Running Through Cow Fields up until Nationals

So... it's September. And the last time I wrote anything was in March. This is for two reasons:

1) I'm (still) in grad school full time.

2) My wife has been pregnant since February and baby (gender unknown) has tried to come early no fewer than 3 times.

So I haven't found any time to blog between it all. But I want to recap things that have happened this year.

When the good weather came around, I quickly got to work to build my running base with a buddy! I took my daughter on the jogging stroller for my short easy runs, sometimes three times a week! Just getting out and consistently running often was perfect to build the base back up.

I didn't make the Air Force team... but I DID get first alternate!

I had REALLY hoped to be accepted to the Air Force tri team this year. But it was my first year applying! It's been my goal for the last three years, since the day I started doing triathlon, to be on this team. I was really close this year and would have been picked if they hadn't dropped the number of team members from 12 to 10. But oh well. I decided that would use this year and try to get some good consistent results under my belt to show that my good result from Buckeye wasn't a one-time thing.

Wright Patterson 10k... and PR out of the blocks

My first race of the year was in April, and it was unplanned. It was the Annual Wright-Patterson AFB Half-Marathon and 10k. I got up that morning thinking I was going to do a bike ride, but some fellow local-athletes put the word out about the race, and I though... "Well... that's sounds like fun. Let's go do it!"

So I showed up and it was pretty chill atmosphere. I turned my Garmin on and was quickly informed that the battery was low. Nuts... the GPS wouldn't make it all the way through the race. So I turned off the GPS and used it as an expensive stopwatch. Oh well... let's do it! So they started us off and I pulled out front pretty soon. I thought I was running comfortably and not too fast, but when I hit the first mile-marker, my watch read 6-minutes flat. Huh... that's interesting.

Then came Mile 2 - 12 minutes. Breathing a little heavier. But still had lot of energy.

Mile 3 - 18 minutes flat. Ok I was starting to feel a little tired.

Mile 4 - 24 minutes flat... woah. I'm holding that pace... this hurts! But wow! Keep it up!

Mile 5 - 30 minutes, 10 seconds... Oh NO YOU DON'T! No slowing down!!

Mile 6 - 36 FLAT. BRING IT HOME!! BRING IT HOME!

Finish - 37:16. WOOT! Holy CHEESE BURGERS! I just bested my 10k PR by over a minute!!

Oh yeah... and I won. But it was a local race. Only about 100 people racing.So yeah... quite the way to start the race season. Here was Marian's facebook post about it, complete with Hashtags:

After being up in the night with a coughing, congested kiddo, Ryan still bounced out of bed ahead of dawn, to work out prior to studying.

But, before hopping on his bike, he realized there was a foot race happening nearby today and thought, "Oh, that sounds like fun."

So, while sick toddler and I slept, he raced an easy 10K (37:15) and won 1st Place. We woke up to find out all the details as he fixed us breakfast and apologetically explained why he'd been clunking around the closet at 5:30 a.m., searching for his running shoes...

‪#‎wellokthen‬ ‪#‎thisisus‬ ‪#‎anditsracingseason‬ ‪#‎yaydad‬

Speedy-Feet Wednesday Night Sprint Tri

First race was a Wednesday night June triathlon down in Caesar creek. These are some fun races that get put on by Speedyfeet, and some pretty awesome athletes come out for them. I had a TERRIBLE swim, but managed to salvage the race by biking through most of the field, and following up with a solid run. I caught the guy in front of me on the run, but he still managed to stick with me and out-sprint me in the end. GRR! My finish photo was very flattering because of the sprint... heh.

Coming in to T2

The not very flattering finish...

The Cheddar Challenge 5k

I raced a 5k the following weekend at Young's Dairy called the Cheddar Challenge. (They had milkshakes at the one aid station. Heh.) Had a GREAT time and managed to pull off the overall win against a few cross-country kids that had turned out for the race. The first mile was pretty fast, but then we realized we couldn't maintain low 5-minute pace through the grass, and we backed it off to running around 6-minute pace. Then I dropped the last kid around mile 2. Also had a young friend from church named Emmett race with me! I went back and ran him in for the finish.

Running at the front

Happy finish!

Lé Tour de-Hospitál + A swim Meet

For the next month or so after that, we were in and out of the hospital trying to keep a very premature baby from coming out of Marian... The longest visit was about 4 days spent in Miami Valley hospital. I took the opportunity to get some extra indoor cycling done. I also was able to do a long-course swim meet at Miami University (in Oxford, Ohio, just so you're not confused). That was fun! I did the Freestyle Gauntlet. 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 400 free, and the 1500 free (plus two relays). I was pretty smoked by the end of that... because every single race was an all-out effort!

Caesar Creek Triathlon

Then in early-July, I did the Casesar creek Olympic triathlon. That was a good time, and really set me up for Nationals well. Had some of my best splits at a race there! Got a good warmup in the swim. When they blew the horn, I pulled out ahead of most of the field quickly with a few dolphin dives and then got to work. Had some weaving issue in the first 500 meters or so, which didn't help my time much... but came out of the water in around 22 minutes.

Had a few issues in transition... I've GOT to get faster at those!

I got out on the bike and passed a couple guys pretty quickly who were just ahead of me on the swim. Then I spent the entire 40k riding by myself. It was a two-loop bike with lots of first-timers out there, so I passed a lot of people on the second lap. But there wasn't anyone to bike with. I came in at 1:01 and change, and was super pleased with that!

The run was BRUTAL. I felt good for the first mile. Ran it at 6:10... and then... I don't know. Something happened. I eventually stopped looking at my watch. Andy, Brian, and Bill from the Wright Pat Air Force team were all there, and we had fun high-fiving each other on the run course. That helped a bit with morale... but MAN it was hot and humid and over half of the run was on loose gravel or grass in the woods. ICK! Fortunately, everyone else was feeling horrible too, and so I stayed in third place and cruised in to finish in 2:06. A nice consistent result, considering the horrible conditions.

Lead-up to Nationals

Then the rest of July was spent trying not to get sick/injured and decide whether or not Marian would be in any condition to come to Nationals with me... this was probably the toughest month of the year for us. But I'll explain more in my post ABOUT nationals.

After Nationals: my first Bike TT

Shortly after Nationals, I was able to race in my first bike time trial. I don't have a speed-suit... so I wore my tri suit. Heh... But I was a lot of fun, and I was able to bike at 26.4 MPH average!! WOAH! Dad did the race too on my road bike with NO aero gear and still averaged heathily over 20!! What a BEAST!

And I even got featured in a local newspaper for it... heh. Aint no big thang...