Challenge Pocono

What a difference a 2 months can make, earlier I was nursing an injury, coming to terms with pulling out of my first triathlon due to said injury, as well as dealing with a limited training plan. During that time period an opportunity was presented from my beloved Snapple Tri Club, to submit a brief write-up to one of our great sponsor Finis, answering a few questions. The company would review the submissions and offer entry to a Challenge Americas race to those they selected. As you can guess I was one of those selected. I choose Challenge Pocono, the timing seemed perfect as it would let me get a few solid weeks of training in after my injury and success at Challenge Atlantic City. Also, two friends Jason Bridges and Peter Lubrano were racing as well as a large group of Snapple teammates.

I had a great solid training block leading up to the race and was feeling pretty good. Jason, Peter and I drove up the Friday before the race, using a site called Air BnB, I was able to secure a great condo, 2 miles from the race site or as it turns out the parking area for the race. The ride up to PA, well, it sucked! Traffic was a nightmare from the start and it made a 7 hour ride into just about 10. The upside was the company in the car, we were laughing most of the way.

Saturday morning, we got in a run, headed to packet pick-up, took a quick spin on the bike as well as a short practice swim. The swim proved to be the most informative as it showed that the first 800 plus yards of the swim would be against a current. Nothing too horrible but enough to move you quickly downstream the minute you stopped swimming. After resting for the remainder of the afternoon we meet some Snapple teammates for a great dinner in a very interesting restaurant with some pretty good food. (Wish I could remember the name of the place).

Race morning, seem to come to quick but when does a 4 A.M. wake up call not come to quick. After getting those every interesting race number tattoos on, we drove to the parking area. This is where the race gets a bit interesting logistically. It was set up that we parked at one location, got on (school) buses to get to transition and the swim start, then the finish was in a third location. After the race, you would get bused back to where you parked and drive to transition to get your bike and gear. The problem here was after the race, you are at the finish with nothing to change into unless of course you had a Sherpa (family, friend, some stranger you trust to carry your bag and deliver it to you).

So with that said, we parked got onto the school buses (I got the back seat and forgot how much fun it is to sit there on poorly maintained roads, weeeeee!) got to transition and started to get set up. One cool thing was Challenge racked the teams/clubs together so all around were my Snapple peeps.

Now, just as we got ready to leave for a warm up one of the USAT referees comes by checking bikes and tells us who had prior race stickers on our bikes that we have to cover or remove them OR we will be disqualified. WHAT! Context, on the steam of my bike I kept the sticker from Ironman Lake Placid last year, many triathletes keep a sticker on their bike usually from their last Ironman. Ego thing maybe, but we did earn the right, LOL. I have had a sticker there for a two years and in over 10 races this was the first time this came up. Peter had the idea of putting electrical tape over it and it worked perfect, came right off after the race and the sticker was fine. Now that the drama was over, Jason and I got in a quick run, finish a bottle of Osmo Pre-Load , got my Xterra Vortex wetsuit on and had time to get in the water for a quick swim.

The start time was pushed back 15 minutes due to fog, the delay worked out well. This race was an in water start and for the first time I was not nervous at all. I had decided that worrying about where I may finish, if I could break 5 hours or my PR was just stupid, I really don’t have any control over that. When we were allowed into the water I swam out and worked my way to the front, lining up so I would have a direct shot to the first buoy. We had to hang out and tread water for about two and half minutes, everyone was joked around a bit, waiting for the horn.

Swim:

This swim was in the Delaware River and I was pleasantly surprised as to how clear the water was, it made it so easy to see my fellow competitors and reduce the amount of times I had to lift my head to sight. Provided of course that they were swimming straight, this would be very helpful. As mentioned earlier the first part of the swim was up current, my plan was to keep long, glide as much as I could maximizing distance per stroke. I would also increase my kick until the turn, than dial the kick back as I went downstream until I got within 300 yards of the finish. The plan worked great, I felt like I was at the turn buoy in no time, by getting in the front at the start I had very little jocking/fighting at the start, actually it felt like I had the water to myself. After the turn buoy it seemed like someone put a rope around me, pulled me downstream. Before I knew it the start arch was on my right. About that time the current seemed to lighten up and I re-engaged my kick for a bit. When I realized I was at the second to the last buoy before the turn home I picked up that pace and pushed it a little more as I turned to the finish. After it was all said and done, I was really pleased with the swim! I didn’t break 30 minutes which is a goal of mine but everything went as good as it could have.

32:29, 4^th AG/26^th Overall

T1:

Leaving the water I had what my Garmin told me afterwards was a quarter of a mile run to T1. I was feeling a bit winded as I stood up and started to take my wetsuit off but as I jogged towards transition my energy levels started rising. As soon as I got to my bike I grabbed a bite of a Clif bar, got my gear on and headed to the mount line.

