I might be fast
Glacial dust was all I could see. The ATV's ahead of me ran across a particularly dusty portion of riverbed and kicked up remains from what used to be rock long ago and since ground to powder by the centuries-old frozen monoliths. I eased my quad a little to the right to avoid it, no doubt causing the same problem for the guy behind me. Eventually, the dust settled and our way ahead widened, yielding views of the magnificent valley hewed from the earth ages ago by the Kink Glacier. On our left, we spotted a few mountain goats on the side of a rocky slope. To our right, the Kink River.
After some 25 miles of riding, our engines came to a halt and the only thing we could hear was the occasional crrrracking of a massive piece of ice somewhere in the distance. The Kink Glacier is a vast piece of nature, spanning your entire field of vision, almost other worldly looking.
At one point, a Black Hawk flew by fast and low, a red cross on its side, making its way back to the airfield some 50 miles away. We mounted up and headed back, stopping on occasion to snap some pictures of a beaver dam and our mountain goat friends that had made their way down to our level to say hello. By day's end, my fellow Engineer officers and I had huge smiles across our dust-coated faces and our three day professional development had finished up.
The weekend prior, Kinsey and I drove down to Anchorage so she could meet up with her parents and race in Alaska's biggest triathlon. On Saturday before the race, I had arranged a group ride with a couple other members of USMES and we spun for an hour, getting to know new teammates and scheming about future races and rides.
The Gold Nugget Tri was on Sunday and Kinsey tore the race apart. Seeing how much she trains and the effort she puts into each training session, it wasn't too big a surprise, though I'm very biased. Spectating the race was kinda nice, but it sure got my own adrenaline going. I had to go ride some big hills later that day to, uh, relieve myself.
My race season this year is strikingly different from other seasons. During my training camp in Tucson last year, I made the decision that I was going to get fast, or, at least, faster than I currently was. Not just generally fast, but fast for one particular distance. I wanted to get as close to professional racing as my body could handle. I hired a coach, got a TT bike, and entered as many races as I could, leading up to age group nationals in Milwaukee last August. As it so happened, that was just the start of my advancement in tri. I qualified for ITU Worlds and decided I wanted to try and get on the All Army Sports team as well. I applied for that team last year but didn't quite have the creds. This year, I guess not as many people sent in their applications but I somehow made it.
The season opener was a local sprint distance. Though going through the motions was beneficial, I wasn't on top of my game that day. My numbers were low and splits inconsistent. The run wasn't bad but I knew I had more. I spent too much energy the day before on an "easy" ride, that's for sure. I've done a few other tune up races as well that went reasonably well including a 5k, a short Time Trial and a very hilly 10k trial race but I really haven't pitted myself against my real competition, all either in Anchorage or the lower 48. In training, my power numbers are steadily getting higher and I'm figuring out a few more things in the water that have really helped with a few of my test intervals. To be honest, I'm swimming faster than I think I ever have, but Fairbanks, being what it is, doesn't afford me many opportunities to go head to head with the best. There are some strong guys up here that I chase in bike races and runs, but the tri field is sparse. In just two weeks, though, the gates will fly open to kick off the season in earnest when I go against the military's best at the "World's Fastest Triathlon" a.k.a. Leon's Triathlon in Chicago. It will be my first ever draft legal tri. While I'm quite excited to use my criterium skills in a race, I'm a little anxious doing that alongside triathletes that, by and large, do not have that experience. I guess that means I'll just have to swim fast to get out ahead.
Next week, I'm throwing my name in the hat for the Army 10 miler team. This Friday I'll be racing the qualifier race on post locally. The top 12 or so runners are selected to be on the US Army Alaska (USARAK) team and get a four day Temporary Duty in D.C. to participate against every other Army team at one huge event. I'm very curious to see what kind of pace I can hold since I've never done that distance for time before but I think my odds are pretty good. Thank the Lord, I've been running healthy without injury ever since I recovered from that broken leg. I still can't believe that happened. Most days, I forgot it did.
The week after Leon's, I'll be down in Victoria, BC doing my first ever Ironman brand event at the Victoria 70.3. This one might qualify as my first major racecation. Kinsey will head down there while I'm playing with the Military boys in Chicago and I'll join her later the next Friday. It's been 10 months since I got to explore a new city and I've never actually been to America's Hat before so between the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, a spectacular Ironman venue, and time with my parents and brother and sister-in-law, this might rank up there as one of the best racecations ever. Also, the day after Victoria, Kinsey and I have another fun event, I guess, but that's another blog post.
