Mountain Training

Every year we spend a week up in the North Carolina mountains at my in-law's cabin.  They have a place outside of Murphy, NC.  It is pretty secluded.  Murphy is pretty much a half hour beyond the middle of no where to begin with.  Then you go 10 miles outside of town, and turn onto this winding secondary road.  You take that back for about a mile and then turn onto this one lane dirt road.  You take this old logging road about a 1/4 mile back.  The cabin is nestled into the side of the mountain overlooking a meadow and a creek.  Like I said, secluded, but I guess that is the point.

View from the Porch

The downside is that the running up there pretty much stinks.  All the roads around there are super twisty, hilly, and annoying.  You have to drive 20 minutes to get to some trails or anything relatively flat. I usually end up running on the side of Highway 64/74, which is 4 lanes and 55mph.  Not a lot of fun.

The only upside is that last year they opened a "fitness center" with an outdoor pool.  This is the only outdoor pool that I have ever trained in.  I do kinda like it. I get there right when the open at 6am (why so late??).  I usually have the place to myself, and start swimming in the dark.  I have to hit the light on my Garmin to check it.

Outdoor Pool Time

This year, however, they had the Geriatric Masters group.  At least that's what I think they are called.  They took up the 4 roped off lanes.  So I was in those "open" lanes.  People would just jump in beside me, in front of me, and behind me.  Luckily all my open water swim training kept me on track.  Anyways, I cranked out my usual 4K yardage and headed out.

Murphy Riverwalk Trail Map

I then went for a short 5 mile run.  I decided to run downtown because of the aforementioned reasons, and I wanted to check our their Riverwalk trail.  The trail is nice, albeit kinda short.  It's about 2 miles long, so I did a little out and back and then ran through town.

The Famous Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel

Wednesday was fun, as I snuck away from everyone and made the jaunt over to Chattanooga.  It's only an hour and a half drive from the cabin, which is really nice.  I headed out early and parked at the Bi-Lo at the corner of Tennessee and 40th street.  This is about 3 miles into the course, so I got quite a bit of it in.  I decided to do a little steady state ride and cranked a 221 watt average for the 60 miles.  I remembered almost all of the course from May except for the turn after you go through Chickamauga.  I stopped to check the GPS on my phone, but I didn't miss the turn, just hadn't gotten there yet.

IM Chatt Bike Course

I finished about 10:30 and headed to Cycle Sports Concepts over on Main St. to get butt creme.  Can't live without that.  I used my last bit of Ruby's Lube for the ride.  I tried to get some Bonk Breaker bars, but they didn't carry them.  In fact the guy had never heard of them.  Seriously?  Never heard of Bonk Breaker?  So after I enlightened him, I headed downtown and parked at Ross's Landing.  That's the location of transition for IM Chattanooga and then obviously the run start.  I ate some food I brought with, paid for parking and headed out around 11:30.

IM Chatt Run Course

I felt really good the first 6-7 miles.  When I hit the end of the Rivewalk, I turned on Riverport Road and ran the actual course.  Back in May we just turned around there and came back on the Riverwalk.  This time I came back on Amnicola Highway and Riverfront Parkway.  That stretch is nice.  Flat, paved, but no shade whatsoever.  I got a little overcooked that segment and didn't feel to great for the hills over on the Northshore.

Swim Exit into Ross's Landing Park

That Barton Avenue hill is a real son of a gun. 100 feet of gain in 0.4 miles just past Veterans bridge at course mile markers 8.5 and 21.5.  Then you have 115 feet of gain over 0.6 miles coming back at miles 11 and 24 of the course.  The upside is when you get to the top of it at 24 miles, its all (relatively) downhill from there.

Walnut Pedestrian Bridge

So Friday I went on the Long Run.  A 21 miler of nothing but hills on the highway.  It started out rainy and I waited a few minutes for it to get lighter.  The first few miles were a little slow, I'll blame the hills, but mid way through I really hit a good rhythm.  I  felt really good, and ended up cranking some good splits the last 9 miles.  I was pretty happy to finish up with a 7:01 average per mile.  I was pretty sore the next couple of days, however.

Mountains!

