It's how you finish

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” ~ Frank Herbert

Well, it’s that time of the year again, the end of my triathlon season, or in this case, the end of my 2017 multisport story. Late last year, I targeted the Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City to be my end of season “A” race. I set goals at the time I signed up for this race, thinking that this course, the time of year and the homecourt of sorts would make the the perfect platform to achieve those goals.

Those goal were first to run the entire half marathon. Since my first 70.3 in 2012, I have pushed the bike too hard and have not been able to put up an overall good time. Also, many times, once I started the run, I have lost the podium. That leads to my second goal:  to make a podium, which is  also something I have not achieved at this distance since my first 70.3 in 2012. Too many times, I finished close to earning the podium, but was left sitting in the stands watching others.

To help push these goals, I signed up for the Chicago Marathon shortly after committing to this race. The idea was the marathon training would help push my running and fitness. Then I needed to learn to race conservatively on the bike. Basically, what it comes down to is it’s not how you start or how you race during the middle part of the race, it’s how strong you are over those last few miles that lead to the finish.

View @ the Expo

Leading into this race, I had reached out to my contact within Salming to inquire if they would be attending the expo. If so, I wanted to offer to help work the expo. I soon learned that a representative, David, would be onsite and he would be more than happy to have the help. As such, the Friday and Saturday before the race, I helped at the expo booth, and was able to talk about a product that I love and able to help sell some shoes. I also got to meet Matt Miller from Base Performance, who also had a booth at the expo. Nice to finally put faces to names and to also have two of the companies I represent onsite.

Race morning arrived and this time around was an early wake up for me. Atlantic City is about a 40 minute ride from my house and I had decided to not get a hotel room near the race site. That great decision meant a 3 AM wake up for me! Oh, by the way, I am not a morning person and my OCD kicks in when it comes to arriving to a race site early, even if that means sleeping in my car for a bit. In my mind, at least I am on site.

Strangely enough, I woke up before my alarm clock and then did something I have never done before a race; I had a cup of coffee.  I even had a bowl of cereal. Most of the time, usually due to nerves, my stomach is a wreck, but for some reason this time around I was very calm and relaxed. I got on the road shortly after eating and arrived to the race site nice and early, which worked out well because during the drive in there were some unexpected detours. I quickly called Lori and my mom to let them know and offer suggestions to help navigate them to the parking lot. While I waited for them to arrive, I made my way to transition. I pumped up the tires, got my nutrition, Base Hydro bottles and put my shoes on the bike (the correct shoes on the correct side this time, I did triple check that). I also laid out my Salming Speed 6 running shoes and rolled my socks so they were ready to slide onto my feet quickly. Once all of my swim gear was ready, I prepared to head out for my warm-up. By this time, Lori arrived and my Mom and Geoff came shortly after.

After the hellos and talking for a bit, I headed out for my warm-up and man was I feeling good! At this point, I needed to put that thought out of my mind so I would not jinx myself. Once back to transition, I ate a half of a clif bar and finished off a bottle of Base Amino and a bit of water. Next, I put on my wetsuit, gave Lori a kiss, and started to work my way into my group for the swim start. This race was using a self-seeding start method, where on the honor system, you get in line behind the sign that matches your expected time; for me that is 26-35 minutes.

As I waited, I started to look around and noticed a lot of nervous people near me. I started to feel that these people were not seeding themselves as they should; great! As time went on, I was remaining very calm but within a short amount of time, I started to get bored. I started up some small talk with the people around me. All of sudden, we started to make our way out onto the dock and race mode fell upon me. By the way, this start was nice: 5 people at a time were allowed onto the dock and would start with about a 6 second gap between the last group. What a difference from a group or mass start.

Finally my time arrived to jump in and stupid me lifted my head up just a bit as I entered the water. Why is that stupid you ask? Well, because that caused my goggles to shift and get water in them. I quickly started to kick and lift my upper body out of the water, drain my goggles of water and re-set them. I figured this slowed me down for maybe 20-30 seconds, but I took off strong and right away felt that I was swimming well. Things were going pretty good. I had made the first turn and midway to the second turn, some bonehead right in front of me decided he needed to be near the buoy, so he cut straight across the lane. He wound up kicking me pretty hard right between the stomach and groin (thankfully no lower!).  Than based on reactions by the guys to the left of me, he got them too. Oh, that leads me to the self-seeding:  To the many people who started before me, you all LIE!!

