I am training more than I have in a very long time and I am happy about it. If there were more races I likely could not sustain such volumes.

Currently at 4000 miles of cycling and 2600 miles of running

That kind of happened with my running. We eased up on the bike volume and swimming, and that allowed for more run training. For the first time in my life I've been doing 30km runs on a regular basis, since March, and did my first ever marathon (outside of an Ironman, so no walking!) a month ago.

Bravo

Which races are these in NH? I’m interested! Live free or die (literally)!!!!

I’m sort of in this guys boat. I’m training as if the races are happening. And then when the races are inevitably cancelled I’m doing race-sims against my self.

Did an Oly Dist duathlon last Sat in liu of 70.3 Maine. It crushed me. I’m pretty sure an Oly du is harder than a 70.3. No joke. I’m going to do another one in Oct, in liu of Oceanside.

Going to crush IMMT next year if it happens.

I've written off 2020 and planning on writing off 2021 unless miracles happen. I have family members working in trauma centers and my wife has lifelong asthma. Two extended family members caught covid in the very early wave.

I'm taking it as a reset training opportunity and getting out solo alot, doing the type of harder planned work I've never had time to focus on in the past. I can't imagine feeling ok about racing or group activities of any type.

I find Olympic distance, in du's or tri's, to be the most painful. Just short enough that you still have to push near full tilt the whole time!

I can't wait for both Tremblant events to return.

Got to keep keeping on.

Just home after a 3 day running trip in the north of Scotland - 67 miles with 25,000 feet of climbing.

Now taking a few days rest - just like after a race.

The race last weekend was Live Free or Tri in Freedom,NH
Sunapee Triathlon is still on for Sept 19th Sprint and OYL
Mine Falls Trail Festival in Nashua is currently still on for Oct 11th

have lost all hope

Was able to race a super sprint last week, and another planned for early Oct. That was fun and really needed to as something mentally different. My planned A race was postponed to next year, but I am still holding out hope that Odyssey Austin will happen which was a big event on my calendar this year. (I've got some inside info from a Park Ranger at the venue though that their application has not yet been approved, however the start and finish are on a girl scout campground that the park can't control, so I'm still hopeful).

So my overall goals for the year are gone, but I'm not giving up the fitness I earned early in the year prepping for my fall races, so training continues. Hopeful I can put that fitness to use at the Odyssey SwimRun race.

---

-----

Still hopeful for IMTX oct. 17th. Training at about 80%. I swim about twice per week open water so I am way more comfortable doing that than I have ever been. Bonus!
(pools still closed in Michigan)

Ah, I missed that one, I didn't know there is a Half in New England this year :(. To do at least one long distance event in 2020 would be nice.
Do you know if there are any halves left around?


PS. As for me year 2020 is still going on. It will even have an A race! IMAZ (low probability) or Manchester, NH marathon (high probability) in November.

I've written off racing, but am still trying to maintain a routine. Even if my one race that hasn't gotten cancelled goes on (Waco 70.3) I am only able to swim in 40 minute increments ($6/session) and don't feel that's enough to justify traveling across the country to race. Not to mention being super uncomfortable with using port-o-potties at races. Those things were bad enough before COVID; don't even want to think about it now.
My hopes for racing in the first half of 2021 are dwindling as well. Even if a race were to happen, I don't know if I'd feel safe racing.

There was a HIM at the race last weekend, but I am not aware of any others.
It was great to just get out and race, been training all along and could not get motivated for virtual.

I did a race today, and it was awesome. Field was about 300 combined for a Sprint and Olympic. Great Covid protocols— self serve water bottles on the run, no bike stations, masks at start and finish, spacing on swim start, oversized transition, self-serve awards, total of 3 volunteers, etc.

I was hoping that everyone else slacked off and I could compete for a top spot. Nope. Apparently my chubby self was the one who slacked off the most and my Covid 15 lbs. was too jiggly to overcome. The field was fast and hungry. I got nothing.

What a joy to race. Now I need to lose a lot of weight.

Although my performance was worse than expected, I won my AG.

This was one of the rare days where everything mattered:
-the aerobottle instead of the round
-the fact that I decided to hold it up when I desperately had to take a leak on the last 5k
-the demounting of the bicycle-bell
-the endsprint the last km on advise of my wife who knew the race-situation
-shaving of the arms
-latex instead of butyl

I won it by 90s, third was 3 minutes down.