Saturday we came home and I could get some "normal" workouts in.  I did an interval ride and then a tempo brick run off of that in the afternoon.  Sunday, I got a nice 108 mile ride in and then an easy run in the afternoon.  All in all, it was one of my best training weeks in the mountains.  I do wish I would have gotten another swim in. But since I pretty much nailed the rest of my workouts, I really can't complain.

Alpine Helen, GA: our Favorite Tourist Trap

So I bid Murphy adieu for another year.  As of now Chattanooga is 6 weeks from Sunday.  Yikes.

The Summer of Pain

Racing an ironman is hard I hear.  Personally I don't know, I've never done one.  What I do know is that training for an ironman definitely is hard.  I've just completed my first big training block.  The training program I follow is set up as 3 weeks hard and then 1 recovery week.  It seems to work pretty well for me as I've followed it for the last 3 years.

Week 1 Totals

 So the last 3 weeks have had some pretty serious workouts (for me) including some long rides and runs.  It wasn't 21 days straight, however.  I took a couple of days off in the middle.  Basically the 3 weeks was split up into the first 10 days, then 2 days off, and then 9 days.  This had nothing to do with the training plan so much as it had to do with Webelos Scout camp with my younger son.

Week 2 Totals

 For the last couple of years we've gone to scout camp from Wednesday to Saturday.  There's really no good way to sneak in a run, so I just don't worry about it and take Thursday and Friday off.  Ironically, some of the adults at scout camp get more exercise that week from all the hiking and walking.  It's a sad commentary, but I digress . . .

Week 3 totals

The first week I got some serious time in for a non-hammerfest week. I got in just over 22 hours.   That following Monday I was wiped.  Just exhausted all day.  Stinks getting old.  I was gonna run 5 miles that night since I was taking Thursday and Friday off, but I was just too tired.

Steady State Ride at 231 Watts

That middle week, I got my normal workouts in on Monday and Tuesday, but then tripled up on Wednesday.  Since we weren't leaving for scout camp until 11am, I decided to make the most of my time.  I got up early and ran, then went to the Y and swam 4,000 yards.  Undaunted, I came home, had some breakfast and then did a interval bike ride.  So I was pretty tired on Thursday at scout camp.

Brick Run off the Steady State

Taking Friday off meant that I felt a lot better and by Saturday I was pretty refreshed.  I rode 2 hours at a 231w average, and then ran 9 miles at a 6:22 average.  I finished up that Sunday with a 58 mile ride and 11 mile run.  The week 2 totals were almost 16 hours time.

The Long Run

Week 3 of the block was slated to be pretty big.  I got in my 20 mile run Thursday morning and everything was going as planned until that night.  I got thunderstormed out of my interval ride.  I decided to get up early Friday and ride before going to the Masters swim. I then rode intervals Friday night.  So then I was caught back up.  I did a 2x20 ride and and then a tempo brick run Saturday afternoon.

On the Slowtwitch Leaderboard

Sunday was the the biggie.  I'll call that ride "Perserverance".  First of all, I switched the ride to Sunday morning as my wife was doing a race Saturday.  I had to get going early to be done in time to get ready for church.  Everything was going well until I notice that half of the sky was black.  I changed up my planned route and headed back to the house.  I thought I could outrun the rain, but no such luck.  I got absolutely poured on.

The Big Ride

Then I hit a pothole, or something.  My front wheel and aerobars flew off to the left and did a superman dive off to the right.  I landed and slid on the wetsoaked pavement.  My first thought was that I hoped I didn't slide into the oncoming lane and oncoming traffic.

Happy to be done with a 125 mile ride!

But I popped up, grabbed my bike and took it to the side of the road.  I let all the cars pass and then I jogged over to the other side of the road to get my water bottle.  I felt surprisingly fine.  A very gracious guy stopped with his truck and asked me if I wanted a lift home.  I thought about it for a few seconds, but I knew if I hopped in the truck my ride was over.  I was at 99.5 miles.  The rain had abated some.  My next thought was NO.  I'm finishing this ride.  Yeah, my elbows look like mashed grapes, but I'm doing it.  I headed back to the house, but by then the rain had stopped.  I did a few loops near the house and got in my 6 hours, and 125 miles.

