks ago….hopefully, the guys at Alexandria Toyota in VA will help me get the lock replaced a second(!) time tomorrow….
Anyways, the bottom-line was that I didn’t feel 100% fresh that day. Besides, I had to rush out of there to catch my flight to Copenhagen from Dulles Airport later that afternoon…..I did manage to get a 30 minute run workout just as I arrived DC to burn off some of the steam, though…..That felt pretty good and I did convince myself to sign up for this triathlon again next year since it really is a wonderful course – particularly the bike which has 4 nice hills in it and would be perfect for a guy like me.
Since my last update (Canada), I haven’t been able to do a lot of swimming or running. The time I’ve had to spare has gone to complete a couple of bike races locally. One was an individual TT at Church Creek, Maryland, on June 15 (it was windy and hot and I placed 6th in the 30+ category. I was not happy with that but blame it on insufficient bike training before the race, the hot weather and wind. I also did the Wilmington, DE, state criterium championships on Sunday June 16th where I placed 8th in the 30+ category as well as the Greenbelt June 19th training series where I placed 7th in the A category. I was pleased with both of those performances and have become convinced that I can actually hang with some of the best riders in the DC region if I get sufficient miles in the legs between races (that remains a challenge given my current work). I’ve also made a lot of nice new friends from the broader DC biking scene and I enjoy that a lot. Finally, I need to mention that I did my first evening swim at the outdoor pool at Haines Point with my the ‘master’s swim guys from DC. They’re all such nice people (and great swimmers) and I will try to swim with them as much as I can this summer.
So, despite the disappointing outcome of Philadelphia, I’m now looking forward to NYC triathlon on July 20th. It will be the 3rd time I do that race. The swim is relatively ‘short’ (in time given the strong current down the Hudson River), the bike is fast (out and back going north, then south on West Highway) with the final run of 10k in Central Park. I’ll be doing the 35-39 age group category for Team Full Throttle and look forward to bringing home a decent performance there – barring any more unexpected incidents like flat tires or an upset stomach that – invariably – come with the territory in the sport of triathlon. I am also contemplating participating in the World’s Triathlon Championships in the Half Ironman distance for Team USA which takes place in Holland on September 1st. I will have been in Norway before hand on vacation so that could be just perfect timing to do another half this year. Will keep you all posted on that one.
Until next time – in sports,
Espen
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