I have a sprint triathlon next weekend and a HM in early October in Hendersonville NC. I live in Raleigh but all of my races after 3/8 look to happen in the mountains of N.C.

Leaving now for an off road triathlon in northern NJ. My first race of the year.

Ran an actual, certified marathon yesterday - Last Chance BQ in Grand Rapids MI.

They did a great job organizing - no contact, distancing, spacing at start, self-serve stations.

I drove to Grand Rapids on Friday night, stayed in hotel by myself, no-contact check-in, ordered in food, on Saturday morning, drove to start half hour before start, got bib, stayed in car, walked to starting line (they were sending off people TT start, 5 secs at a time) and ran whole way without many people around me (300 total).

Didn't train for it specifically, still doing general tri/IM training...but with training volume thought it would be great to run if got a chance... and BQ if there for the taking (figured take advantage turning 50 in August).

Super relaxed, felt like I was jogging at around 7:25 pace. Held it the entire time, no stress, even pulled off a 7:07 last mile. Easiest 3:14:54 in my life. So got sub 10 min to my BQ, which should be good (thinking 2022).

Finished, walked straight to my truck, drove three hours back to Chicago...just stopping at McDonalds. :)

So far so good - I have the most intense racing season since few years now. I raced 10 weekends in a row myself and had athletes racing Ironman 70.3 Poland, Ironman 70.3 Tallinn and Ironman Tallin recently. Last weekend we had two events with over 1000 participants in Poland with long distance National Champs with the most impressive line-up up ever :)

On Sunday there are middle-distance Nats and that would be end of the season for most of my squad, some will extend the season to race in Cascaix or Turkey at IM-branded races or enjoy the social side of SwimRun events.

I do not see this season as a wasted one, have seen some spectacular improvements last months and resultswise it is spectacular :)

---

coaching via trinergy.pl
TP Training Plans
IG @kowalski.coach

Mostly written off. I have one gravel race in early Oct that is happening. It was already a limited field race and it’s a relay with field spreading out pretty well.

Racing 70.3 Cozumel in 2 weeks. Expecting a smaller AG field due to travel issues and deferrals but the pro field should be stacked. Going to be a hot one.

---

Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

So as of right now, pop over into the IMAZ thread, 70.3 and 140.6 remain on the glide path to happen. This is all in the same space where every other running race around here has gone virtual except for Anthem Turkey Trot, Mesa Turkey Trot, and the Gilbert Half.

I suspect that if AIL sports start on the date as planned and fans are allowed to watch that the races that cancelled may look a smidge foolish and the races that haven't were quite bullish. But if fans aren't allowed for high school sports then they won't happen. Practices for high school sports has already begun.

Just get back to where I was at the start of COVID and lose all this weight.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I know real in-person racing is not something really unique anymore. So questions like 'WTH to do with 2020?' don't sound gloomy.

But I just wanted to share that a successful 2020 racing season is completed for me. I was targeting IMMT 70.3 and IMAZ as A-races. Tremblant was deferred to next year. It looks like IMAZ is happening, but due to multiple reasons I had to defer it as well. Instead I decided to do Manchester, NH Marathon on Nov, 8.

It was already too late for full 18 or even 12-weeks marathon prep block, so I cut swim/bike to minimum and ramped up mileage for about 6 weeks. The training went very well. I ended up doing 3 20-milers with a peak of 56 mpw.

I was targeting 2:56, but did a bit slower than that: 3:00:18. I think I forgot how to read elevation chart correctly and heavily underestimated the second part of the course. Overall the course has double the elevation gain of Boston marathon (New Hampshire, he :) with biggest hills in the first part. So I paced it very well and was prepared for smooth second part.

But on mile 14 we were greeted by 5 miles of uncovered rail trail. Going slightly uphill, which I didn't even realize until turnaround. I was just surprised by why suddenly it's so much harder to keep target pace. All this hard-gained elevation was dropped in about 100 yards.

In any case, it's not a very easy course, but I'm happy racing big races again. There was about 350 full marathon finishers and counting half and relays, about 1000 runners overall. All the usual social distancing measures.