3:43

Bike:

The bike course was within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area which was closed off to the traffic. It was awesome to have no traffic to worry about in a race but the road conditions over much of the course had a lot to be desired. The first 5 plus miles of the course as well as the last 5 were over some good climbs. Right before the first turn there was one that I swore would be the end of my day, my quads were screaming as I hit the top. Luckily over the next few miles it was mostly all downhill, I coasted over most it dodging pot holes left and right. What really sucked was my sunglasses had started to fog up and there since there was a lot of shade it was becoming hard to see. I didn’t want to take the glasses off as the aero helmet does not make that task easy, so I just slid them down the bridge of my nose, this worked well as long as I was in the aero position. A bit annoying but at least I could see the mess the roads were.

After the downhill we turned onto Route 209 which we would stay on for the most of the ride. Road condition were much better as well as visibility. I was staying conservative with my watt output and by the first turnaround at mile 25 and by my count I was in the top 20 overall. To be honest here, we all know that wouldn’t last long but I was going to enjoy it for a bit. It gave me a real boost of energy as well as I started seeing a few of my Snapple team mates.

This course offered two out and backs and both were pretty straight forward. After the first one I backed off a little bit worried I would burn my legs out for the run, also knowing I had some climbing to do to get back to transition. The rest of the ride was good, but after the second turn-around I was starting to get mixed in with the back of the pack of the Olympic race. Normally not a big deal but it appeared most of these folks didn’t read the rules or listen at the meetings, they were all over the road. Really how many time do you need to hear “ON YOUR LEFT” before it clicks to move over? Once I hit the last few big climbs I was surprised as my energy levels were still high and as much as it hurt I pushed up those hills. I was able to recover a bit and enjoy some fun technical descending even if I had to ride the breaks because of the road condition, it felt like the bike would vibrate apart.

As I came rolling back towards T2, I was feeling great. My legs were 100 times better than after Challenge AC which by the way was a flat course and I was feel optimistic about the run.

2:36:00 4^th AG/26^th Overall

T2: Blink and T2 was over and I was running. Got to love those types of transitions

1:19 by my Garmin, 2:05 by the race site

Run:

This is where the race got interesting, based on what had happened in Lake Placid I learned to walk big climbs early on. In Placid I ran the hills early and my quads were shot mid-way through. As I approached mile 3 there was the first uphill of the course and I put the plan into action. Now just after mile 4 was a BEAST of hill, it actually hurt walking up it and everyone around me walked it as well. I think just about everyone I spoke to did, it was that steep. Luckily about all the hills on the course were shaded and let me tell you that made for an entirely different and amazing run. Shortly after the one of the hills there was a clearing and even a short time out in the sun, you could feel the energy just drain away.

So for most of the rest of the race it was run to the base of a hill, try to run up the smaller ones only to not make it too far. I was passed by a few guys in my age group but the great equalize was those hills. All but one of those guys I caught back up to at aid stations or while walking up hills. As the miles ticked away I would try to run farther up each hill before walking and that was paying off as I kept getting closer to those guys ahead of me. Right before mile 12 there was the last climb and it was a big one. I had caught the last guy I knew I could and ran up half of the hill. At the top I took a big hit of Osmo Active and put all I had left into the next mile. I was able to drop my pace down to just above 7:30 and as I closed in to the finish one of those guys in my age group I had passed went sprinting by. Damn! I had no legs left to try and chase him down, I was using what was left to cross the line.

1:50:32

Total time: 5:04:50 5^th AG/ 40^th Overall

So the guy who sprinted by me only beat me by 6 seconds. Turns out when I got home and the website was updated that there was one guy right in front of him that beat me by 42 seconds. I still missed the podium by seconds but a little more than I initially thought. Damn, had I not stopped for ice at a few aid stations or started trying to run up hills earlier I could of bridge that gap. Lesson learned.

Overall I am very happy with this race. There was still some lack of training at this time of the year because of the early injury and for a big guy like me to put up a bike time like that, it was a good sign of progress. My run, could have been executed better but I went in planning to be conservative so I can’t be too upset over that. Best part of all was getting to race with a big group of dream crushers who took spots on most of the podiums including 2^nd overall. It was a really good day for Team Snapple!

I can’t do this with the support of my family, friends, coaches and sponsors. A huge thank you to my family for their support and encouragement.  As always, thank you to my coach Adam Otstot as well as my Masters coach Steve Hennessy, they both help keep me on track, help me balance all this fun and continue to grow stronger. I am so grateful to be able to represent Primal Sports Mud as a brand ambassador, their product helps my muscles recover to be ready for the next training day or whatever adventure comes my way. Thank you to Snapple Tri club, it is awesome to be part of such an amazing group of supportive athletes. It was great to race alongside so many of you. To the Snapple Clubs sponsors, Osmo Nutrition, Clif bar, Rudy Project, Xterra wetsuits, Louis Garneau and SweatVac. Also I want to send a very big thank you to Point2 Running Company and Bike Beat of Newport News. Finally, thank you again to Finis for this opportunity but for some great swim gear.

The month of September will be fun, starting with an international distance race early in the month and finishing off the tri season with Ironman 70.3 Augusta.