4 mile hell

To complete the Florida IronMan I selected a 36 week training program sponsored by Trifuel http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/. By my standards (and most others) the program is extremely aggressive. The program does not allow for a significant amount of leisure time. To this point I have most enjoyed Monday's (45 min swim) and Friday's (off).

Though the "program" is officially 36 weeks, I have been training 5-6 days per week for the last year and a half. Prior to beginning the program the last event that I competed in was the Philly Marathon with my friend Jessica in late November. Needless to say, training for 5 or 6 months without a race can become a little monotonous. To break up the monotony I decided to enter a few events: Tri for our Veterans http://seaisletriathlon.blogspot.com/ a sprint triathlon organized by my high school buddy Matt McCulley (fantastic race for those interested) a 5K http://www.runthemonk.com/ in my parents neighborhood and the Media 5 miler http://www.media5milerace.com/media5milerace/site/default.asp.

I recruited several of my friends (with a little coaxing) to enter the media 5 miler. My buddy Cork thought it would be a good idea if we dropped in the Dub C 4 mile run in West Chester http://www.dubc4miler.com/DUBC.html between the monk and the media 5 miler. Now as I mentioned previously I treasure my Friday day off from training but I figure I got my boy interested in running...how can I turn him down? I can't, so I won't.

The race seemed innocent enough, 4 miles through the borough of West Chester, PA, with the promise of a couple ice cold coronas post race. I am training for an IronMan, 30 plus miles of running per week are the norm. What does a little 4 miler have for me? Two words, a lot.

Needless to say I underestimated the elevation changes present in this trendy college town. The race was a struggle to say the least. Before I go further I should mention that prior to the start Cork and I noticed a rather fit woman. It seemed she planned on pushing a baby through the race. She starts quickly, but me being the IronMan in training, I pass her in the first half mile or so thinking that I will cheer her on when she finishes (presumably several minutes after I cross the line). Not quite. She reappeared at mile 3.5. I pursued valiantly for the next 1.25 miles but I was no match. She pulls away from over the last quarter mile and beat me by 15 secs or so?

After crossing the finish line I promptly chug a bottle of water and congratulate my infant pushing adversary on a race well run. I quickly convince myself to feel good about my accomplishment against this woman. Clearly she is an elite runner and so what if she was pushing 30+ lbs of infant through the mountainous streets of West Chester? She still only beat me by 15 seconds.

It was only after the 2nd Corona at Kildare's that I mentioned how valiantly I raced against this this stroller pushing woman. It was at this moment that Cork mentioned how he too had passed her in the early going as she stopped for a couple of minutes to repair her broken stroller. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow I have 2 hours on the bike. I am now going to try to convince my wife Missy to do her 7 mile run first so that I can sleep in a little. Wish me luck.