I really enjoyed the World Cup

So I ended up with 2 more minutes of training than HammerFest 2K13.  Not bad.  I didn't wuss out on any workouts. I didn't skip or shorten anything.  Fear is a great motivating factor.  Fear of Chattanooga.  I've come to grips that I will never feel ready.  But that won't stop me from trying.  Oh, Full Disclosure: the moniker "Summer of Pain" comes from Donna Harding.  She's a fellow IM Choo racer who I met at the Chattanooga training camp weekend.

Monday morning I was walking like an 97 year old man.  Hellooooooo Recovery Week!

X-Lab Delta 225 and X-Strike

So I've been trying to nail down my bike hydration setup for a while.  I've used a Minoura double rear bottle holder before.  Unfortunately it was a bottle launcher up until it just broke.  You definitely get what you pay for with that product (~$15).  After that I was just zip tying a bottle cage to the underside of my seat.  That is what I ran in Vegas last year.  Unfortunately that doesn't work too well with the ISM Adamo saddles.

Delta 225 Package

 It hadn't really mattered much to me much so far this year.  I only need the one water bottle for Half Iron races.  I run the X-Lab Torpedo 100 between the arms setup.  I have finally gotten it dialed in after quite some time.  But this summer with longer training rides and Ironman Chattanooga looming, I wanted to run a second bottle.  But, as you know, it has to be aero.

225 Mounted without the X-Strike

I cringe everytime I see someone's bike setup for a race with a bottle on the down tube or the seat tube. It is just not aero.  Not only do I not race with a bottle there, I even remove the bolts from the bosses and put tape over them.  That's gotta save at least 3/4 of a second over the half distance, right?  I do put a cage on my seat tube for training rides.

So X-Lab makes a single rear bottle holder specifically for ISM Adamo saddles.  It's a little pricey for a single rear bottle holder, but I played the Father's Day card to get my wife to order it through Amazon.  You do get a Gorilla Cage with the system.

Mounting Clamps Underneath

The mounting is pretty straight forward.  You clamp it to the saddle rails.  It was a little hard to get in there to tighten it down.  It took quite a while as you can't turn the allen key very far each time.  The kit came with all the necessary hardware including the allen key.  Once I finally got it tightened down, there is still some movement in the bottle cage.  This is by design a little bit as you can see from the spring that is on the lower bolt.  It lets the bottle and cage have some "give" so the mounting bolts on the clamp don't break, like on the Minoura.

X-Strike Package

The Gorilla cage itself holds bottles very well.  Its a pretty tight fit.  In fact, you kinda have to twist the bottle to get it in and out.  When I first put an empty bottle in there to check it out, the bottle started collapsing as I pushed it in.

Totally Legal Gorilla

No Pacing Penalties

With the rear water bottle holder I had an opportunity to also mount some CO2 canisters back there.  I saw that X-Lab also offered the X-Strike.  It simply allows you to mount (2) CO2 canisters on the same bolts as you mount a water bottle cage.  This will free up some space in my Speed Pack for some gels.

Bottom Mounting Bolt with Spring

I removed the (2) bolts that hold the Gorilla cage to the rest of the Delta 225 assembly.  It's not quite as easy because of the bolt and nut design of the mount, and the spring on the bottom bolt.  Both the 225 and X-Strike came with 2 sets of bolts: long and short.  I used the longer bolt from the X-Strike kit on the upper mounting hole. I used the longer bolt from the 225 kit on the lower mounting hole.

225 with X-Strike Mounted

I put the lower bolt in first as you had to line more things up: cage, x-strike, washer, spring, washer, 225 mount, and then finally the nut on the other side.  I put the long bolt through there, compressed the spring and stuck the end of the bolt way up through the hole to get the nut on.  I threaded it a few turns and then put the upper bolt on.

Rear View

After I tightened it all down, it felt pretty secure.  I screwed the CO2 bottles in there and everything fit perfectly.  It really turns out looking pretty good.  I've been on a couple of century rides with the rear bottle holder and I have not had any issues.  Like I said, I think the key is the "give" in the design so that all the force isn't directly on the bottle.

Full Side View

Nice Tight Fit

So watch out, Green Lightning just got a little faster!  Well, not really, but that's kinda been my tagline, so I'm just gonna go with it.

Open Water Swimming

I don't think most triathletes do enough open water swimming.  Some don't really need to, I guess, if you're an uber swimmer.  But most triathletes are not uber swimmers.  It has been a pretty rare occasion for me to get in open water swims in the years I've been racing triathlons.  I usually get some good OWS in when I'm at my parent's lake house as I've wrote about before.  I have only swam one time around home.  That was when I first got my wetsuit and did a mile to test it out before the race.

