I completed my 9th 70.3 race at Mussleman in the Finger Lakes. Going into this season and training block, I was not as gung-ho or hyper focused with my training regime as I had been in the past. I was coming off a 2024 season where I completed IMLP and went right into training for my first 50k ultramarathon. Literally, it felt like I had no offseason, hence, somewhat lower motivation.
In the beginning of my training block, I was inconsistent-missing swims and moving workouts. Also, I was adjusting to a new bike-my first Tri Bike. My body had a hard time getting into the right groove on the new bike, whether it was 49 y/o body or the geometry and fit, it was not an easy transition . As Spring went on, my consistency and focus improved. I started to feel better on my bike, and overall, I started to feel more like myself with regards to my training schedule and racing. I had two main races on my schedule for triathlon this year-Escape the Cape and Musselman 70.3. Escape the Cape came and I had a great day, just missing a PR by 10 seconds. This upped my focus for the next 4 weeks and had me dreaming of a PR.
Over the next month, my swim times improved and my run felt strong. I was still having growing pains on the bike, so ultimately I went to a bike fitting specialist. He tweaked a few things positioning wise and I got a new saddle. These adjustments made a difference right away. So now leading into Mussleman I felt super prepared and had some lofty goals.
We headed up to the Finger Lakes on Friday for the race. I had a shakeout ride to do for travel just to make sure everything was working fine. I noticed a little inconsistency/irregularity in the shifting of my Di2 on that ride. I assumed it was a battery/charging thing and made sure I charged the battery overnight into Saturday morning. Race check-in was Saturday morning and everything went as planned. Saturday was a low-key hanging with my family and Sonic teammates/coaches that were up at the race, as well.
Race day comes and it was a genuinely perfect day, minus a 8-10mph wind. I was thinking the wind will feel great on the run later. Unfortunately, a 8-10 mph wind creates some pretty big whitecaps and waves on an otherwise placid lake, Another wrench was thrown into the mix, when Ironman declared the swim was wetsuit optional because of the 78.5 deg water temperature. I decided to swim without a wetsuit since I normally am a good swimmer. I found Coach Jess and we lined up in the 30-35min swim corral. We were laughing while in line when we were looking at the lake conditions; it made us reminisce about Escape the Cape 2023 (hardest swim of my life due to the swells). The swim was a battle with the waves that day, therefore the swim did not go as smooth as I was hoping. As I was fighting the waves, I just thought of how much I was looking forward to the ride and crushing it. In the end, I finished the swim about 8-10minutes slower than anticipated. I shook off that underwhelming swim and just attributed it to water conditions and lack of wetsuit. No biggie, I was going to have a great ride on a relatively, rider-friendly course. However, I soon found out that was not going to be the reality. I got through transition quickly and got out on my bike in about 3 minutes. I am about 500 yards from transition and I get into aero and begin to shift so I can begin to hammer the course. I start pushing the Di2 buttons on my aero bars to shift and…..nothing. I keep doing this for about 10-20 seconds, still no response. I got off my bike, being a newbie to electronic shifting, I thought I could manually move my chain to a new gear. But, unfortunately this did not work and I just continued to spin. I was unable to ride on flats higher than 14.2 mph with an average cadence of 100 RPM. This continued for about 5 miles or so until I saw a bike SAG vehicle helping another athlete. The SAG mechanic checked my Di2 after I told him my predicament. He indicated it was dead. I thought, “how could this have happened? I charged the battery for over 12 hours and there was no blinking lights in the morning on the charger, so it should be fully charged.” I remounted my bike and continued on riding. My frustration and anger started and grew exponentially as I continued to spin with minimal reward. My exasperation at the situation continued as the miles dragged on. For the first time in my racing career, I began thinking of a DNF. “How long can really keep doing this? “ “This is not fun, I don’t want to do this.” I thought of all the money I spent on this bike and it failed me. I thought of all the time and energy I spent training. The bitterness grew. I thought, I’ll just ride to the first aide station and just turn in my timing chip and quit. The aide station was at mile 15, just as you’re starting to get some pretty spectacular views of Cayuga Lake. I got lost somewhat in the beauty of the Musselman course-which is a stunning ride. At this point, I was through the aide station and approaching mile 20. Mentally, there was a battle ongoing-should I just quit or just keep pedaling-thinking what am I going to tell my wife? what am I going to tell my kids? What example is this going to set?
