2017 Season Wrap Up — David Celentano

When the 2016 Season Wrap Up concluded I had just finished a fantastic year including two half Ironman events and a 19th place finish in the NECTC out of more than 100 collegiate men. As 2017 began, I once again found myself in a dark and dreary Boston winter, which is not the greatest training environment. I took this time to plan my year ahead, and after getting a taste of the half iron distance last year I wanted to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. I knew this was a very lofty goal, as I would need to get at least top 3 in my age group at one of these events and my current times would have to be cut by almost an hour. Regardless I wanted to try, so I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant. As per my newfound coaching knowledge, I planned to use collegiate nationals as a training race, since it would take place about halfway through my training for Mont Tremblant. I also signed up for Ironman 70.3 Lake Placid which would be held in September, since it was the inaugural 70.3 at the legendary Ironman site.

I dedicated a lot of time to swimming early in the year. Combined with my Ironman coaching knowledge and the help of some skilled teammates I had a decent showing at the NECTC spring swim meet. Shortly after the swim meet, I was told there was an extra spot at the Collegiate Nationals Draft Legal Race if I wanted to participate. As I briefly described in the 2016 season wrap up, this race would feature 75 of the top collegiate men in the country and if you get lapped on the multi-lap bike course you must drop out of the race. I knew I was not 'top 75 in the country' material but how could I refuse such an exhilarating offer? So I accepted the spot merely four weeks before the event would take place. I would now be racing the draft legal race and the olympic race on back to back days at Collegiate Nationals; which if we recall, I was planning on using as a "training race" with no intention of peak performance. What could go wrong?

Collegiate Nationals 2017

Cut to the starting line at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the site of Collegiate Nationals 2017. I found myself lined up on a floating dock with 75 of the top collegiate men in the country wondering "how did I get here?". It is amazing to think that less than three years prior I did not know what a triathlon was, and now here I was, in an elite race with the best triathletes in the country. My daydream was interrupted when I realized that the dock we were lined up on was not quite wide enough for all of us, so we were literally standing shoulder to shoulder waiting for the horn to blare and the race to start. I only had a few moments to think of a plan of how to enter the water. I feared that if I dove in right when the horn blew, I would take an elbow or two to the face from the very large men on either side of me. So I decided I would wait just a split second to allow my fearsome competitors a little elbow room that wasn't my face. However, what I failed to think about, was what would happen when 74 men leapt from a floating dock (I knew I should have paid attention in high school physics). So the horn blew, and everyone but me dove in, causing the dock to be pushed back about 10 feet. This happened as I was about to dive in and left me like Wiley Coyote, hanging in the air wondering where the dock went. Next thing I knew I had face planted into the swim with no forward momentum, described by my onlooking teammates as "painful to watch". Regardless I enjoyed a very empty swim course as my fierce competitors never looked back after leaving me at the dock. I exited the 750 meter swim in 13:11 (1:46 pace), which was a good time for me without wearing a wetsuit. However, I was about three minutes too slow, since the laps on the bike were about two miles long, and the top men can make a lap in about four minutes. So as I got on the bike, the lead group was only about 30 seconds behind me. The rest is no surprise, I was swiftly overtaken by the lead pack within the first half mile and was forced to drop out. I had never left a race unfinished before and it wasn't a great feeling, especially being eliminated by getting lapped, but I still enjoyed the opportunity to participate in such an elite event. With my draft legal failure behind me, I enjoyed the traditional olympic race style the following day, finishing in a time of 2:31:20, with a strong 20.5 mph bike. It is impossible to compare one course to another, but I was happy to shave 13 minutes off my last nationals time.

Tri Miami

If you recall from my 2014-2015 season recap, Tri Miami was my 2nd triathlon ever, and now I returned to race it again as my 24th. The course had changed slightly, but it was still an awesome race. Before the swim started, I noticed a guy in my wave who was wearing an international uniform. He looked much more experienced than most of the locals racing the small event and we both started in the front of the wave. I emerged from the quarter mile swim just over six minutes later and hopped on the bike. I found my friend on the bike and we battled over the duration of the course. He had about a minute lead coming off the 10 mile bike, over which I average 21.8 mph. I set out on the 5k run and caught up to him at the turn around. I figured I would use my old Westchester strategy from 2016: trail him until the finish and then make my move. However, I was not familiar enough with the end of the course, and made my move with about half a mile to go. My opponent quickly realized what was happening and we sprinted the rest of the race. However, I had underestimated him, and he beat me by a matter of seconds. We shook hands and laughed about my poorly executed plan afterwards and now we still exchange kudos on Strava. As expected, I took 2nd place in my age group, but more surprising I was 20th overall out of more than 300 racers in the event. I also finally achieved the goal I set in 2015, finishing in under an hour with a time of 58:34. 🎉

The Beech Mountain Metric 🚵

I spent most of my summers growing up going to Beech Mountain, North Carolina, which is a small mile-high town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had heard about a brutal bike race that started in 2014 called the Beech Mountain Metric. Named after the town I was very familiar with, the race was 100km (62.1 miles) through the Blue Ridge Mountains that finished at the top of Beech Mountain. The race features 7600 feet of climbing, which for those not familiar with cycling metrics is an incredible amount of climbing. For perspective, the hilly course I would take on at Mont Tremblant was about 2500 feet of climbing for almost the same distance. So I figured doing Beech Mountain Metric would be fantastic training for Mont Tremblant. As it turns out, I wildly underestimated the difficulty of the race and I finally came across the finish line in 6:10:24 (10 mph average 💀). The race course was stunning and I had a fantastic time but my nutritional plan did not account for a six hour race, and I simply didn't have enough fuel to finish strong. I plan on returning next year after a lot more preparation!

Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant

With Beech Mountain under my belt and all the improvements I had made in my swimming, I was feeling very good as Mont Tremblant approached. However, I hadn't realized how much I had been neglecting my running and I made a crucial error in training that I would heavily regret. Five weeks out from Mont Tremblant I went from running about six miles per week to about 20. For those not experienced in endurance training, its recommended to not exceed a 10-15% increase in mileage per week for run training. For those of you who love math, I had just increased my mileage by more than 300% in a week. So that act of foolishness lasted for two weeks until during a 10 mile run I started feeling sharp pain in my knee. I finished the run and knew I had made a huge mistake. I spent the next three weeks with my physical therapist who I had worked with before the 2016 season on a lesser knee injury. He told me we could try to push through the race (which was less than three weeks away) and I was willing to try, but after some more runs I was left unable to walk due to the pain. With a week remaining before race day I knew I had no choice, and decided I wouldn't be completing the run portion of the race.

I limped down to the start of the swim on race morning and plunged into the cold Canadian water, unsure if I would even make it to the run. I emerged from the water in 34:23 (1:38 min/100yd), 20 minutes faster than my time at Miami. It was bittersweet, knowing I had absolutely crushed the swim compared to my last race, but knowing I wouldn't see the finish line anyway. I endured a very painful run to transition and hoped Sheila would be able to carry me through the hilly 56 mile course. I definitely give credit to Beech Mountain for preparing me because the last 15 miles of the course were very steep and my knee was screaming by that point, but I knew I could make it. I returned to transition in 3:04:23 (18.2 mph) which was pretty respectable for that course and especially given my injury. The pain in my knee told me I should quit while I was ahead, I knew I wouldn't make it through a half marathon without doing some serious damage, so I turned in my timing chip and accepted a DNF.

The Road To Recovery

I was feeling pretty down after Mont Tremblant. I had already experienced my first taste of a DNF at draft legal and now I had left two races unfinished. It didn't sit well with me, but I knew I had to go through a proper recovery to compete at the level I had once reached. I started physical therapy on a weekly basis and spent the next few months in the gym everyday, determined to redeem myself. I gave it my all to be prepared for Ironman 70.3 Lake Placid, but as August began I still hadn't run since June. I was itching to get back onto the race course, so I did a sprint triathlon relay at Niantic Bay in which I swam and biked. I had the fastest swim and bike time amongst the relay teams (most of which had two separate people complete those legs) so I felt good about my efforts.

After Niantic Bay, I decided to sign up for the 'aqua-bike' event at the Cranberry Tri Festival. An aquabike is basically a triathlon but with no run (aka what I did at Mont Tremblant, but actually planned this time). It was an olympic distance aqua-bike but the swim course was substantially short, leading to a recorded pace of 1:23 min/100yd, which is about 15 seconds faster per 100 yards than my usual swim. Happy with a short swim, I got on the bike and pedaled my way to a time of 1:17:26 (20.3 mph) to cap off my olympic aqua-bike in 1:41:45. It was nice to actually finish an event and interesting to compete with athletes who specialized in aqua-bike.

Ironman 70.3 Lake Placid

As the weeks winded down to Lake Placid, I knew I would not be able to participate in the run portion of the race. Even though my knee was significantly improving, it was not worth risking months of progress for one race with no training. So I planned on another impromptu aqua-bike, but mother nature had other plans. On race morning the temperature was 39 degrees (why did I leave Florida?). In the 20 minutes before the swim started my feet and hands went numb, but I plunged into the 60 degree water anyway. Around halfway through the swim I realized that I was dangerously cold, but I knew I just had to keep moving. I feared that if I stopped and flagged down a kayak that I would get even colder, so I swam as hard as I could on the way back to shore. I remember thinking if I could just get out of the water I would warm up, and I got my wish as I emerged from the lake in a time of 37:14 (1:55 pace). It was a pretty decent swim time, but I had bigger problems than worrying about segment times. I spent almost 12 minutes in transition trying to dry myself off and layer up (for reference, I usually spend less than two minutes in transition). However, my efforts were in vain, and as I started the bike I knew it would be brutally cold. I rode for about 10 miles without feeling in any of my appendages and wondered how close I was getting to seriously hurting myself. I had ridden the course a few times during training, and as I approached the top of a huge five mile decent, (as seen in the course profile I included) I knew that I needed to stop before I seriously hurt myself.

The decent I referenced can be seen around mile 11.

Not only was I worried about the cold, my hands were no longer able to shift my large chain ring or brake very well (which is an important skill on one of the biggest downhills in triathlon). However, I am not one to give up easily, and triathlon is definitely not a sport for those who do, but knowing I would either DNF at the end of the bike course and risk injury, or DNF now and play it safe was a tough mental proposition. I decided it wasn't worth it, and waved the white flag for a pickup. I was glad I stopped, but I had left a race unfinished for the third time in one season, and it weighed heavy on my confidence.

So what now?

The story has now caught up to the present. As I write this it has been merely weeks since my defeat at Lake Placid. Event though I just went on my first 'run' with my physical therapist, I still have a long way to go until I reach peak performance again. It has definitely been a tough season this year, but I look forward to coming back in 2018 stronger than ever, and ready to take some sweet revenge on the courses that bested me this year. 💪