Goal:- Place top 3 in AG to secure points needed to win the 2010 HFP Olympic Triathlon Series.
Result: I won my Age group by 4 minutes! and won the points to claim the 2010 Olympic Triathlon Series Champion!)
Goal:- Race hard as I can in the swim, push the bike, see what's left on the run! Remembering that just 7 days ago I did the Rev3 ironman distance triathlon
Result: I did, and had a surprising amount left for the run - see below)
Goal:- HAVE FUN - it's the triathlon of the season!
Result: I had a great day!
Prerace: I was calm and focused. Just before arriving at the venue, Eye of the Tiger came up on my playlist. It was the perfect song for the day (corny as it is)... there really was no tomorrow - today would be the last Triathlon of the season! Time to let it all hang out!
Prerace: I was calm and focused. Just before arriving at the venue, Eye of the Tiger came up on my playlist. It was the perfect song for the day (corny as it is)... there really was no tomorrow - today would be the last Triathlon of the season! Time to let it all hang out!
I arrived at 6:30am (8:00am start) and immediately went to check in. I heard them announce that this was a record group for them. Some 800+ for the day and 1700 for the weekend (they had kids and women only races the day before). I calmly got transition set-up, and took my bike out for my warm-up. Did a solid warm up and was debating if arm warmers would be necessary - as well as figured out the best time to put my shoes on while riding - because the transition area was a labyrinth.
Once back from the bike, I saw fellow SnakeBite Racing teammates Martha Brennan, and William Cousino. Chatted with them a bit, then grabbed my running shoes for that warm-up. I never exercise with music - but I did my warm-up run with my headphones on. Building the intensity - there is no tomorrow!
After a solid run warm-up, I grabbed my pre-race snack, wetsuit and headed to the beach for my swim warm up, sighting landmarking and final mental preparation.
I was ready.
Swim -
I pushed it hard from the gun. Based on pre-race swim practice, I determined starting to the outside was going to be better for the first turn because of how it leads to the next turn, and that I needed to run in to the knees, porpoise 3 times, and swim all out to the first turn buoy. Make the turn and swim to the notch in the trees (my sighting landmark I found earlier). I tried to find feet to follow, but didn't. I pushed it hard whole time. I would focus on head position (it's too easy to have it up in racing / sighting conditions) and my turn-over. PUSH! For me, it took a lot of mental focus to hold that intensity. I was next to another guy at the last turn buoy before the long finishg stretch and wanted to beat him out of the water... I sprinted that last long length to the exit... I beat him.
I emerged from the water. I could feel the effort, but wasn't really worse for wear. Looking at my watch... my time was longer than last year, but I knew they added an extra turn buoy vs last year. What was more important was how I did compared to the field. Today, I was 35th of 170, I'm usually 45-50 of 160. Better? I think so.
T1 - wetsuit quickly off, Garmin on (I stopped wearing it in the swim after two failures the past two seasons), took a Gel, put on my clear glasses, aero helmet, and I'm gone in sixty seconds!
I knew from reviewing the course I needed to wait to put my shoes on until on the road, well out of the park - there are too many little turns to get out - messing with the shoes would only slow me down the first 1/4 mile or so.
Bike - 1:01:24 (24.2mph)
Swim -
I pushed it hard from the gun. Based on pre-race swim practice, I determined starting to the outside was going to be better for the first turn because of how it leads to the next turn, and that I needed to run in to the knees, porpoise 3 times, and swim all out to the first turn buoy. Make the turn and swim to the notch in the trees (my sighting landmark I found earlier). I tried to find feet to follow, but didn't. I pushed it hard whole time. I would focus on head position (it's too easy to have it up in racing / sighting conditions) and my turn-over. PUSH! For me, it took a lot of mental focus to hold that intensity. I was next to another guy at the last turn buoy before the long finishg stretch and wanted to beat him out of the water... I sprinted that last long length to the exit... I beat him.
I emerged from the water. I could feel the effort, but wasn't really worse for wear. Looking at my watch... my time was longer than last year, but I knew they added an extra turn buoy vs last year. What was more important was how I did compared to the field. Today, I was 35th of 170, I'm usually 45-50 of 160. Better? I think so.
T1 - wetsuit quickly off, Garmin on (I stopped wearing it in the swim after two failures the past two seasons), took a Gel, put on my clear glasses, aero helmet, and I'm gone in sixty seconds!
I knew from reviewing the course I needed to wait to put my shoes on until on the road, well out of the park - there are too many little turns to get out - messing with the shoes would only slow me down the first 1/4 mile or so.
Bike - 1:01:24 (24.2mph)
Once on course, I immediately put the hammer down. I usually go easy for the first 15 minutes to settle in on the bike and hold back. This day, I would attack from the start. I stayed seated for all but one of the climbs on the first loop - but still pushed each one hard. I reeled in the faster swimmers one after another. With every pass, I'd be sure to say "good job" and thank every single volunteer on the course. Racing is hard business, but there is no energy lost in being a good representative of my team and my sport.
On the second lap, I pushed even harder... out of the saddle with urgency on every climb and crest. This was an all out assault on the course and on my body. I was pretty sure it was going to give me problems on the run, especially because of the unknown of my ironman race the week before, but I didn't care. It was my last race on the bike this year, and I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. I could hear Mickey in my ear screaming "There is no tomorrow..." (Rocky II) and kept pushing! I usually don't take a gel during the bike, but knowing how hard I was pushing it, and that I did the ironman the week before, I didn't want to take a chance and bonk later.
