In early 2012, I was trying to decide which 70.3 would be my
first to attempt. It came down to Beach 2 Battleship and Ironman 70.3 Augusta.
Both offer great courses, current assisted swims and awesome crowd support.
After I weigh it out, the race closer to home won out and you can read about that
experience in this blog. Flash forward three years later, eight 70.3 distance races
in the books and I am finally getting ready to toe the line in Augusta.
As this race grew near I was feeling amazing, coming off of
a great race at the Patriots International and completed some great training efforts, it
would appear that I was peaking at the best time possible.
I had planned this trip early on and added an extra day to
travel down. Thanks to a suggestion from some friends I was staying at the
Queen Ann Inn, which was right on the run course.
The ride down to Georgia was
pretty uneventful, until I got within a quarter mile of the Queen Ann that is. As I was waiting to turn left at a light, a
car passes by making a left in the opposite direction and cuts the turn
basically right after I pass. This causes their mirror to hit my bike, which is on the back of my truck. I felt a good bump and looked back to see my
handlebars twisted and I could not see my front wheel in the mirror as I had for
the last 8 hours. You guessed it, I freaked out, especially since the driver
kept going. There was no way they didn’t feel the hit, anger level is reaching Incredible Hulk range. Luckily there was
little damage to the wheel and none to the bike. The wheel, I found out when I
got home was knocked out of true and luckily that was it. Damn, I hoped that was my bad luck event for this trip.
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| The Sherpa's/Parents |
After this fun and getting checked into the Queen Ann, I meet up
with my parents who made the trip down to be my Sherpa’s once again. They become very good at this task and depending on the location, could be available to Sherpa
for you too, LOL!! I also learned that everyone staying at the house was doing
the race and as it turned out, almost all were members of the DC Tri club
which is affiliated with Snapple. How cool is that!
The next day, we took a trip to the expo/packet pick up.
After getting my packet we explored the expo. I had a great conversation with
Jason from Orr Cycling. He builds carbon race wheels and I have had a chance to
meet him at an earlier race this year. I really like the wheels he had on display
and when the time comes to upgrade, I will be giving Jason a call. I also spent
some time talking to Johnny at the Ruby Project booth. Johnny is a great
example of how customer service should be, he walked me through a few options
for the glasses I have and help me decide on a pair of ImpactX lenses that
are photochromic (which means the get darker the brighter it gets). This by the
way turned out to be huge help come race day, Thank You Johnny!
Later that day we drove the bike course and I got to relax.
Saturday, I dropped the bike off and got in a quick run, picked up some beer
(for Sunday after the race) and spent the rest of the day resting and doing
everything I could to stay out of my own head.
Race morning I was up before my alarm, got ready and my
parents arrived to drive me down to transition. So this might be a good time to
explain some of the logistics of this race. The swim was point to point, so I
would have to be bused to the swim start from transition. Thankfully there is
only one transition area but the finish line was at separate location. This all makes for some fun planning. Unlike Challenge, Ironman had morning swim bags you
could drop off before the start, with not only your morning stuff but with what you may need at the
finish line. Thankfully I have two great Sherpa’s so my after race bag was waiting for me in my dad’s truck.
As we got to transition, I started to get things set up to
realize my bike had been re-racked. You see, because of being on the taller side I
have a large size frame. As such, I need to rack my bike by the handle bars. Normally you would rack by the seat but my bike will not fit under the bar without having to tilt it and once all the bikes are racked, I don’t have enough room. So, as
I re-positioned it, a volunteer comes running over giving me crap. I tried to explain to the
kid why I was doing this and it was not my first rodeo. He just wouldn’t
listen, this brought over the volunteer captain who I just so happen to have a
chat with the day before. Super nice guy, he calmed the kid and now me, he also suggested to make sure this was not an issue we should walk over and double checked with the official. The official told us it was fine, explained why they asked to check but understood my situation. Now that is over with, my blood pressure started to come down, I did some dynamic stretches to help warm up using a new tool I got called Active-Stretch, this things is awesome and is becoming my go to warm-up routine.
After finishing that, I sought out my parents one last time and headed to shuttle (a yellow school
bus) for the ride to the swim start.
At the swim start I realized very quickly that I forgot one
thing that would've been very helpful, my jacket. I took it off while setting
up transition and now that I was sitting waiting and the breeze picked up with the pre-dawn temp left me a bit chilled. I found a good spot that blocked some wind, wrapped my wetsuit around me and waiting until it
was time to head over for my wave start. I was lucky enough to be in the second
wave, there were 26 total, wow that is a lot of people racing.