I was annoyed, as athlete after athlete continued to pass me. This frustration continued until I reached mile 30, the next aide station. At this point, I decided I’m going to finish this ride as best as I could. I did not know if I would beat the cut-off but I figured all I could do was try. Physical fatigue was setting in at my hip flexors from high cadence. Luckily, there were some downhills that allowed me to recover and push onward. I saw the miles tick off and knew I was going to finish, but how fatigued would I be for the run? The adrenaline kicked in the last mile as I saw transition and the crowd. The feeling of thankfulness came over me, knowing I was almost done with this disastrous ride. I finished the bike in just under 4 hours with an average speed of 14.2 mph, average power of 79 watts and average cadence of 95. Previously, I had done this ride on this course in 2 hours 59 minutes and I was shooting for 2:45-2:50 today. Bike dismount came and boy I was never happier to dismount a bike in my life.
A quick transition and I was out on the run. As I get going, I felt pretty good considering my recent struggles. Within the first mile, I pass the Sonic tent and see Coach Stacey. She asks what happened and I inform her of the mechanical issues. Coach Stacey just said follow our race plan for the run and to keep my core cool with ice and water due to the heat and humidity. Ultimately, I started with a great first 7-8 miles of the half marathon, running at quicker than normal pace. The weather and fatigue from the bike begin to take their toll on me and my pace slows. My run time turns out to be an average 70.3 run split for me and ends the day on a higher note than it began. I finish in just under 7 hours and was greeted by my 10 year old twin boys and my wife (who volunteered for 4 hours at the finish line) medaling me. If you know me, my boys are my world so this brought out a huge smile on a difficult day. My finish time was nowhere near the goal time of 5:35-5:45, but the important thing I finished.
As I’m walking back from the finish line to transition, I run into Coach Stacey and we do a quick recap of the day and the things that happened. As we chat and discuss things, I realize that a decade into this sport, I still learn things every day and with every race. First and foremost, I am lucky to do this. I get to participate in triathlons. I do love it even on the difficult days. Next, I learned to do a final check out of mechanics of the bike for peace of mind before bike check-in. Make sure to check brakes, Di2, etc to make sure it’s tightened or working properly; you never know what can happen in transit. If I had done so, I might have found the issue with my shifting. What I originally thought was an error in charging of the Di2 by myself was ultimately found to be a pinched Di2 wire under my seat post by mechanic. The mechanic indicated the wire was likely pinched during my bike fitting. The anger and frustration at the day came back but was redirected from myself not appropriately charging my Di2 to the fitter that ultimately sabotaged my day. After some discussion about the situation with a wise individual, I learned that I would probably not schedule a fitting that close to a race. Also, once i sensed there might be a problem with the bike, bring it to a qualified individual to inspect any issues. This reinforces the idea to do a final mechanical check out of your bike before bike check-in even if you had do so on your final shakeout ride. The last and most important lesson I learned became a teaching moment for my kids I/we can be totally prepared physically and mentally for a race I/we can anticipate a great race but something can and likely will go wrong and it’s how you deal with it that matters most. In our house, we talk a lot with my twins about being prepared-whether that’s studying for a test or practicing hard for soccer or tennis. We talk how preparing allows you to do hard $hit. But, it’s important to talk with my children that sometimes even with great preparation, it just might not be your day. Ultimately, on those “bad days,” what are you going to do, quit or keep pushing forward and competing. We stress to them to do their best and finish what they started. And in the end, they’ll be able to look back on their test or their match and find something that was positive even on the most terrible of days. That translates to us as triathletes, as well
