Espen Kataraas in the 2007 Eagleman 70.3. He's a successful triathlete who manages his career, family, and sport to the MAX.In a very real way I have had resistance to posting another blog. It would mean my Eagleman race report would be "paged" down to the rarely read or searched archives of this blog. However, unlike my blog, my training habits have and will not be relegated to the archives. To have trained six months specifically for EM is not to be taken lightly. EM training and race have impacted my life. Though without a specific race on the agenda, I have been continuing my training as if EM has never happened. This is a good thing. I like the divided attention the three disciplines give me; there's always something different to look forward to and creative workouts to prevent any monotony.
The timing of EM coincided with the end of the school year for my girls. This has allowed me to turn to more early morning workouts, one of which has become the backbone of the summer training, so far. This involves biking to the St. Michaels Pool for a swim workout and returning home. Twice now I've been able to throw in an extra 20 miles on the bike by riding out and back to Neavitt, either before or after swimming. Friday saw a first when Dan Bieber and Dave McKendrick were at the pool when I got there. The three of us then biked to Neavitt, creating my first "paceline" where we pushed the upper limits of our speed. Michael Valliant and Landy Cook hopped in the YMCA pool Monday morning this week and began, what I hope, is a passion for swimming.
After a pleasant ride to Neavitt Sunday morning with Motoko, I met up with Dan Bieber and Becky Weisley to try an open water swim in Harris Creek. With Becky in the kayak keeping an eye on us, Dan and I braved the few seanettles we saw from the dock. Unfortunately, the seanettles won out as we swam into many, covering our arms and legs with the acid-like tentacles. We had to abandon our swim and probably call off creek swimming until fall. Bummer!
Since Eagleman I have had several medium mileage runs that have restored my shakey confidence in my running, despite my poor performance in the run at EM (I'm hung up on that, and probably won't let it go until proven otherwise in another Ironman event). My lastest run was a 10 plus miler yesterday morning around the Pot Pie area. From various points around Wittman you can see 4 different counties. Our peninsula is surrounded by water and there are lots of fields and very little traffic. I maintained an easy pace playing with stride-length and cadence, as well as, intensity. It was a good run, as I finished in 5 minutes slower than my official PR of 1:21.
This brings me to Espen Kataraas, a triathlete who has been a help to me this spring in preparing for EM. Through another friend, Mark Sommers, I was led to Espen and his wealth of knowledge in the sport. Between his website and email, Espen helped calm my nerves by guideing me toward the right wetsuit, tri-clothes, and bike parts for EM. Then, on Father's Day weekend I got to meet Espen in person here in Wittman. Espen is often an age-group winner in tris, and often places in the top tear at most events. Check out his website: http://www.espenusa.com/ to see more. Much like when Valliant and I met ultrarunner Dean Karnasas during the 50/50 Endurance Run, meeting Espen was like reacquainting with an old friend. He is an unassuming fellow, eager to help, and a very easy gentle person (of course I met him after he'd just done a time-trial on the Eagleman course, so maybe he was just exhausted). Espen won his age group at the Columbia Triathlon this spring and finished the Eagleman in 2007 in 4 hours 16 minutes. His run was his weakest link in Eagleman with a time of 1:26 for the half marathon , 54 minutes faster than mine, Wow!
In any case, Wittman is becoming a meca for multisport. We actually have 3 triathlete residents, a few tri-wannabes, and several cyclists including Mark who is an Elite age grouper. I saw my first out-of-town couple arrive in Wittman Park, set up their bikes, then go for an all day ride. We have athletes like Espen visiting here on a regular basis. We had Joanna Zeigler, the overall women's 2008 Eagleman Ironman 70.3 winner, stay in Wittman over that weekend (100 feet from my house). The RUR's have been known to show up here in Wittman on an occasional Sunday morning (you're due again). And, we regularly have age-group placement triathlete, Dan Bieber, come join me for various multisport activities. It's a freakin meca!!
2 comments:
Boat building and multi-sport is quite a niche for ole Pot Pie, indeed! Another great post, Wood Frog. That's always one of the big questions--the big race has gone by, now what? What will motivate you? How much will you train? In your case, your training is your own now, not toward a race, just for yourself, and that's REALLY cool, and what it's all about.
A quick example, from real life a couple days ago to illustrate that. The Western States 100 race, the granddaddy of 100 mile ultras, had to be cancelled for the first time in 35 years, because forest fires in CA were threatening to be on the course by race day, causing horrible air quality, and blocking access to service roads they needed for aid stations and volunteers. They cancelled it just a few days before the race, so athletes were already on flights, already out there, etc. There are no refunds, it's a lottery system--people can wait 5 years to get in to the race, and then train like beasts. Plus, they had the deepest and most motivated field of elite ultra runners in the history of the race.
All that training, commitment, and then no race. So what have the athletes done? They've shrugged it off (after some shock) and created some really great adventures with group runs, great trail runs, and turned already to their next races.
Truly, it's about the training, the journey, the preparation. Having said all that though, it's nice to have a big race as a motivating factor to keep you going ;)
Tuesday, July 1st at 9am entry to the 2009 Eagleman opens and i will be signing up. this race is selling out faster and faster each year, so i'm not going to take any chances. so, as of Tuesday, I will have another "big" one on the agenda. thanks for your thoughts.
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