I started the day feeling a little tired after a day spent in my military uniform yesterday. i was able to get out of day two of drill but not yesterday. Otherwise I felt good this am. i woke up earlier than the alarm; who can actually sleep soundly the night before a big Apriority race for yourself. Maybe with some pharmaceutical enhancement but that would probably leave you groggy in the am. Anyway, I woke at 330, stretched in bed and tried to get in race mode- i read my nook for awhile to relax until 4 am.. jumped out of bed and threw down my oatmeal, banana and a granola bar. I was thinking protein but nothing sounded good on the pre race stomach nerves so I stuck with good old carbs... almost opened the nutella but skipped that too.
I got to the race at 530 , saw some people I know - DOug from out team was doing the aquabike due to a running injury. A guy Don who ran me down in every race last year but a nice guy and Jason who will also be going to Lake Placid.
The swim: After a brief warmup and lots of chamois application, down to the swim. I lined up in the front and really went hard from the start trying to get some space from the other 200 people lined up with me. It was really crowded and I wanted space. After a fast 300 yards I had to slow down but got a little anxious- my suit felt tight, my breathing was off. I had to talk myself down and slow down. THe nerves were on overdrive and I actually thought about treading water to get my breath. I imagine for my bike race buddies it oampares to being in a group sprint( I dont do group sprints when I race bikes), everyone is crowding you and you want space and dont want to give an inch. Anyway I eventaully got my rhythm and had an otherwise decent swim. REV3 did a great job marking the swim course- TALL swim buoys easy to see from your swim position and I did a decent swim. Out of water around 29:45 and crossed the mat just over 30 min. Not bad. Right around my goal and on pace for my Placid goal of one hour for the swim
THe bike: Anyone who rides this area of Ct knows that there are some killer rolling hills and the REV3 has the reputation for being one of the hardest bike runs in the sport of 1/2 IM. I spoke with Chad and he wanted me to shoot for 220 than 230 the last 10 miles to not blow up and have something for the run. Now, I like to ride hard - I typically try to build a cushion on the bike so this idea of saving for the run- well it was different. The PT helps for that though. The ROLF I got from Rick at the shop has a PT and it really helped keep me in check. ALthough I did feel like I had a good angel on one shoulder saying- remember what Chad said and a bad angel on the other saying this is too slow- punch it. SO i ended up averaging about 240 watts for the ride. About 20 miles into the ride, I made a HUGE amateur like mistake, I was totally in the zone, took a right turn, went about a mile and realized there was no one around me. i was second guessing myself.. did i really see the arrow correct? Was it a straight arrow? so i slowed, looked around - no one there WTF!, went on, slowed and than actually turned around and rode a minute, 1 and 10 seconds than saw 2 people-- that sucked. Only lost probably 2 minutes though. It did put me in a position to pace with 3 pretty strong guys... no draft but pace- we all know that just outside the box though you do get a little a draft and BIG psychological boost. I went from like 40th after the swim to 18th amateur after the ride...
The RUN- HILLY - damn this was a hard course. But my legs felt pretty good from the start. The first 2.5 miles is down hill and I was averaging under a 7 minute pace which for a non runner like me is good. Than the hills started but i was able to keep a pretty good pace and only slowed a little for the hills I was getting passed by some fast dudes and a few fast ladies too.. even with my run work I am still not in that run league yet. I was able to do some drafting and the last 3 miles one of the female pros who started 10 min before me, pulled in front of me and that was the motivation I needed to keep pushing my pace. i averaged a 7:35 mile which for me, on this course I was happy with but did fall to 58th overall amateur out of 900 or so.
REV3 does a great job and i am really happy to have a race of this caliber in little old CT.. last year the mans Ironman world champ was here and this year the womens Ironman world champ was here. She only took 2nd female so that gives an idea of the talent that came here for the 150,000 pro purse..
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