Pleasant Prairie Olympic Tri 2012 - Rick Aaronson
I’m pleased to report a podium, first place finish in my age group in this Sunday’s Pleasant Prairie Tri – Olympic distance. Hats off to EN and especially to my team mate, trainer, coach and son, Matt. It’s not that I couldn’t have done it without him. I simply wouldn’t have done it without him.
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Last summer I participated in my first Tri at Chicago, undertrained and “in it to finish”. This January I signed up for EN’s OS program and started training with power, targeting Pleasant Prairie. A grey bearded newbie, I began with an FTP of 134 and ended with an FTP (April test) of 163. I started at 155 lbs. and ended at 137. I started at 66 years old and ended at 67.
Race conditions on Sunday were ideal. Starting temperature was 67. Water temperature was wet suit legal by about one degree. Wind was calm and the sky was overcast.
I quickly settled into a smooth pace on the swim, finding good open water and not missing my over-amped start at Chicago for a minute. Last year: 0:43:49. EN ready: 0:31:25 with a 56” lead on the next man out of the water, 2’15” on the eventual number 2 and 2’36” on the eventual third place finisher. T1 was practiced and within 5” of fastest, picking up 53” on number 2 and 28” on number 3. The bike made all the difference. Although I did most workouts on the trainer and have had little time to practice maintaining steady power outdoors (VI was 1.03) and had trouble hitting my numbers (IF was 0.88) and cadence (75 average), I knew that I had to keep working. Last year: 15.6mph. EN ready: 20.01mph. On a shortened bike course (~21 miles) I added 3’17” to my lead over number 2 and 4’21” to my lead over number 3. T2 was competitive. The run, as always, was a bit of a struggle for me. Nonetheless, I took off a full 6’ off last year’s 10K, down to 1’01:51 from 1:07:50.(Matt spurred me on to about an 8:30/mile for the last half mile homestretch, down from my average pace of around 10:00/mile). Finishers 2, 3 and 4 were faster and all ran between 58:00 and 58:24 but they were not fast enough to overcome the lead I had built. The field came ready to race; people at our age don’t show up on a lark. Places one through six (on a shortened bike course) were as follows: 2:42:38; 2:45:31; 2:48:02; 2:48:22; 2:51:56. The last two finishers fell off by a further 5’ each.
All of the benefits of EN training were in the bank by race day. The payoff was more than I had bargained for. But it was particularly sweet to be recognized in the presence of Matt and the other EN team members who cheered for me on Sunday.
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Comments
Congratulations and well done on your fitness journey and race result.
BTW, I like the look of your body composition
The good news for you (and bad news for your age group competitors) is that you have heaps of upside — so your FTP and Vdot will continue to improve over the next few years if you keep training.
As Al Truscot keeps reminding us OFs, use it or lose it
Thanks for the encouragement.
Rick - thanks for setting the bar high as the rest of us come up behind you. As you point out, competition does not disappear in the upper age groups; if anything, the racers are smarter and grittier, as you showed.
Rick - it was great to meet you and race with you @ Pleasant Prairie. I'm so happy for your success, and as they say, "work works". You clearly showed that to be true with your impressive gains since January.
Each time I saw you on the course, you looked good - in control but putting out a solid effort. That's just smart racing. Congrats again on your win. I look forward to seeing you at more races.
The low hanging fruit is gone! But if I can muster half of Matt's self discipline i can still make some progress.
Great meeting you. And thanks for your encouragement on race day.
Thanks Al. You are too kind. I have a lot to learn. But this has truly been a transformative experience.
Can't tell if I am happier for you or Matt. Hope to cheer for you both at some Chicago area races this summer...
Keep it up and you might be joining Matt in Vegas sometime soon!