Gonna be short and sweet. Getting Old sucks. I picked up triathlon because i thought it would provide a little variety and that i wouldn’t overtrain by running or swimming too much. Should have known myself a bit better!

Last year, 2016, I started working with a new triathlon coach Darren Rentch. Darren and his wife Jen run Meridian Performance and they are awesome. With Darren’s guidance I reached All World Athlete Silver status with Ironman! Even made it to the podium a couple times! Had a great time meeting Darren and Jen’s other disciples and traveling to a few events together. I have thoroughly enjoyed my training experiences with Darren. He understands I have a day job, running a commercial real estate company, and that gets in the way of my night job ( or should i say my early morning job)!

 

I was fired up and was ready to rock and roll this year. Unfortunately, I fell off my bike last summer and my shoulder really never recovered. I was able to swim all last fall after making a stupid training mistake and taking a nice superman dive off the bike. I felt fine after a week or so and kept training. I dialed back in November and December thinking that would help…Nope! Started physical therapy, cortisone shot and thought i was on my way back! I did have to cancel my plans to do South Beach TRi and Ironman Florida 70.3 in April under penalty of death from my Doctor and physical therapist. I did a Sprint Tri in May as a warm up for Ironman Raleigh 70.3 in Raleigh North Carolina. Although a little achy, I wasn’t too worse for wear finishing 4th at the Sprint.

Off to Raleigh!! A beautiful course in a beautiful town. The start and finish line of Ironman Raleigh 70.3 are on a closed street in downtown Raleigh right on front of the host hotels and the convention center. Only a few blocks and in eye sight of the capitol building of North Carolina. Coach Darren came down to Raleigh with a couple of great  guys and we had a great time warming up the day before the race and enjoying a meal and some good stories.

The swim course was about 20 miles from Raleigh at Jordan Lake. Beautiful place to swim. The Bike course meanders back to Raleigh and is very pretty. Unfortunately i never made it to the run.

Although, I felt great all week and warming up the day before my shoulder was feeling pretty good. I was determined not to overdue it in the water, swim steady, swim straight and just stay within myself. I had a nice steady swim and came out exactly where i thought i might. In fact, there was Coach Darren in transition exactly where I expected to see him as he is an awesome athlete and good swimmer. Off to the Bike! A beautiful ride that starts with a fast sprint along a wide well paved road. Flying! The route was relatively flat and I was in aero position the whole way. Starting around mile 26, halfway, my shoulder began to ache, by mile 30 it began to bark and by mile 40  I was sitting up and out of aero position, by mile 45 I was hanging onto my bike with one hand! Made it to the run transition and was done! Just done! My shoulder never hurt this much before, it was hot out, no shade in transition and I just wanted to cut off my right arm! Walked straight into the med tent, grabbed some ice from the nurse and that was it! I am shutting down swimming until I rehab the shoulder.

So triathlon season is done for me. The shoulder feels fine on my road bike and running. Michael B has encouraged me to focus on my cycling anyway. I will still run a few times a week but The Double Triple Bypass and Cent Cols Challenge is calling! So Michael B, here we go, a couple big adventures right around the corner!