I was having a good swim, but still, by the way I was passing people, most of you were in the wrong group.

As the last turn buoy came into sight and I started along the straight shot to the swim exit, I was still feeling really good. That said, the feeling that this last leg was seeming to to take forever came upon me. Based on the data I reviewed afterwards, once I made that turn, the outgoing tide must have increased the current against me. I was swimming strong, but my time per 100 yards dropped by almost 10 seconds. Oh well, can’t do much about that. I came out of the water feeling strong, just a tad disappointed in the time.

Swim: 32:08 (12th age group/72nd overall)

As I made my way out the water, I headed directly to the wetsuit strippers and flopped onto my back and threw my feet in the air. (add joke here). I had maneuvered the top of my suit down before getting to them but there seemed to be a difficult time in freeing my feet from the wetsuit. Once I was finally free, I had a bit of an issue getting up. I rolled forward but at the same time a few volunteers had moved a step closer causing me to bump into them. Three of them, thought quickly and grabbed my arms to help me up; thank you! That done, I ran into transition. This transition was huge and in a rush, I misread the marking at the end of the aisle, which caused me to run down the wrong aisle. When I arrived to where I expected my bike to be, I spun around wondering where it was. Finally spotting it, two aisles to my right, I rushed over, quickly got my helmet on, threw a half a clif bar in my mouth and then grabbed my bike. As I pulled my blue beauty from under the rack, the front wheel skewer got caught on my bag...ugh more time lost. Finally, with the bike free, I was running to the bike out arch way.

Transition 1: 2:08

The bike course was a 2.5 loop, 18.5 mile each loop, ride. Much of it on the Atlantic City Expressway. As I rolled out onto the expressway, I was pleased to see my watts were low and my speed was high. Staying on the expressway for 3 exits, we took Exit 5 into what I guess you could call a bit of an industrial type of area. These roads were not in great shape and there were a few turns as well as some false flats (inclines that appear to be flat ground). There were long stretches of Westcoat Road and Delilah Road that were slightly up hill, just enough to cause my watts to go a little higher than I would have liked. Once back on the expressway, there was a bit of a headwind heading back towards Atlantic City. We had an entire lane coned off for the race, but as the offramp to Exit 2 approached, there was a dump truck placed in the lane to block the exit from traffic. As great as this was to help keep the lane for us racers, it forced us onto the shoulder. Normally not a big deal, until you have to ride over the rumble strips. After the first bone jarring experience, I made sure to bunny hop the strips on the other side of the truck as well as each time I was forced across rumble strips. Making our way into the city limits, there was a quick turn that would place us onto the on ramp back to the expressway. Side note:  Prior to the race, I adjusted my derailers and made sure the bike was shifting well. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way that condition had changed. The rear derailleur must have gotten bumped while in transport or while the bike sat in transition. Once I began riding up the on ramp, the watts started to climb so I shifted the chain into the small ring. As soon as I did, the chain started jumping gears with every pedal stroke and it became difficult to complete a rotation. Quickly, I changed back to the big ring and shifted the chain up to the biggest cog in my cassette. I did my best to conserve watts, but most of the way back to Exit 5, I did

drop the hammer. As we passed Exit 2 things became quite congested because this is where people leaving transition merged with us. Most of the next 1.5 laps I spent either pushing the pace to move free of the draft zone of a group of riders or yelling, “On your left!” I was very lucky to complete the course without earning a drafting penalty. Not because I was drafting off anyone but due to the congestion on the course. There was absolutely no way to avoid what the textbook would consider drafting. Many racers were not so lucky, as the refs refused to take the course into consideration or use common sense. They were issuing penalties like they were going out of style.  Every time I passed one of the penalty tents, the crowds had doubled.