The schedule hardly slows down after we get back from Canada. We're planning on doing the biggest Fondo type race in the state, the Fireweed 400, the Sourdough 70.3 and others. There's always the chance that Kinsey and I could qualify for the half-iron world championships in Austria later in August but I'm not counting chickens.
Next stop, the Windy City!
After some 25 miles of riding, our engines came to a halt and the only thing we could hear was the occasional crrrracking of a massive piece of ice somewhere in the distance. The Kink Glacier is a vast piece of nature, spanning your entire field of vision, almost other worldly looking.
At one point, a Black Hawk flew by fast and low, a red cross on its side, making its way back to the airfield some 50 miles away. We mounted up and headed back, stopping on occasion to snap some pictures of a beaver dam and our mountain goat friends that had made their way down to our level to say hello. By day's end, my fellow Engineer officers and I had huge smiles across our dust-coated faces and our three day professional development had finished up.
The weekend prior, Kinsey and I drove down to Anchorage so she could meet up with her parents and race in Alaska's biggest triathlon. On Saturday before the race, I had arranged a group ride with a couple other members of USMES and we spun for an hour, getting to know new teammates and scheming about future races and rides.
The Gold Nugget Tri was on Sunday and Kinsey tore the race apart. Seeing how much she trains and the effort she puts into each training session, it wasn't too big a surprise, though I'm very biased. Spectating the race was kinda nice, but it sure got my own adrenaline going. I had to go ride some big hills later that day to, uh, relieve myself.
My race season this year is strikingly different from other seasons. During my training camp in Tucson last year, I made the decision that I was going to get fast, or, at least, faster than I currently was. Not just generally fast, but fast for one particular distance. I wanted to get as close to professional racing as my body could handle. I hired a coach, got a TT bike, and entered as many races as I could, leading up to age group nationals in Milwaukee last August. As it so happened, that was just the start of my advancement in tri. I qualified for ITU Worlds and decided I wanted to try and get on the All Army Sports team as well. I applied for that team last year but didn't quite have the creds. This year, I guess not as many people sent in their applications but I somehow made it.
The season opener was a local sprint distance. Though going through the motions was beneficial, I wasn't on top of my game that day. My numbers were low and splits inconsistent. The run wasn't bad but I knew I had more. I spent too much energy the day before on an "easy" ride, that's for sure. I've done a few other tune up races as well that went reasonably well including a 5k, a short Time Trial and a very hilly 10k trial race but I really haven't pitted myself against my real competition, all either in Anchorage or the lower 48. In training, my power numbers are steadily getting higher and I'm figuring out a few more things in the water that have really helped with a few of my test intervals. To be honest, I'm swimming faster than I think I ever have, but Fairbanks, being what it is, doesn't afford me many opportunities to go head to head with the best. There are some strong guys up here that I chase in bike races and runs, but the tri field is sparse. In just two weeks, though, the gates will fly open to kick off the season in earnest when I go against the military's best at the "World's Fastest Triathlon" a.k.a. Leon's Triathlon in Chicago. It will be my first ever draft legal tri. While I'm quite excited to use my criterium skills in a race, I'm a little anxious doing that alongside triathletes that, by and large, do not have that experience. I guess that means I'll just have to swim fast to get out ahead.
Next week, I'm throwing my name in the hat for the Army 10 miler team. This Friday I'll be racing the qualifier race on post locally. The top 12 or so runners are selected to be on the US Army Alaska (USARAK) team and get a four day Temporary Duty in D.C. to participate against every other Army team at one huge event. I'm very curious to see what kind of pace I can hold since I've never done that distance for time before but I think my odds are pretty good. Thank the Lord, I've been running healthy without injury ever since I recovered from that broken leg. I still can't believe that happened. Most days, I forgot it did.
The week after Leon's, I'll be down in Victoria, BC doing my first ever Ironman brand event at the Victoria 70.3. This one might qualify as my first major racecation. Kinsey will head down there while I'm playing with the Military boys in Chicago and I'll join her later the next Friday. It's been 10 months since I got to explore a new city and I've never actually been to America's Hat before so between the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, a spectacular Ironman venue, and time with my parents and brother and sister-in-law, this might rank up there as one of the best racecations ever. Also, the day after Victoria, Kinsey and I have another fun event, I guess, but that's another blog post.
The schedule hardly slows down after we get back from Canada. We're planning on doing the biggest Fondo type race in the state, the Fireweed 400, the Sourdough 70.3 and others. There's always the chance that Kinsey and I could qualify for the half-iron world championships in Austria later in August but I'm not counting chickens.
Next stop, the Windy City!
Comments
Post a Comment