Sunday Evening Stroll

 So this past week presented a couple of opportunities for some OWS.  I was in Michigan for my niece's wedding and then we spent a day at my parent's lake house in northern Indiana.  I got short one mile swim in there.  I was pretty tired from all the wedding activities the day before, so it was pretty slow.

Satellite View

Then the Rock Hill Masters group had a big OWS planned on the Fourth of July over at Niven's Creek.  That is where I first tested out my wetsuit.   The masters swims are very organized.  They line up quite a few paddlers, kayaks, and SUP's for the support crew.

Nivens Creek Boat Ramp

 They also recommend the "Safe Swimmer".  I actually had purchased one a few months back in anticipation of participating in some of these OWS.

All the Stuff in the Package

The concept is pretty simple.  You basically tie a float around your waist.  The cool thing though, is that you can stuff things inside the float.  It comes with some plastic bags that you can put stuff in you don't want to get wet (like a wallet).  You can also put some keys in there and maybe a shirt.

Deflated

You then roll the blue section over 4 times and clasp it together and it then becomes air and water tight. You then blow it up like a balloon.  You put the belt around your waist and then when you swim, it just gets towed along.  I really didn't notice it while I was swimming.  I was afraid the belt would rub, but it didn't.

Inflated

As I mentioned these swims at Niven's Creek are pretty organized.  They have several groups setup based on the distances you want to go.  Everything from 600 meters (round trip) to 2 Miles.  The 2 Mile swim is out to the "Island".  There was a large contingent that showed up for this holiday swim. I counted 34 in the pic.  There were only 7 in our group that went out to the island.  I got there a little early as I didn't want to be late.  I hit a couple of GU Gels as I waited.  On a side note, the new GU Chocolate Peanut Butter Gel is the Freakin' Bomb.  Anyways, we started at 7:45 and the island group went first.

The Fourth of July Group

I wasn't really sure of the exact route and was told to just hug the shore.  Since everyone was ahead of me I had plenty of people to sight off of.  Between all the bobbing orange safe swimmers and the kayaks, the sighting was pretty easy.  We stopped at the "Gazebo" at 1/2 mile and regrouped.  And by regrouped I mean they waited for me.  It was the same thing when we got out to the island.  They were all waiting for me.  When I got there I could tell they were anxious to get started again.  I told them I was good and we took off.  So I spent about 30 seconds at the island.

"The Island" well, more like rocks and bushes

We didn't stop on the way back. I got a few cramps with about a 1/2 mile to go.  They subsided a little after about 5 minutes and I was able to make the final push to the end.  I felt pretty good at the finish.  This was the farthest open water swim that I had done without a wetsuit.  My garmin had it a little short on the way out (0.91 miles) but I then clocked 1.02 miles on the way back.  So I guess it's roughly 2 miles.

Satellite View of Nivens

I definitely need to get some more of these swims in.  They do them almost every weekend.  I am so slow without the wetsuit that it's really good practice for me to do long swims without it.  Ironman Chattanooga may not be wetsuit legal, so I need to be ready for that.  But, for the love of all that is holy, the Tennessee River will be 75 degrees the morning of September 28th.

Auto Lap set for 200 yards

12 Weeks to Ironman Chattanooga.  But who's counting?

2014 Ironman Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

My last hard workout before Ironman Raleigh 70.3 was 8 days out from the race.  5 miles left in my bike ride, I display my exemplary "triathlete" bike handling skills.  I endo at about 0.2 mph and land on my shoulder.  In retrospect, I'm lucky I didn't snap my collarbone.  I finished my ride, and then of course ran 5 miles as I had a brick scheduled.  Not exactly the best prep for an Ironman brand race, but luckily it was rest week and tried to rest my shoulder as much as possible.  

Welcome Balloons

Initially I thought I had a shot to win the age group.  The shoulder issue really kinda ticked me off.  I swam on Wednesday, but it was a lot of pain.  It got better every day.  Still, I had high hopes heading up to Raleigh.