The time came to get my Xterra Vortex wetsuit on and I
started to make the short walk to the starting arch. Last year in the two
Ironman brand races I completed I earned the status of All World Athlete, there
are three levels and I qualified for the bronze level, which is the top ten
percent of my age group. I brag about this because this bestowed upon me a
different color swim cap with AWA on one side. The cap became quite the conversation
piece prior to the swim start. Some asking what it was and why I had a
different cap, others asking how I got the cap as when they check in, there
were none left. This conversation help make the trek down the ramps to the
floating dock go by very quickly. Next then I knew we were jumping in and
holding on to the dock waiting for the cannon (yes cannon) to go off.
I bring up holding onto the dock to mention the current, up
river are a series of dams which provide the current. While we sat their waiting a
few guys let go and were quickly heading down stream, one guy
commented that he had to work a bit to get back to the dock. My gut was
starting to tell me that this was going to be a fast swim.
BOOM! The cannon goes off!
As soon as I let go the current grab me, I dropped my
head and started to swim. No matter how much I tried though I could not get my breathing
right. That is what I get for sitting around and not warming up at the swim start, there as no pre-race swim allowed but I should have brought my shoes or my active-stretch. It took a
few hundred yards for my breathing to come around and when it did, I started to fly. After that point, I barely had to lift my head to sight. I was lucky
that I was not running into many people from the first wave and when I did
sight I was able to make corrections to avoid people up ahead. The next thing I know the
buoys changed to orange from yellow, telling me I was on the back end of the
course. After that it seemed like I was at the swim exit in no time. As I
stood up I head my Dad yelling almost right away and I ran up the boat ramp
unzipping my wetsuit.
Swim: 23:16 8th AG, 47th Overall
When I first saw transition the day before I thought WOW,
this will be the shortest transition run in history, well was I wrong! I did not realize we had to run around transition then into it, based on my
Garmin I ran a quarter of mile total. I did stop to take advantage of the
wetsuit strippers along the way, still debating if this helps as for the third time my foot
got stuck and I had to talk them through getting it off. That done, helmet on, took a big bite of a clif bar and I was off to the mount line.
T1: 3:28
The plan on the bike was to stay a little low watt wise and
save some energy for the run. As I got to the 5 mile mark my average watts were 216, very low from the 250 I was shooting for but my speed was holding on the
high end so I counted it as a win. By mile six, I finally saw
another rider, by mile ten I saw a second rider. After passing him, I never did see another rider the rest of the ride, many time I wonder if I was even on the
right course but there was a volunteer at almost every intersection, seeing
them I knew I was OK. Also, my watts were still on the low end, averaging about 219 so what the heck, I keep it up that pace.
Shortly after mile 20, the noticeable hills started on the course, my
watts slowly started creeping up to where I had expected them to be earlier. I paid special attention to my output climbing, to make sure I was not above my threshold for more than a few
minutes at a time. Still feeling pretty good, I pressed on and really attacked the downhills.
At mile 35, there was a quick sharp turn, almost a 90 degree turn, when I saw it while we drove the course I knew I had to remember to be careful and slow
down. Now mid race, I forgot what road I was on and guess who
forgot about the turn until I started to make it. Here is play by play, see the
cones, slow down as normal for a turn, start the turn and realize the cones
go around and it hits me this is the turn, grab the brakes and repeat the
following statement over and over: “OH SHIT!” while the turn. The police officer working the
intersection started laughing and as soon as I made it through upright and on the inside of the cones, so did I.
After that, I knew there was one or two steady climbs and
then almost a straight downhill for the last 10 miles. The legs started getting a
little sore at this point and I made sure to pick up the cadence some the help bring the legs back around. By the way, did I mention I have not seen a sole on
a bicycle yet, what the heck??
The last 10 miles flew by, my watts drop down under 220
again but my speed is way up, must be the downgrade of the road. Then I see the
street light and the corner store I knew lead back to transition. As I turn up the road
I see my parents running down a hill at the end of the road, shoot them a
thumbs up and start undoing my shoes and get ready to dismount.
As I get off the bike and start running towards transition, the
crowds are cheering big time and a lady yells, “You’re in second”. I stopped, almost trip and yelled “wait, WHAT?” she yelled “second overall”, my response was simply, “HOLY SHIT!” This can’t be right, it was a good ride, maybe a PR but to
in second????
Bike: 2:25:55, 6th AG, 23rd Overall
Transition was a little longer then I would have liked. As I
put my socks on, my legs got tight and my head started to spin a bit. I stopped, took a deep breath and got back to work. Grabbed my hat, bib and bottle of Osmo
and headed right for the run out.
