(500yd swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run)
Springfield, IL (Lake Springfield)
2nd Place
Overall Time: 58:34
Splits & Rank: Swim: 9:30 16th
Bike: 29:25 (24.5 mph avg.) 2nd
Run: 18:13 (5:52 pace) 2nd
This week has been quite the week of racing. Wednesday night I ran the Sizzling Mile and had pretty sore calves going into this race. I basically knew that this would happen but decided to race both events anyway. Im glad I did now, it was definitely worth it and in the long run I think it was good strength building.
Race Day:
Swim
After taking a look at the weather the night before I knew it was going to be a chilly morning. Water temperature actually was warmer than the air temperature. The stoneman sprint was going off in 5 different waves which I wasnt too happy about because I knew most of my competition was in wave 3 which was the older guys; in this sport older guys can still compete and be very strong on the swims and bike. This actually came back to get me in the end. Horn went off at 8:00am and we headed off under Lindasy Bridge towards the first buoy. I was feeling really good and just chuggin along. Water got pretty choppy once you got into the open part north of the bridge. For myself I felt like I was cruising along pretty well. Every time I glanced around I didnt see any yellow caps so I figured I was up towards the front. In the end I ended up 14th in the swim which I was pretty happy about because the swim tends to be my weakest discipline. Came out of the water and ran up to T1.
Bike
Headed out on the bike on a new and beautiful Cervelo P3 set up with a HED 3 front wheel and a 808 rear wheel from BikeTek in Springfield IL. Mounted up and started hammering. Felt nice and fast on the way out with the wind to my back. Passing others very quickly, mostly those from the Iron Abe race, which boosted my confidence to keep hammer past them as fast as I could. Took a left on New City road to the turn around and maintained pace. On the way back the pace slowed slightly into a head wind. I just kept telling myself hammer hammer hammer, you can handle a 3 mile run no matter how hard you hammer the bike. Was first back to the T2, had a good T2 and headed out on the run.
Run
Headed out on the run and figured I was in first overall but still wasnt clear on what the other guys were doing from the other wave. Lungs and chest were super tight on the run. Just tried to stay relaxed and keep the pace honest. Got to the turn around and finally saw other racers. With the gap that existed I just figured I was still in first and just kept moving. Hit the bridge and started picking it up. Got to the downhill off the bridge and turned for the finish and ran for the finish hard.
Once I finished I waited for the results to show up on the screen and saw I finished 2nd place. An older gentleman (42) from wave 3 which started 5 minutes behind mine ended up beating me by 51 seconds. Im not one for making excuses but if he were in my wave it could have been another story. Who knows how that would have played out if I saw him out in front of me on the bike and run. In my opinion you should be put in waves based on your expected time or finish that way you can compete against those of equal ability instead of just ages because in this sport older men in there 40' and 50's can still compete with 19 and 20 year olds. None the less Im happy with this performance, of course a 1st place finish would have been better but there are things I need to improve on.
Results:
http://itsracetime.com/Results.aspx?ID=629
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