We followed this guy to checkin

The impetus for doing Ironman Raleigh 70.3 really came out of my wife's high school reunion last year.  One of her high school friends at the reunion also went with her to NC State.  She and her family still live in Raleigh.  So her husband and I were talking and he mentioned the race went right past his neighborhood on Lake Wheeler road.  He said I should come up and do it.  So I'm like OK!  It made it a pretty easy decision as we could spend some time with our friends, and get a free place to stay.

All the check in tables

We drove up Saturday morning and went straight to the convention center for checkin.  It took 30 minutes in line just to get to the first table.  Then, after giving the girl my name (she never asked for ID), she handed me a slip with my number and on through the process I went.  First the waivers, then the race number and swim cap packet, then the t-shirt, and finally the timing chip.  That all took another 15 minutes.  The convention center was a good place for all this, although they used most of the room for merchandise and the expo.  They could have used more room for registration.  Overall I thought IM Augusta was a bit more organized for checkin.  The Raleigh Expo was nicer, though.

Expo

Bonk Breaker Booth was quite busy

We then headed back to our friend's house and I set to work on getting the bike ready.  I organized some of my stuff for the next day.  I put the bike stickers on, and the helmet stickers on and loaded everything up into the car.  I then made the 30 minute drive out to Jordan Lake.  This race is a split transition with T2 being back downtown near the convention center.  This was actually my 4th race in a row with a split transition.  Going back to IM Lake Las Vegas 70.3 WC, Rev3 South Carolina, TryCharleston Half, and now IM Raleigh.

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff

Nicer bag than Augusta

Simple, Yet Bold

I made the trek out through Apex and across to the other side of Jordan Lake.  I wasn't really sure where to turn, but just followed all the other people.  It took a little while to get all the way down to Vista Point with the 2 lane narrow road, all the cars, and of course all the people running and biking up the road.  Why do people do this?  My buddy does this.  He says its his routine.  Maybe I'm just old and feel like I need my rest the week before, and especially the day before a race.  I guess it loosens you up, but sweating for a half hour doesn't help me.

Locked and Loaded

Gave me an Extra 5 watts

Anyways, this bike dropoff was less chaotic than most.  They had half the parking area for transition and the other half you could actually park in a space and take your bike into T1.  The bike racks were long.  The whole transition was long and narrow there weren't that many rows, but they stretched from the water to the end of the parking lot it seemed.  Of course I was only about 1/3 of the way in, so I had to trot my bike through most of T1.  And this race you couldn't put your shoes on your bike.  Not sure why.  The RD never gave and explanation and it wasn't even mentioned in the athlete guide.  I wasn't too keen in having to run that far in my bike shoes, but if everyone (except the pros) had to do it, then it wasn't a big deal.

Ready for Business

 I put my bike in my spot, and deflated the tires.  I also put my shoes, helmet and torpedo bottle there in my bike gear bag.  Then I went to check out the swim area.  The exit was a ramp and the entrance was a sandy beach.  It all looked like a pretty good setup.  I bumped into Nathan and talked to him for a while before heading out.

Can't quite see the other end of Transistion

I got back and we all headed over to Pullen Park.  The younger kids did the carousel and the train.  They played on the playground for a while and got some energy out.  We then headed over to Vic's Italian for dinner in downtown Raleigh.  The place was packed with triathletes.  I had lobster ravioli and the sauce was unbelievable.

Small but Excellent

When we got back to the house, I finished organizing everything.  I got my morning clothes and run gear bags backed.  I threw all that any my garbage bag with my wetsuit and my swimskin in the car.  Everyone knew this race would be right on the edge of being wetsuit legal.  Instead of bitching about not knowing, like some people, I just decided to be prepared for either.  I got my morning food ready, and by then it was time to hit the bed.

Race Day
I didn't sleep well.  I kept having all those stupid dreams where I forgot something over and over again. It seemed like forever until 4am arrived.  Finally it did and I hopped out of bed.  I found a free parking spot easily enough on Cabarrus near Wilmington St.  I walked over to T1, found my spot and laid my stuff down.  I stood there for like a minute, trying to decide if I had everything there I needed.  Satisfied, I got in line for the shuttle bus.

It was about a 10 min wait to get on the bus and a 30 min bus ride.  There were quite a few people at Vista Point already.  I walked straight to my bike as I needed to get the tires pumped.  As luck would have it, the guy right next to me had a bike pump.  So I got my latex tubes pumped up right away and was pretty relaxed then.  I heard the announcement of the water temp being 75.4 degrees.  Everything seemed to be going right so far.