T2: 2:06
The run out was the opposite of the swim in so almost a
quarter of mile again and as I turn on to the road I see my parents and start
asking am I really second, second overall. They both say yes and once again my
response, “HOLY SHIT” then I look forward and see the coolest thing ever, the
bike escort…SWEET!
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| That's my Holy Shit 2nd face |
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| Bike escort! |
As we get to the first aid starting and I was hurting. I was asked by a volunteer what I needed and I asked for anything that would stop my legs from cramping. A
banana was shoved in front of me, never ate on in a race before but what the hell. It
worked!
Almost right after the aid station the cramps were gone and I went back
to work. It was about mile four that I got caught and that guy went by like I
was standing still. I held my head high as I never expected to be in this situation in an Ironman brand race and I was still in third. I got to a
turn-around to head back up Broad street and I see my parents. My mom is
reading me text messages from my training partner Steve Smith and you couldn’t
of smacked the smile off my Dad’s face, LOL. I than hit the aid station at the
turn point and everyone is cheering me on by name, I should mention my bib is
turn around so how do they…..oh yeah, my mom!
I was able to hold third until just after mile six when I
had to stop and walk a few time. By the time I came to start of lap two I was
passed by two more people and by that time I was mixed in with all the waves behind me, I had no idea where I was.
The next six miles was a mix of run until I couldn't tolerate the
pain any more or get reach an aid station. The walking helped reduce the pain and I also realized if I slowed my pace that helped as well. As I
made the second to last turn, it felt an eternity to complete the short
distance to the actual last turn towards the finish line. The crowd support was amazing and really brought up my spirits, I was
determined to run the rest of the way no matter what. As I hit the carpet I saw
my Dad and reached out for a high five and I was across the line.
Run: 1:43:22, 11th AG 59th Overall
My legs cramped down the minute I stopped and was helped to
med tent where some rest, stretching and a lot of Gatorade helped. It would
take a while to find out where I placed as with 26 waves of athlete and three in my age
group alone still had to finish.
When it was all said and done, I was 59th
overall out of 2,580 and 11th in my age group out of 322. Best of
all, I crushed one of my big goal for this race, to set a new personal record. I did
that by over 10 minutes finishing in 4:38:07. I have not been able to beat my old time in almost three years but it
was worth the wait to have it happen at this race.
What a great way to end this tri season and for the most part
this year. I have been very frustrated over the years not being able to make any real
improvement in this distance in regards as to time. This just goes to show
how hard work, dedication and a desire to always improve will pay off. Never give up!
Getting the results you are looking for can not happen without great support. Thank you to Primal Sports Mud, putting some mud on my quads after the race helped me recover much faster than I expected. A huge thank you to the Snapple tri club and their amazing sponsors, Osmo Nutrition, Clif bar , Rudy Project, Xterra wetsuits and SweatVac. Also I want to send a very big thank you to Point2 Running Company and Bike Beat of Newport News.
To my Coach Adam Otstot, trust the training, trust the plan and listen to Adam, it's a formula that works. Thank you so much Adam for all of your guidance and support, I can't wait to see what next year holds.
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| My Granddaughter Addison |
Thank you to my entire family, to my parents who were on site race day and to everyone who couldn't make it, I really appreciated all the comments and texts. Training and racing long course triathlon and endurance sports a whole, place a big strain on the family and without everyone's support this could not be possible. I know I miss a lot of family events and as painful as it is to hear how much my Granddaughter misses me (I always seem to be missing events with her due to races), I do hope one day she is proud and inspired by what I do and learns to work hard towards her dreams and never quite, no matter what!
So what’s next, good question. I plan to do some short
distance race(s), specifically the Christmas Town Dash 8K in December but my
hope was to be spending sometime in April in Boston but that did not workout, by 35
seconds. Thanks to a large number of entries this year into the Boston Marathon, the qualifying times were moved up by 2 minutes and 28 seconds, this put me in
with 4500 fellow runners who got the thanks but no thanks, slow pokes (Just
kidding).
That said, later the same day I learned my application was not
accepted, I learned that I was selected to be an ambassador for Point2Running company and Flat-Out Events. I am truly honored to get to represent two local companies that do great work for our running community.
This also helped
me decided that I will make my attempt for a faster Boston Marathon qualifying
time at the Newport News, One City Marathon in March. I am highly motivated
to crush my BQ(Boston Qualification) time and make sure I am a least in the 5 minute plus group of
qualifying time.
So as of the time I am writing this, the plan is to resting up and
recharging but I am looking forward to getting back to work.
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