Where do I start...
Months of riding my bike had me very ready to put down a great PR bike split. Some serious work in the pool (I thought). and as always, a little bit of running. I think I need to turn this order around in the future.
Industry Sprinters, and the MAV
I departed more than a week early to hit up TriFest at Trisports.com for work. They put on a great expo, and even better I got a chance to ride Mt Lemmon finally! I took off not knowing what to expect but with a smile on my face and ready for a great trip. I made it to Tucson and departed on the Mt Lemmon ride the following morning with about 100+ other people in town for TriFest. After a long ride to the base, I kicked into my normal big ring mashing up the mountain. Being my 3rd ride on my tri bike since September, I was amazed at my power and ability to ride at a strong pace without fatiguing even at altitude. This was a great sign to me. Until I dropped my chain shifting, and tipped over. Oh well, I haven't done it in a long while. Long story short, it was a fun ride and put me in good spirits for the upcoming race.
11 or 13 miles up Mt Lemmon
The day after TriFest, I hopped in the Aqua Sphere MAV and set out for Houston. After two days of driving, I arrived in Houston and met with the people at Bike Barn and gave some quick clinics on our awesome product. Then it was off to Galveston. I got there a few days early and immediately jumped on my bike and headed out on the course. My legs felt awesome after a week of very little exercise and sitting in the MAV. The course is a straight out and back with zero elevation change probably. I was looking forward to Sunday and I still had an expo to do.
Thursday I got up early and found an awesome empty pool to get a quick swim in. I then tried to set up our tents, but the weather didn't really cooperate, so we decided to start early the Friday. I headed back to the hotel and hopped on the trainer and got some dinner. Katie arrived late on Thursday night and we tried to get some sleep. An early morning Friday for setup, and long day standing at the expo was a good way to spend a Friday. I did get an awesome present from Jayme at 2XU, a brand new kit to help me stay fresh to death. Katie and I got our bikes setup and headed out for last minute checks on our bikes before heading to the expo on Saturday. Another long day on my feet ended with tearing down the expo setup and racing back to our hotel to eat and hit the sack. We ate, and I meticulously counted every strand of fiber in my shoe laces... not really, but I did take forever to get everything set up. Finally I was ready and got to sleep.
4:15 wakeup and get our stuff together to head over to the race. We got our transition spots set and headed over to the swim. We both donned our Aqua Sphere Phantoms and got ready. A quick hug, kiss, and go get'em and Katie was off in the 3rd wave, running. We apparently took too long to get over there. I was two waves later in the 2nd of two 30-34 age group waves. I couldn't push my way to the front to be the first in the water, but I quickly realized that I have very obviously aged up with 3 Freak of Nature suits and a lot of other very expensive wetsuits sitting at the front of the line. Game on kids. Hopped in the water and swam straight to the line. I never warm up. Maybe someday I'll start. After about 3 minutes of treading, and two guys climbing on my back, the gun sounded and it was off to the races. I typically stay far from the buoys to avoid dragging someone along and not having to swim through slower swimmers. I watched as the rest of the white caps faded away and I settled into a strong pace. After what felt like a very long swim we made the turn to the swim out and I noticed a white cap coming up, so I pushed harder to take down what I thought would be an age group swim lead. To no avail, I missed one guy and let him go apparently. He must've been the one swimming inside the buoys. 26:43. 4th AG, 47th OA
Headed to my bike and was getting very excited. I decided to take a little extra time and take my shoes off my bike and throw them on. Very bumpy roads for the first mile didn't seem like an ideal place to struggle to get my feet in my shoes. Glad I didn't try it, as the wind in the face was immediately realized and I settled in for what was going to be a tough ride to at least the turn around. My legs felt a little fatigued early, but I slammed some nutrition and pushed hard to the turn around. Only two guys slipped by me, but I was confident I'd pull them back in on the way back to town. The headwind had me struggling a little mentally, but I pushed through it and was happy to hit the turn around at 28.5 miles. I chugged down more than a third of my first bottle of nutrition and slowly picked up the pace on the way back to transition. Everything was looking great, until about mile 35ish. At that point I developed a bad glute cramp that I couldn't work out and forced me out of the aero position. I figured that I was still able to hold at least a decent pace sitting up, so I split the time in and out of the drops. One minute in the drops, one minute sitting up. Not my idea of a great ride, but I kept it moving, trying to over come the cramp. When I made it back to the seawall, about 3 miles out, I gritted my teeth and pushed to finish off the bike. I had watched a stream of guys ride by me and I had decided I would just have to play the cards I was dealt. Off the bike and into T2 at 57 miles. 2:32:05, 21st AG
I threw on my Blade lights and headed out with my sweet orange Aqua Sphere head buff. Katie was nice enough to let me borrow her Spy Screws, and thankfully, as I could not see out of mine off the bike, so a fresh pair was awesome. I headed out and settled into a pace I decided was perfect. Just under 6:30 and I felt that I could hold this, I was looking at my watch and figured if I could at least hold a 1:30 pace, I'd come in under 4:30 and that would be great. Lance, Kelly Williamson, and Michael Raelert all ran by me in the first mile. I tried to catch Kelly's pace, but wasn't having it. I'm pretty sure I totally lost focus and couldn't force myself to keep running. This has never happened to me, and I didn't realize it until yesterday, that I had talked myself out of running. I basically figured it out in my head that I needed to keep X pace to finish under 5 hours and allowed myself to watch the race slip away. I tried to give myself small goals to "run to this", then "run to this", I eventually broke. Tough to admit this as I like to think that I have a strong mental focus and have pushed through a lot of hard things. Not this day. I slogged along and looked forward to seeing Katie out there. She put a smile on my face, and I was having a good time. I thought she was going to catch me. I kept looking back, but didn't see her. After a long walk/ run I crossed the line. Exhausted, I looked back and saw Katie cross. I couldn't have asked for a better place for us to both be at the same time. I won't share my run split, but it's not hidden. Oh, and I managed to not get chicked by Katie. But it was too close for comfort. Nice work dear.
GNAR
I have lived to race another day, and it's time to get back to work. I just made it to Mesa, Az after 3 days of driving. Only a few more days on the road and then I'll be back in SD just in time for Easter!
I've put two more races on my calendar and hope to train right and have some fun doing it with friends.
To say this is going to be a busy year for me at work is an understatement. A three week trip kickoff almost over and I have 3500 miles of driving down already. Purveying FY Factor all over!
-always awesome
jake