I ate some more bananas and had a couple of GU Gels and some fig newtons.  I thought I had left my vitamins in T1 but after emptying my bag, I finally found them.  I had some time to chill and was milling around the swim start and I ran into fellow Big Sexy Teammate Lauren Olson.  We had a quick chat.  She was starting in the second to last wave, so she wasn't too keen on having to bike through so many people.

I got my wetsuit on, did a very short warmup swim and then headed to get into the wave line.  I then fourd my buddy Nathan and Jon getting ready.  They were starting like 20 minutes after me.  We chatted a bit, but soon it was time for me to stand in line and get serious.

Beach Area of Start

Swim
37:28 Officially 117/284 AG, 493/1280 Overall Male Non-Pro
It was an in-water start, but it wasn't over our heads.  I started off to the left, to let the real swimmers have at.  At the gun, I started relatively clean.  Pretty much pain in my shoulder every stroke, but that was to be expected.  My goggles were perfect, no leaks, no fogging.  It was pretty crowded to the first turn buoy.  I guess that's what I get now that I'm a MOP swimmer and not a BOP swimmer.  Used to be I'd have clear sailing by the first 200 yards in.

Not my Wave, but pretty similar

After the first turn, it was pretty clean on the back stretch.  Sighting wasn't too bad.  I just tried to keep it even and push.  I made the second turn and could see the finish.  I just tried to push.  My shoulder had loosened up some and the pain wasn't as sharp.  As I got near the last 200 yards, it became crowded again.  I had to dodge the breast strokers and doggy paddlers from the wave ahead of me.

Exit Ramp

I got kicked in the right eye pretty good with about 100 to go.  It pushed my goggle in so far I couldn't open my eye.  I tried to pull it out to no avail.  Since I was so close to finish I decided to just go with my one good eye.  The last little bit seemed to take forever, but finally I was on my feet and headed up the ramp.

Can't Get . . . 

This Thing Off . . .

T1
2:18 Officially
A little slow.  I just can't seem to get the top of my wetsuit off.  So just like Charleston, the strippers did all the work.  I found my bike easily enough.

 I put my shoes on, (since there was no clipping in shoes to pedals).  I grabbed Green Lightning and we made the long trek through the rest of T1.  The mount line wasn't too busy.  I hopped on an away I went.  I actually got clipped in pretty quickly.  I may switch back to doing it that way in the future.

Bike
2:22:11 Officially 1/284 AG, 6/1280 Overall Male Non-Pro
Garmin had a 23.7 mph average and 226 watts. After the initial 3 mile climb out of T1, the course was pretty fast.  I passed quite a few people up that hill and the subsequent downhill.  I had wanted to hit a 230 watt average.

Point to Point

At 30 miles, I was right at 230 watts and was averaging 24.2 mph.  The next 5 miles had 282 feet of elevation gain and that slowed me some.  The last 15 miles the hills just kept coming.  I was a little surprised.  I guess I didn't study the elevation map well enough.

Hills, Hills,

I was hoping to break 2:20 on this course based on last year's times.  There was a headwind pretty much the whole way.  As the ride went on and my speed decreased, I was a little disappointed, but figured that I was probably doing pretty well against everyone else.

I figured the headwind was probably helping me.  I did get blown around a couple of times but nothing too bad. 

Aero Baby

Bringing the Pain

I had a GU Energy Gel at mile 20 and mile 40.  I skipped the aid stations.  I came by our friend's neighborhood right at the 48 mile mark.  They were all out there cheering, so that was fun and gave me a boost of energy.

A little power drop near the end

There were a lot of people out on the bike course.  I didn't have too much trouble with people blocking (well after the first 10 miles).  I only saw a couple of people drafting, and no real draft trains.

Scenic coming across Jordan Lake

Finally I made it back to downtown Raleigh.  The last climb seemed brutal.  It was probably the slowest I had ever come into a T2.  I biked my way from 117th out of the water to 7th going into T2.

T2
1:25
My dismount was flawless.  Heard a little "wow" from the crowd. I had a better spot in T2 and also found it with no issue.  Put on the shoes/socks, grabbed by Fuel Belt race belt with 3 GU Gels, took a last sip outta my water bottle, and I was off.

