Boston Triathlon
Boston, MA - July 2018
The Boston Triathlon got off to a rocky start. Rough waves and an incoming storm turned the .9 mile swim into a 1.2 mile run. My immediate thought was, “Shit… I don’t have the run volume to support the extra mileage right now.” That’s a shocking admission from someone signed up for an Olympic, which already includes 6.2 miles of running, but that’s what 2018 Jonathan’s training load looked like. Sporadic runs, a handful of 20 to 40 minute trainer rides, and some solid swim sessions. I honestly don’t know how I survived my first full season.
Run 1
The timing mat was on the beach, so we lined up in the sand and followed a 2 athletes every couple of seconds format typical of rolling swim and bike starts. I ran well within my means for the distance and quickly found myself within sight of T1.
T1
I made a quick shoe change and the crucial decision to snag my sunglasses from my transition bag to protect my eyes from the rain.
Bike
This bike course is an annoying, 5-mile-long loop complete with dangerous turns and athletes from both the Olympic (4 loops) and Sprint (2 loops) races. I thankfully had picked up cycling my junior year at BC, so passing riders and navigating 180 degree turns came naturally to me. This unfortunately didn’t hold true for the two people I saw wipe out taking those turns too tightly. My training load didn’t really enable me to have much of a say over management of my perceived effort, but that didn’t stop me from being frustrated by the headwind on the way out for each loop, only to fly on the way back. I wish I could see a power graph for this race, because it would look horrible. I finished the course in about an hour flat and was thrilled to be back on my feet.
T2
Nothing special here. Things were soaking wet from the rain, but I had thankfully tossed my shoes in my transition bag along with dry socks, so my feet were happy when I started the run.
Run
My first 10k… technically? Depends how you want to characterize my 13.1-meets-restaurant run/jog/walk experience at Eagleman. I settled into a pretty solid pace and was able to hold it for most of the run. Despite historically abysmal run training, and with the exception of Eagleman 2018, I seem to have a weirdly good ability to nail a pace on my triathlon runs. Highlight of this one was on the start of my second lap I saw my sister riding into T2! One of the coolest pictures I have; my parents thought they were just snagging shots of Amelia and didn’t realize I was there until they heard me cheering for her. I made my way through the rest of the two-loop run course (which was thankfully as flat as the bike) and crossed the finish line in substantially better shape than I did at Eagleman.
