Sodus done, Season in the books

After the TinMan this year I must admit my focus was sporadic. I always made sure I was running, but the quality of the runs combined with minimal biking and swimming had me a bit nervous for Sodus this year. I knew I should destroy all my times from last year simply based on fitness levels, but my mind has been a little worn out. I got to Sodus early this morning and Lake Ontario looked like the Atlantic Ocean in terms of roughness. Last year it was perfectly placid, but not to be this year. This caused a recurrence of the vomitting experienced at Tupper Lake only this was nerves induced and I had time to recover. Once the race started I told myself to be safe in the swim and to make good spots so that I could minimize my swim lines. It really worked to take that extra second after every 20 or so strokes to find the buoy. My buddies talked of getting sick and struggling with the waves, but I suspect they tried to attack the conditions in the normal way. Today was definately not a normal swim and should not have been approached that way. My swim time even in the conditions was 21:56 which was an improvement from my 26:01 last year. I was really happy with the swim even though I gave probably a full minute back during transition. I got my wet suit off easily and proceeded to put my running shoes on....oh shit I have to bike first. Take off the shoes and try again. The goal for the bike and run were to never get passed. Mission accomplished. The bike went awesome and went fast. I wanted to ride on the big chain after the initial 5 miles were done which are a bit hilly, but instead tried to save the legs for the run. The bike was 39:37 for 13.1 miles which was an improvement from 44:32 last year. Now I got to put my running shoes on and took off for the run. It took a full mile for my legs to decide they were ok with this, but after that it went alright. I ran 21:33 which I wish was faster, but it was an improvement over my 23:40 from last year. In hindsight I probably had another 33 seconds in my legs, but I can't be too disappointed. I have to work transitions alot harder. I always seem to give too much time there. The overall time this year was 1:27:03 compared to 1:36:31 last year. I thought I would be relieved to have the season over with and take a week or two off, but I really am hungry to go harder next year. My buddy Drew did a 1:24 last year and I would love to do that kind of time or better. It was kind of a back of the mind goal this year, but I knew it would require a mammoth swim and solid transitions. I biked faster than I thought I would, but the rugged water and awful transitions did not leave me much chance to chase down the machine that Drew can be. Unfortunately a back injury sidelined him this year, but hopefully he can recover and help me shave even more in the water. I must admit Ironman has been a goal, but these little sprints are fun and allow me to still be a hubby and a father. I really felt training for the Tinman took too much time at this stage of my life. Oh well the season is in the books, and I think I am going to enjoy some bike rides for the remainder of the summer before I have to put it away for the 6 month winter. Early goal for next year is to add weight training to the mix, drop weight from 180 to 175, and make an effort to increase bike training time, improve swim stroke, and add more speed and hills into the running. This winter like last I want to maintain fitness by doing my treadill routines. Thanks for reading. I'll be updating family info, so stay tuned. By the way Ethan is now riding on two wheels. Yippeeeeee