I had my race belt in my hand as I took off.  The crowds were cheering pretty loudly.  It felt pretty cool to be honest.

Run
1:26:29 Officially, 2/284 AG, 17/1280 Overall Male Non-Pro
I started off feeling pretty good, and maybe some adrenaline from the crowds.  Of course that faded after going up the big hill near the first turnaround.  I was averaging right at a 6:30 pace through the first 5 miles, but I wasn't feeling that great.

Out and Back, Out and Back

As I came back downtown, it was a slight downhill.  I felt like I had put in a pretty good mile, but my Garmin split a 6:52.  Going back and looking at my distances and the mapping on my Garmin, I can see where it kinda lost the satellite signal between all the big buildings.  By mile 8, I Kinda saw it was off.

Garmin Failed me today

 I tried the push those last 5 miles, but the hills just kinda got me.  I didn't know how much ground I was making up.  But I knew I needed to push it.

That last hill to the final turnaround was tough.  After I started coming back, I just tried to lengthen my stride and get going.  I had 5 Gels on the run, but I did feel a little dehydrated.  I should have drank more, but it really didn't affect my run, I don't think.  It wasn't that hot.

Capital Behind Me

My Wife showing off her Photog Skillz

As I came around the capital building that last time, I saw a guy with a 40 on his calf.  I figured he was going for the finish so I just started kicking it in.  Then as the finish line clock came into view I could see it said 4:59:21.  Since I started a half hour after the pros, I figured it was at 4:29.  That motivated me even more, and I finished strong to break 4:30.

Finish

4:29:51 Officially 2/280 AG 13/1280 Male Non-Pro

So I came into the finish chute and was dragging my feet.  Turns out the guy I passed with a half mile to go did put me into second place.  A volunteer took my chip and gave me some water.  I walked with him a little bit and drank almost the whole bottle.  Results Here.

I felt good to finish sub 4:30.  That was one of my goals.  I didn't think I had won the age group because of my fade on the run.  I figured I would have to break 1:25 on the run to win, but I just couldn't pull it off.  I found my friends and family and talked with them.

The Fam

I grabbed a piece of pizza, and we headed toward the car to get something to eat.  I bumped into Jenny Leiser (who raced pro) and talked to her a bit.  She thought the same thing as I did about the hills at the end of the bike.  We all piled into Matt's truck up to Tyler's Taproom for some food.

I had some wings and some beers.  I enjoyed a Raleigh Brewing Big Squeeze and a CrankArm Unicycle.

Beer . . . Wings . . . 

I wasn't too hungry but the beers were really good.  While we were eating, I looked up my results and saw that I came in 2nd.  I was 1:20 out of first.  I was a little disappointed, but felt good about my effort.  We headed back down to the finish to see one of my wife's friends finish, and to check out the awards.

Another Podium Finish

I went to the tent to get my award.  I showed her my wrist number and she checked the sheet.  She handed me the award and then asked me if I was taking my slot.  I said no, as I had made up my mind.  I had waffled on it for a couple of weeks.  Pros: Redemption for Vegas, Wetsuit Swim, Driving Distance (not easy but doable), and the 70.3 WC will be in Europe and Australia the next two years.  Cons: It will not help my performance at IM Chattanooga.  Chattanooga Trumps all.

So then a guy standing next to me hears I'm passing on the Mt. Tremblant World Championship slot and asks what Age Group I'm in.  I show him and he gets all excited. There were 5 slots in our age group.  He finished 6th.  So now, my slot can roll down to him.  He asks me to go over to the registration with him so he can get signed up.  So as we're waiting in line, he's telling me how he and his coach had focused this entire year on qualifying for the World Championships and now they did it.  So I made the guy's year.  Literally made his entire year.  I felt pretty good about that.

Hardware

After the initial disappointment of not winning, I feel pretty good about this race.  Again, another race with a 100% legitimate swim.  I had a dominating bike and a good run.  It definitely validates that my 3rd at IM Augusta wasn't a fluke (does that mean Vegas was?).  It is now time to officially flip the switch from 70.3 training to 140.6 training.  This race gave me some great power data as the elevation gain is pretty close to Chattanooga (in feet per mile).  It's now 4 months to Chattanooga.  Let's do this.