Sunday morning comes awfully early, once again, up several hours before the sun, grab my gear and head west this morning. i get to the race, park and ride my bike over to transition. my legs are a bit tired from yesterdays run, but i did manage to eat a lot and sleep a fair amount, so hopefully once i get swimming they will loosen up and come around, otherwise it will be an exercise in self control and pacing. i pick out my spot in transition, rack my bike, and lay out my gear in preparation for the race.
now to walk through my transitions, i go to the swim in, walk through to my bike trying to make note of what i'll pass and how to easily find my bike, but i keep getting distracted, ooh elites, i wonder what tricks i can gain from watching them get ready. put your race number on before the swim and tuck it in your shorts, good call. oh yeah, walking to my bike. i do this several times, then decide i should try an easy run to see how things go.
oh yeah, my legs are really tired, my breathing is heavy, and that's not even a hard pace. it should be interesting. once again i'm hoping the swim loosens things up and brings my legs around. back from my warm up run (all of about 1/2 mile and it was painfully slow). i put my wetsuit on and head down for the swim start. i'm in the 5th wave, so i get to see a couple groups go off before getting in the water. it's a bit chilly this morning, and it seems my wetsuit has acquired several new holes since i last remember. why am i here again? oh yeah, i love racing. drift over to the swim start, and notice there is a good current in our favor. excellent. then the gun goes off, and all fades away.
i get stuck behind some slower swimmers for a bit and jostled mildly, but nothing compared to the usual swim start. i never seem to find a rhythm on the swim, i am becoming an endurance athlete, it takes me absurd amounts of time to find a groove, mental note, next time swim 1000 meters or so as a warm up before the actual race. finally as i 'm nearing the buoy to indicate it's time to turn into shore i start to flow slightly (or perhaps i'm just excited to know my bike is waiting in transition).
out of the water, peel the wetsuit down to my waist, a moderate jog up to T1, goggles and cap come off, looking for my bike, all the way at the other end of transition, which is fine, that means i'm that much closer to riding once i get my bike. the asphalt is beginning to hurt my feet. a little further and i get to struggle with removing my wetsuit (i need to work on this a lot more, i have gotten very bad at taking off my wetsuit). all right, don my helmet and sunglasses, grab my bike, and let the fun begin.
i leap onto my bike, and immediately begin picking up places. there is little i enjoy about racing more than passing people. there are a couple sections on the bike course that consist of some good sharp turns, i enjoy these immensely, especially if they are clear of other riders so i can really make up time. coming out onto the road there is an overpass to climb and come down, 2 more good things, i climb and descend well. a hard left then right at the bottom, even better, it's pretty clear so i carry a good amount of speed through. i am able to hold a pretty solid pace for the ride, granted it's flat, but i'm passing people, and nobody is passing me, so i must be doing better than average. i also made a decision to go a bit harder on the bike as i wasn't sure i'd be able to put together to strong a run after yesterday. my plan was go hard on the bike, put as much time into people as i can, and just try to hold them off on the run.
about 1/2 way through the bike another rider passes me, unacceptable, so i grab onto his wheel (staying at least 10m back to avoid a drafting penalty), and just hold on for a mile or 2, then i make a move and try to push him a bit. if i'm working, so is he. this doesn't go quit as well as i expect, as he passes me shortly thereafter. so i'm back to just keeping him within reach and trying to make up some time in the technical section and going back over the overpass. into the parking lot and tight turns i am able to catch up to him and would be able to pass if there is room. since there isn't i sit back and let my legs come around for the climb. i pass on the climb, and enter T2 ahead of him. unfortunately i am not prepared for the dismount line, about 50 feet from it i notice it, and am able to slip my right foot out of my shoe; however, not my left, so i stop at the line and put my right foot down while i take my left shoe off (did i mention i have to work on transitions, and paying attention???).
into t2, i rack my bike, and slip into my running shoes. the guy that passed me on the bike is 10' in front of me. i run through my options in my head sit back and let him dictate the pace until i want to make a move, or let things go and see if/when i blow up.
legs feel pretty good, so i'm going to see if i blow up. i quicken the pace and overtake him. surprisingly my legs are feeling pretty loose and good at this point. so i might as well take advantage of it. 1 mile down, it feels like i'm holding a good pace, and nobody appears to be catching me. about 1/2 way through the run, i'm still going strong, pace feels about the same, and i'm the one doing all the catching. good stuff, how long will it last?? hopefully another 1.5 miles. then there is the overpass from the bike course (get to do this twice on the run too). i hold a good pace over it, and relax into the descent allowing gravity to work for me. at the bottom, the course offers a chance to see who is following and how close. all the faces i see are recently passed, and falling further off my pace. that is good news. mile 2, only 1 more mile, time to try and pick up the pace.
coming around back towards the overpass, i start to settle into a comfortable pace, mmm, not today, with roughly 1/2 mile left, i decide that today is a good day to get used to pushing really hard, so i increase the pace again, over the overpass 1 last time, then down the other side and 1/4 mile to the finish. it's definitely uncomfortable ascending the overpass, and i manage to make the descent a bit of a push as well, then holding that pace for the last 1/4 mile, and the finish. that feels good.
i'm done, and still feeling pretty good. now if i can just figure out how to muster that kind of an effort for the better part of my next long course event, i'll be very happy.
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