Rumpus International Race Report

Training: I wasn’t training for this race specifically as everything I’m doing is preparing me for IMLP. Rumpus is most peoples first race of the season and after an entire off-season and 3 months of pre-season training everyone is ready to drop the reins and cut loose. I know felt this way. With all of the work I’ve put in I knew I was in much better shape than I’ve ever been and was ready to see what kind of race I could put together. Baldwin always says “its all about the bike.” I’m really starting to believe this as prior to this race I hadn’t done any brick workouts but have done plenty of multiple hour workouts so my legs should have been able to handle a harder effort for less time. This turned out to be correct. Other workouts that really benefitted me were my FTP based interval spins and improving my ability to work longer at harder efforts. Lots of swimming also.

Pre-Race: I’ve noted before how I usually make really stupid decision on the nights before races, which lead to me being tired and surely impacting my performance. There is too much riding on this year to continue that trend not to mention nobody on the team would actually let me do it. This meant securing a place in the team house and heading down to the venue the night before. Everyone had a little fun but went to bed at a decent hour. I actually woke up Saturday morning before my alarm, which was a nice feeling. Got my normal morning coffee and bagel and got the rest of the stuff ready to go. Everyone headed out and made the 5-minute drive to the race site with 1.5 hours to go before race start. There are always last minute things that you remember to do and that was taken care of but the best part of the morning never feeling rushed or stressed out. Of course, being able to chill out under the team tent with everyone else who is racing always helps. Finally we all decided to head down to the race start.

Swim: (28:40 / 38 of 70) To be completely honest, I was a little nervous before the swim. I know my swim volume is ridiculously higher than it’s ever been so I wasn’t worried about the distance but more so about wearing my full sleeve wetsuit. I’ve done 2 races in it and each has been miserable. My arms got tired very early on and I always felt like I was struggling. Besides getting in the water a little late I felt comfortable the minute I got in the water. There was a minute or two when the suit filled with 62 degree water where I held my breath but that quickly went away and I was ready to go. I made it to the line and made sure to position myself in the middle of the wave. I’ve always avoided the mass of people and never wanted to get hit or fight with people. Since I’ll have no choice at the mass swim start in Placid I knew I needed to start getting used to it now so it’s not a shock to me in a few months. The gun goes off and I head out. I immediately felt like I was moving at a pretty good clip without using too much energy. Instead of fighting with trying to breathe every 3rd stroke and feeling uncomfortable I went straight to every other breath and was able to settle in almost immediately. It’s the swim so there was nothing eventful till I got to the end. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 28:15!! I had absolutely destroyed my previous best time in a 1500 m swim. I was pumped up as I ran into T1.


T1: (1:30 / 4 of 70) Heading into T1 I had something new I needed to try. This was my first race with a swim and wearing my Garmin. After asking around I was told that the easiest way to get the wetsuit off was to disconnect the face from the band, hold it in my mouth, pull the sleeves down and then reconnect the face; all while running into transition. This worked rather well and I headed to my bike. I took a second and grabbed some water, ditched the wetsuit, grabbed what I needed and I was out.

Bike: (1:06:21 / 31 of 70) The bike started off well and I was interested to see what I could do on the course since I have put in so much time in the saddle. The race strategy was to go at near 100% FTP or zone 4 heart rate; basically max effort for the whole ride. I wasn’t sure if I could maintain that level of output but really wasn’t bad at all. I took free speed when I got it on downhill’s and gave some back on the handful of rollers that were out there. The best part about the bike was that I felt fast. Towards the end of the first lap I took a gel which was definitely necessary and decided to take one about half way through the second lap so I didn’t get that same “crap, I need a gel” feeling. It was also great having other FeXY’s out of the course and spectating and cheering as we came through for each lap. Overall I was pleased with the bike.

T2: (1:02 / 17 of 70) The usual; ditch the bike and helmet, grad race number and shoes and get the hell out of there. Which would have been great had I left it at that. However, I decided to eat a few shot blocks. Note to self – never again.


Run: (43:09 / 14 of 70) Trying to chew and swallow the shot blocks at the beginning of the run didn’t go well. I had a difficult time trying to chew and it was like I never fully swallowed the blocks. I tried to control my breathing and get my HR down a little at the beginning but was difficult to do so. After a few minutes I was finally able to settle into the pace I wanted. It was pretty hot out at this point and I wanted to drink some water but the shot blocks still weren’t sitting right and made me not want to drink anything. At the half way point I wanted to push the pace a little bit but my stomach just wouldn’t let me so I had to stay where I was and ride that to the end of the race. I’m not upset about the run at all considering it’s my fastest 10K in a race, but I think I could have gone a little faster had I not eaten the blocks.


What Was Good: Everything about the race was good. Getting a good nights sleep, not having to drive far the morning of, having an entire team of people to hang out with, and putting up my fastest times across the board.

What Was Bad: There really wasn’t anything bad. I know now that in a short race like that I’m not going to eat anything before the run.

3 Months .... Almost Halfway Home

So March has come and gone ... seemingly as fast as I've typed this first sentence. As expected, it was a hell of a month too. It started off with regular weeks (about the same number of hours as Jan and Feb) and I got to run the 2 races which i've already written about. Then the real fun began and I was introduced to my first "building phase." Pretty self-explanatory stuff, we added more volume and more hours; added in longer rides, a couple extra runs and swims and next thing you know, I'm entering very unfamiliar territory. The two build weeks went really well. I was tired (as to be expected) but I made it through all my workouts and hit some new milestones. Besides the marathon and half mary that I raced, the rest of my weekend long runs were all 13.5 miles or longer. For some reason I found it cool that I ran a half mary every weekend in March.

The coolest part was the Saturday team rides that started up. I still don't know how I'm going to get an aerial photo of this, but riding 2x2 in a row with 20 or so riders all in FeXY gear is an awesome sight. On back to back weekends I hit my "longest" rides of 75 and then 96 miles. The latter came with a nice little climb up Mt. Weather and a total of 4,000 ft of climbing. This ride really wore me down and I need to take in more nutrition on these rides. Overall these rides were great and a huge learning experience. Since they are supposed to be done at an easy level of effort there is lots of time to carry on conversation and I've picked up so much useful info along the way.

This month wasn't all fun and games though. These two build weeks really did a number on me. I've never put my body through that kind of effort and really felt terrible for the next few days. This wasn't just feeling bad as in sore muscles, but mentally. I don't know how to explain other than I was in a funk. Luckily enough it only lasted a few days before I snapped out of it and finally had my first recovery week.

Overall great month ......

Finally, no its not actually the half way point to IMLP but it is half way to the FeXY Lake Placid Training Camp which will be my highest volume and most intense week(end) of training. After that I'll have a few more solid weeks but overall will start coming down for final approach to race day.

Next month I finally get to start racing and put all of this training to use.

"I AM AN ATHLETE because I value and respect my body. It will whisper to me when I've done too much. And if I choose to listen to that whisper, my body won't have to scream in pain later on."