I rode back into transition knowing I put it all out there on the bike course, and still felt surprisingly good. Out of my shoes well before transition - again because of the last set of turns by transition.
T2 - bike racked, helmet off, running shoes on, visor - gels in hand and off to run (0:56).
Run - 40:49 10K (6:35/mi avg)
OOOOFFFF! Legs were not happy in the first 1/2 mile. I wondered how much damage I did on the bike, but kept pushing. Kept reminding myself that this was the last hard effort of the season... and "SHUT UP AND RACE!". Mile 1 - 6:44... Mile 2 is uphill - I'm always strong on the hills and pushed it to pass people and shake out the discomfort - uphill Mile 2 - 6:43. Mile 3 downhill was 6:25 - I might have lost some focus... Mile 4 was painful... I kept telling myself this was the last time I'd have to endure such pain - and kept pushing. 6:45. Mile 5 was back uphill again - starting to get tired and had no one to chase... 7:03. I was in agony!
Just after that mile marker, I heard footsteps - I hadn't been passed by anyone all day... I could feel him coming behind me for a draft, and then the change in his stride as he surged to pass - I surged to match him and we were shoulder to shoulder for about 50 feet before he dropped back... I couldn't relax because he was right behind me, drafting and regrouping for the next push. I heard the change in his step again and knew he was trying to pass again. I surged to match him yet again and we went another 50 feet until he dropped back again. We beat each other up another 2 or 3 more times during mile 6. It was brutal and the pace was suicidal. We ran mile 6 at 5:50 pace! I was at the end of my rope and when he surged again, I just couldn't match him again - and he got about 8 seconds on me in the last 0.2 mile section to the finish. When I crossed the line, he shook my hand and immediately asked what age group I was in. When we realized we were in different AGs, we had a laugh about how brutal we were to each other for almost no reason.
Didn't matter! I had a great race! Finishing in 2:10:48!! I won my age group by about 4 minutes over 2nd place, and was 14th overall out of 170 Olympic finishers. This was my second 2:10 Olympic distance triathlon this season, and almost 5 minutes faster than last season on the same course!
What a day it was! I had low expectations about what I would be capable of after the intense effort of the Rev3 Full the week before... I was unsure if I succeeded in having a faster swim at the time - but it seems that the effort paid off... I went crazy on the bike, had a great ride, and somehow my legs survived to deliver one of my best runs of my triathlon career.
On the second lap, I pushed even harder... out of the saddle with urgency on every climb and crest. This was an all out assault on the course and on my body. I was pretty sure it was going to give me problems on the run, especially because of the unknown of my ironman race the week before, but I didn't care. It was my last race on the bike this year, and I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. I could hear Mickey in my ear screaming "There is no tomorrow..." (Rocky II) and kept pushing! I usually don't take a gel during the bike, but knowing how hard I was pushing it, and that I did the ironman the week before, I didn't want to take a chance and bonk later.
I rode back into transition knowing I put it all out there on the bike course, and still felt surprisingly good. Out of my shoes well before transition - again because of the last set of turns by transition.
T2 - bike racked, helmet off, running shoes on, visor - gels in hand and off to run (0:56).
Run - 40:49 10K (6:35/mi avg)
OOOOFFFF! Legs were not happy in the first 1/2 mile. I wondered how much damage I did on the bike, but kept pushing. Kept reminding myself that this was the last hard effort of the season... and "SHUT UP AND RACE!". Mile 1 - 6:44... Mile 2 is uphill - I'm always strong on the hills and pushed it to pass people and shake out the discomfort - uphill Mile 2 - 6:43. Mile 3 downhill was 6:25 - I might have lost some focus... Mile 4 was painful... I kept telling myself this was the last time I'd have to endure such pain - and kept pushing. 6:45. Mile 5 was back uphill again - starting to get tired and had no one to chase... 7:03. I was in agony!
Just after that mile marker, I heard footsteps - I hadn't been passed by anyone all day... I could feel him coming behind me for a draft, and then the change in his stride as he surged to pass - I surged to match him and we were shoulder to shoulder for about 50 feet before he dropped back... I couldn't relax because he was right behind me, drafting and regrouping for the next push. I heard the change in his step again and knew he was trying to pass again. I surged to match him yet again and we went another 50 feet until he dropped back again. We beat each other up another 2 or 3 more times during mile 6. It was brutal and the pace was suicidal. We ran mile 6 at 5:50 pace! I was at the end of my rope and when he surged again, I just couldn't match him again - and he got about 8 seconds on me in the last 0.2 mile section to the finish. When I crossed the line, he shook my hand and immediately asked what age group I was in. When we realized we were in different AGs, we had a laugh about how brutal we were to each other for almost no reason.
Didn't matter! I had a great race! Finishing in 2:10:48!! I won my age group by about 4 minutes over 2nd place, and was 14th overall out of 170 Olympic finishers. This was my second 2:10 Olympic distance triathlon this season, and almost 5 minutes faster than last season on the same course!
What a day it was! I had low expectations about what I would be capable of after the intense effort of the Rev3 Full the week before... I was unsure if I succeeded in having a faster swim at the time - but it seems that the effort paid off... I went crazy on the bike, had a great ride, and somehow my legs survived to deliver one of my best runs of my triathlon career.
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