Mid way through the last half loop, I heard a pop and hiss. I swore I had just flatted but thankfully when I stopped to check, my tire was still firm and not losing air. Jumping quickly back onto the bike, I pushed the watts a bit higher as I headed back towards transition. As I rolled towards the dismount line, worry started to build that I had not been as conservative as I needed to be, but at this point, only time will tell. Heading to my spot in transition, I cleared my head and thought, It was time to prove to myself that I know how to finish.

Bike: 2:30:28 (8th age group/48th overall)

I quickly racked the bike, got all my running gear and started the long trek out of transition. Did I mention that the transition was really freaking big? Overall, I was feeling really good but I reminded myself to continue to race smart.

Transition 2: 1:40

Shortly after leaving the run out arch, I saw Lori, my Mom and Geoff. I was so happy to see them and you couldn’t have smacked the smile off my face. Settling into a nice comfortable pace, I quietly fought the demons in my head that were telling me to run faster as people were passing me. Once the loop around Bader field was completed, I saw my support crew one last time, then headed out towards the boardwalk. Holding a steady, comfortable pace, I was starting to catch runners, which is a new experience for me at this triathlon distance. As the miles clicked off, the pace increased a little more. Also, this run course was amazing. The course not only went up and down the Atlantic City boardwalk, there was an out and back on the Venture fishing and the Playground Piers. Running along the piers was so awesome. The surf looked great, there was that amazing ocean smell that brought me back to my surfing days and best of all, there was a cloud cover with a nice breeze.

Around mile eight,  there was a 50 yard stretch of hard packed beach sand we had to

traverse (the awesome Delmo Sports team had a mat down the entire length) and then shortly after that section, the course lead up and around the Playground Pier. During this time my pace dropped almost a full minute. The sand part I could understand, it was hard pack but uneven and I was not comfortable with my footing, but I realized running under the shops of the Playground Pier caused my Garmin to lose it’s signal. After this fun and close to mile 10, my right hip started to become tight and the sun was beginning to come out of the cloud cover. The temperature rose a bit, my hip was not improving and my pace started to drop. At this point, I turned my hat around, dug deep and started running as hard as I could muster. Miles 11 and 12, turned out to not be my fastest. Mile 13 was another story, as the adrenalin kicked in. I caught a few more runners over that last mile and upon entering the finishing chute, my emotions were going wild. I stuck my arms out like wings and floated from side to side of the carpet and as I crossed the line, I released a lot of emotion.

Run: 1:40:41 (4th age group/36th overall *personal record for a half marathon in a triathlon)

Overall: 4:47:05 (4th age group/36th Overall)

The finish time was my second fastest overall time for this distance. This was also my fastest half marathon in a triathlon. Since Ironman branded races normally have age group podiums that go five places deep, I earned a podium spot...GOALS REACHED!

After receiving my finisher's medal, I went directly to Lori and gave her a big hug. I let go of many more emotions that I was previously holding back. I did it, almost five years of hard work, fighting and disappointment, I did it. For five years, I lost more podiums than I care to count due to the run, but not today. For ten races, I had to live with the disappointment of knowing I screwed up, knowing I could do better and race smarter, but not today. Today was when all the hard work paid off and my goals were met. In the run I moved up twelve spots overall, and four spots in the age group. As mentioned, this is where I normally lose those spots, so yes, I am bragging here. LOL I walked away with a few lessons learned about my racing and showed myself that I can gain so much with smart racing and hard work. I cannot wait for the 2018 race season to arrive so I can see how much more I can build from these lessons learned.

Lori, Mom and Geoff, thank you so much for all your support race day and every day, it really means a lot. Lori, thank you for being so patient and willing to work with me to get my training completed so we can then go have fun adventures. A big thank you to Salming Running and Base Performance for all of their support. Thanks to the Snapple Tri Club along with their amazing sponsors. To my coach Adam Otstot for all his guidance. Thank you to Thompson Healthcare and Sports Medicine for continuing to help me stay race ready. And last but not least, I want to thank all my family and friends for all their support.

A short three weeks after this race, I will toe the line at the Chicago Marathon and what will hopefully be not only another Boston Qualifier but the race that guarantees me a bib for 2019.