We're all off to the beach.....

It's time to get some sand in between our toes and so we head off to Colonial Beach, VA tonight in preparation for the triathlon on Sunday. The past 4 weeks have been a pretty good build phase after Eagleman and the race on Sunday will be the start of a recovery week.

I've been feeling pretty beat all week and so I am hoping that an easy day on Saturday, just relaxing on the beach after lots of sleep will be the rest that I need for a good race. The race is a bit odd in terms of distance...its a 1km swim in the Potomac River, a 40km bike and a dead flat 6 mile run around the town. I haven't done this race before and it appears to be quite low-key, only 275 registered as of yesterday. It's always cool to do the low-key races as racing with 2,000 of your closest friends is often over-rated!

Looking at past results (this is the 24th edition of the Colonial Beach Triathlon) it seems as though about 1hr 50mins is the standard winning time....I guess I better get a move on then! Having not done much speed work in recent weeks it will be interesting to see how I go....how hard can 2hrs at full blast be though :-)

In addition to the race it will be nice to spend a weekend at the beach, the hotel is just across from transition and so it won't be a massively early start for Team Banks. It's also cool that we can race and then still use the hotel room and not need to check out till 11am! Hopefully we can find a good bar in town tonight to sink a couple of beers and chill and then find a good beach side restaurant for dinner tomorrow in prep for the race. It should be a great start to a much needed "rest" week........

The Cost of Triathlon......

The cost of triathlon has been discussed in many forums recently and I am sure that in these days of rising gas prices and everyday living costs, it will become even more of an issue. The reason that I bring this up is that in the past month I have entered for three races, two of which are later this year (70.3M Worlds and ChesapeakeMan Ironman) and one is for next year (Eagleman 70.3M already!). The total cost of these races was $890....yep just under a grand for three races where I will have to flog myself to exhaustion and countlessly wonder why I do these events anyway!

Not that I am complaining (although Sarah might be after reading the costs!)....I could have many worse vices in my life and at least triathlon training and racing is in many ways a healthy way of life. The cost of racing, travelling and training has to be a major consideration for all triathletes and I dread to think how much we spend each year on fueling the multisport lifestyle.

So far it appears that the thirst for Ironman races and the 70.3M series of races are not slowing down and it is borne out in the fact that Eagleman 70.3M opened on July 1st, a full 345 days from the 2009 race date and in the first day it sold over 1200 spaces of the allotted 2000 available. I am sure that on July 21st when Ironman Lake Placid opens for 2009 registration I will be extremely lucky to get a spot when I am trying to register online....Ironman races aren't cheap at $500 a race and that's not including travel, accommodation costs that go with it. Most of the North American Ironman races sell out in minutes!

Thinking of my race season, I would love to race a full Ironman race every year but the costs involved almost make that a no-no....and hence why I think some of the independent Ultra distance triathlons will begin to grow. Not only are they cheaper to enter but for many they can be more local and in locations where travel and accommodation can be done on a shoestring.

At the end of the season I will try to add up all of the costs of my "racing" season and I am sure that I will be astounded by the overall cost.....but in the end does the feeling of competing and finishing races as well as the benefits of training outweigh the fiscal costs? I know for me it certainly does and that is why I live the triathlon lifestyle.......

What's more tiring........

The training plan went out the window slightly today. After waiting through the many rain delays at the Bowie Baysox as they finished off their game against the Erie Seawolves and then watching the 4th of July Fireworks, we didn't get to bed until after midnight. Combine that with having guests staying and the planned 5-hour ride wasn't really on the cards. In the end it rained for much of the morning and so I got to watch the first stage of the Tour while sweating buckets on the trainer.

The afternoon was spent sight-seeing in Annapolis and the Naval Academy, and to be honest I think I am more tired now than if I had got up and done a 5-hour ride! Late nights and wandering around are pretty exhausting (must be getting old!) and I only did an hour on the trainer.....

The lack of a long ride also means that I need to try and get out early tomorrow before we hit the tourist trail again...hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get a 4-hour ride in before mid-morning. I will then need to try and keep pace as the others march around the sights, perhaps by suggesting coffee shop and ice cream parlor breaks I can recuperate and struggle through :-)

Last week was a great training week and I managed 19-hours. This upcoming week is the final week of a 4-week build period, finishing off with the Colonial Beach Triathlon on Sunday 13th July, which is also the start of a recovery week.

I might as well savor this........

I'm sure that this won't last long and so I might as well put it onto the blog for posterity. The triathlon rankings for the Mid-Atlantic region as of July 1st, 2008 have been posted and guess who is number 1 in the 30-34 Age Group (and 6th overall).....yep me! So here you go, just to prove that it is true!



I guess the trick now is to try and stay there for the rest of the season and that should provide some further motivation for the upcoming races. My next race is the Colonial Beach Olympic Triathlon on July 13th and I am looking forward to it. It seems like an age since the last triathlon at Eagleman and yet it is only less than four weeks ago. The competitive monster is rearing its ugly head and shouting "get me back in the game coach!"......