by Todd | Sep 24, 2018 | Blog
So I’m doing an Ironman in less than a week. I honestly feel a little hypocritical in writing that. For the past 3 ½ years, ever since finishing Kona in 2014, I’ve said to myself and others that there is no way I’m doing another Ironman…I have ZERO interest. While I was honored to have qualified to race in Kona, my race experience was fairly miserable. I didn’t come anywhere near what I thought I was capable, suffered from pretty bad dehydration on the run, and just did not have any fun. And so here I am, just a few training sessions away from toeing the line at Ironman Maryland. So what gives? I digress: After Ironman Eagleman in June, my race plan for the year was to take a week or so off (which I did), and then re-focus for my second big race of the year, which was Steelhead 70.3 in early August. I got back into training, and on a whim, decided to race Rev3 Williamsburg 70.3. Previously, that was my best 70.3 to date –and perhaps the only time in my career I will go under 4 hours. So I headed down to Williamsburg, and had a really solid performance, coming in 2nd overall with a time of 4:03. However, I felt that something was just “missing” from the race. Being that I hadn’t planned on it and had almost no rest, I chalked it up to the fact that it just wasn’t a goal race and that perhaps the “blah” feeling a should be somewhat expected. After Rev 3 Williamsburg, I got right back...
by Todd | Jun 18, 2018 | Blog
2018 is well under way with two triathlons under my belt and several more on the horizon. I started off the season with Rev3 Westfields sprint, where I had a solid race and was able to take the overall win. I was particularly happy with my performance and outcome since the 5 days leading up to the race was perhaps the most challenging I’ve ever had. Not necessarily from a training perspective, but from a “life” perspective: In the span of 5 days, I traveled back and forth to New Jersey for a funeral (sadly and unexpectedly, my Aunt passed away… she was one of those amazing people who was always positive, always remembered special occasions with a card and a text message, and always demonstrated how to live life to its fullest), had some major changes at my job, and hosted a 50 person birthday party for Gavin’s 3rd bday (fifty people! – I realized that Gavin is significantly more popular than I am! lol). I paid the price from that week and the race, as I was absolutely exhausted for over a week after. Fortunately, my training finally came back around and I was full steam ahead going into my final Eagleman 70.3, my first big race of 2018. Without going into too much detail, the race went, well, well. I think “well” is probably the best description. I didn’t quite hit my bike power numbers, my run-pacing target or come anywhere near my goal time, but I still managed to have a solid performance. Based on my training the weeks leading up to it and...
by Todd | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Well, it’s been over three months since I last wrote a blog posting. They used to be “race reports,” but since I only seem find time a few times a year, I’ve been rolling several races into one posting. I’ll be honest, I do miss the more simple days when I’d finish a race, unpack, and have enough free time to get my thoughts down on paper before I forgot. Now, its usually more of a get home from a race, unpack (Alice is usually super understanding of my neurosis to unpack and clean up all my crap as soon as we get home), scramble around with the boys for a few days and try to get in a little recovery, and then back to training and focusing on the next race. Nevertheless, below is the long version of my second half of 2017 recap. For the cliffnotes version: Great season. Won several races and won some money too! Not much of any progress on swim or bike but ran really well this year. Two kids are hard. Recovery from training and racing and working a full time job is really My wife is awesome. Finishing top 5 AG in the world at the 70.3 IM World Championships in Chattanooga was amazing and something I had been focusing on for four years. I continue to have self-doubts of my capabilities and I really want to break 4 hours again in the ½ distance. Maryland Du This was my second race of the year where prize money was being offered and I knew the competition would be good. I...
by Todd | Jul 10, 2017 | Blog
Well its mid July and I’m finally getting around to writing a race report! I remember the pre-kids days when I’d have time to actually sit down and write the day after my race, do spell check and edits and make sure what I wrote was somewhat coherent… now I’m just excited if can sit down and remember what even happened in the races! Nevertheless, if you plan to read this you may want to get out some coffee, sit back, and prepare for a long read. The good, the bad, and (and if you make it to the end) the ugly of the season so far… My training season usually gets a start sometime in December after a few weeks off in the fall. And this year, the 2017 season started off with a baby! In December, Alice and I welcomed the arrival of our second son, Grady Wilson Burns. Having two kids under 2 years old is challenging for anyone, and perhaps even more so for two parents who work full time jobs (Alice works a fuller than full time job) and also juggling the demands of a fairly demanding training and racing schedule. While part of me was pretty nervous how it would all fall into place, I kept reminding myself that I had similar fears when we had Gavin in 2015 — turns out the 2015 and 2016 seasons went better than I ever expected. And after 6 months of working, training, and working and raising two boys, I can say that IT IS HARD. And this is considering the fact that I am lucky...
by Todd | Oct 14, 2016 | Blog
This is one long race report. Since almost no one (other than maybe my mom and my wife) will likely read the full thing, here’s the executive summary: 2016 has been nuts – assaulted on my bike; broken toe; lost CJ to cancer; broke 4 hours and PR’d at Rev3 ½ Williamsburg; A good (but not great) race at IM AC 70.3 Decided to do Watermans sort of last minute – wanted work on run execution and see what sort of fitness would be left after 4 weeks of taper Swim – uneventful Bike – led on wrong part of course by motorcycle course marshal; later decided to make intentional wrong turn, go off course, and make up the 5 miles Run – Hit by a flatbed trailer. Ouch. Grabbed shoe and kept running. PR’d run. Overall – Epic race. Super happy with how I reacted and performed. 12 minute penalty but luckily still got the race win. Time for off-season, rest, and baby #2! 2016 has been quite a year. A recap: February I was assaulted by a driver while bike commuting home. Good news was it was captured on police video, bad news was I ended up in the hospital with a septic infection. In April, I broke my toe, two weeks out from the first big race of the season and was in a boot for 6 weeks. In June, our 8-year-old dog CJ became extremely sick (cancer) and we had to put him down. Somehow I rebounded from the broken toe quickly and in July I PR’d at Williamsburg Rev3 1/2. In August I...
by Todd | Sep 28, 2016 | Blog
Last weekend I raced Ironman Atlantic City 70.3. Being that it was my goal race of the season and having focused on it for almost a full 12 months, I was pretty excited to see what I could do. I felt fairly good about things – I was coming off a 1st place OA and 3:59 PR 1/2 Ironman at Rev 3 Williamsburg 2 months prior, a 1st place OA and course record at Fort Ritchie Oly in August, and probably the best 3 week training block I can recall before I started my taper. I even managed to stay injury free (no broken toes before this race) and somehow dodged a few colds that Gavin was circulating around the house (it seems like pretty much nonstop colds and viruses since he started daycare/school in July 🙁 The day before the race I did much of the same as before Williamsburg (thanks to my sister for arranging an OWS and Katie P for hanging out as we got registered and bikes racked etc.., and to Alice for coordinating Gavin’s schedule, food, naps, toys, and play activities) and was able to spend some time with my family. Race morning went smoothly – the body was feeling good. I was surprised to hear an announcement about 15 minutes before the start that the race director had decided to shorten the swim from 1.2 to 1 mile because of dangerous water currents; I figured things must be relatively rough since IM doesn’t usually change things – especially so last minute – unless absolutely necessary.The swim went extremely well for me. I started off...
