August Triumvirate: August Racing (August 2022)

Second Triumvirate

On August 19, Urvi and I boarded the Amtrak for Hartford.  Outside of a fire Attleboro, there was little of interest in the trip.  However, it was the 2008^th anniversary of the death of Gaius Octavius, better known as Caesar Augustus.  

While he was still named Octavian, Julius Caesar named him his heir.  And on the death of Julius Caesar, Octavian joined with Marc Antony (friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…) and Lepidus (some rich guy with just enough political pull that Octavian and Marc Anthony’s life was better with him than without him) in forming the Second Triumvirate.  These three informally ran Roman government and a war against Julius Caesar’s killers.  So, much like these three, my August was three races run.

The team at Bobby Doyle

Lepidus: Bobby Doyle Summer Classic

Date: August 14, 2022

Location: Narragansett, RI

Distance: 5 miles

Goal Time: 45:00

Actual Time: 40:11

There were some heavy hitters out there for this race.  Emily Sisson won on the women’s side while setting a course record.

I did neither.  But in the long road back, this road was good.

Figured going out at 9 min/mile would be the good plan.  But somehow, I couldn’t keep myself at that slow of a pace.  I ran a couple of sub 8s and then slowed on the last 3 miles, but still stuck around the 8 minute mark. 

Not fast fast but it was good to run relatively fast effort again.

Team

Marc Antony: Hartford Dragon Boat Festival

Date: August 20, 2022

Location: Hartford, CT

Distance: 500m

Urvi and I took the choo-choo out to Hartford.  It was a cool trip.  We took the Northeast Regional to New Haven and then switched to the CT Rail’s NewHaven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail.  Then we stayed at the hotel right next to the Riverside Park where the festival was.

I come not to bury the team, but to praise it.  This was my first race with a boat where many of the paddlers were less experienced than me.  We started with our qualifier which was one of the first races in the morning and for about ¼ of the boat, it was their first race ever. 

Our first race was not fast.  The first time you actually have to race 500m, it’s hard.  I compare it to the 800m in track.  It isn’t a sprint; but, it isn’t a long-distance race either. You need to push at like 95% for 2+ minutes.  And, like anything it takes doing it once in a real world setting to ground yourself. 

The second race was later in the morning.  Like a football game where you relax after you were hit for the first time, the team really relaxed and performed for this one.  It was our fastest race of the day and while there was a little drop off in the middle, we didn’t positive split by near as much as in the first race.  This led us into our final race.

In the last race of the day, Moustache took over as our steerer.  This was to our advantage.  1) for the paddlers who were in their first festival, it was their third race and, 2) we were able to have a steerer who knew our calls and commands.  We shot out like a bat outta hell.  And while we couldn’t continue the same pace, we maintained both effort and consistency.  There were no power drops like a cliff.  And finishing 3^rd out of 4^th in the C final, we had our best – if not fastest – race of the day!

Team in NH - photo by Riley

Octavian: Autofair New Hampshire 10 Miler

Date: August 27, 2022

Location: Auburn, NH

Distance: 10 miles

Goal Time: 1:30:00

Actual Time: 1:31:25

It was Southern New Hampshire so you expect it to be hilly. The race t-shirt was a warning… “Why the Hill not?” 

I ran into similar issues as Bobby Doyle.  I tried to go out at 9:00 min/mile but the first mile was 8:30.  Well, the second mile did keep me at 9ish pace.  However, it should have been slower with the massive hill.  I regrouped and mile three was right where I wanted.

But then came miles 4-8.  What the hill is going on? Miles 4-8 slowed as the molehills turned to mountains.  Tired and exhausted (this was the longest I’d run since the Canada Army virtual half last September), I fought the urge to walk.  I told myself “this is training; train to fight through.” (Had it been a race, I’d have walked to maybe have a faster pace later.)  Coming off the hill at mile 8, we turned onto the main road around the lake.  I thought, the worst is over, we can start to race again.

I was wrong.

As I started my last 25% of race charge, the hill came hard.  It felt like my legs weren’t actually connected to my body.  I pushed but they wouldn’t respond and were spinning in their own time.  As the rambly windy hill curled its way right I decided I could a) give in and just coast; b) try to push harder and get back into control of the speed; or, c) allow my legs to not respond, regroup and pull the Galen Rupp plan of push the last end of the hill.  Once the winding had ended and I could see the crest of the hill, I chose c. 

As I crested the hill, we were right at mile 9.  I picked up the rhythm and cadence of my legs and bombed down.  The longest part is as you see the finish line in the parking lot but have to run all the way to the entrance of the lot and then do a 180 and run back.  I maintained and cruised in at 7:49 for the last mile.  The GAP graded speeds for the last two miles were my fastest two of the day.  Despite not being in shape, if felt good to know I still had the ability and knowhow to pace and maintain efforts.

War of Actium

Of course, like all strange political expedients the Second Triumvirate fell apart. Lepidus was exiled to the boonies of Latium.  Antony and Octavian had a falling out.  Antony fled to Egypt and the arms of Cleopatra VII (yes, THAT Cleopatra).  In the end, Cleopatra and Antony would commit suicide, Octavian would be named Pharaoh of Egypt and the Roman Republic would be extinguished into imperial rule under Octavian reborn as Augustus.

Well, I have no direct simile to claim how the end of August was somehow like a Roman civil war… but it was the next step in the return to fitness and sport.  The next stretch will be Sept – Nov where I will try to continue my war against lack of fitness with Lone Gull 10k, BAA Half and Gobble Gobble Gobble 4 miler.