My second half ironman of the season. Definitely the tougher of the two. That's Felipe on the left and Dan on the right.
Overall, had a good race. Finished 3rd overall behind Dan Moss and Felipe Bastos. I am now the "USAT Southeast Regional Amateur Long Course Champion". Pretty cool, as I never knew there was such a thing...oh well. I should get that tattooed on my butt or something.
OK here goes...
Swim: This is the first year we had an "Open" wave, so it was nice to go out first in calm water. Beach start, so that was cool too...take off running and dive forward. I just took off for the first buouy. I swam side by side with Felipe all the way to the first buouy. I guess we were giving Dan a good draft that he couldn't miss : ) Anyway, at the first turn I thought, I'd get behind Felipe. Dan was already there, so I just tailed Dan to the second turn. The three of us were still all together making the final turn, but after the final turn buouy Felipe opened a gap on Dan, and Dan opened a gap on me. I think we exited the water all about a minute apart. I was very happy to swim with them, as I wanted to be close to the front at the end of the swim. Mission accomplished. They don't stop the swim split until you get up that ridiculously steep hill, so I was about a minute or so faster than the split. 28:58
T1: The run up the beach and to T1 at RnR Man is the toughest. It's always hard to run fast after being horizontal for 27 minutes or so, but then to have to run up a seriously steep hill to transition is enough to wear me out. All went well. Mounted the bike well, and I was off. No issues with transition.
Bike: The bike course is rolling hills, very similar to the foothills of SC, so very familiar to me. One age grouper caught us on the swim. He was freakin' flyin' on the swim. He went like 24:XX in the water. Crazy fast. Anyway, I caught him in the first few miles of the bike, and he tagged along behind me. Them at around mile 10 or so I caught Felipe. He tagged along behind the guy behind me. Anyway I pushed the pace pretty good. I didn't feel real strong on the bike, and I knew the run was going to be tough as it was supposed to be in the mid 90's, so I didn't kill myself on the bike. I kept the pace up pretty good and put in a few surges to drop the guys behind me. I should have charged them admission after the race for giving them an up and close guided tour of the bike course...anyway. Dropped Felipe at around mile 45, and the other guy hung around enjoying the broken air behind me all the way to T2. Just so you know, I knew this wasn't a draft legal event, not sure everyone else knew that...(sarcasm) Bike Time: 2:21:40
T2: Legs felt good getting off the bike. My family was there to chear me on and give high 5's, which is plenty motivation for me!! I knew I wasn't in any condition to try and catch Dan, who was about 4 minuntes ahead of me. I just wanted to hold onto 2nd.
Run: This can be a lonely run course, as you are away from the race site for the entire run. The out and back sections are out away from transition. Kind of quiet. First few miles I felt good. I was holding 6:40 pace, so I was content knowing I needed to stay in reserve for the "heat fest" yet to come. As I passed miles 5 and 6, I could feel the sun taking its toll on my body. I was unable to hold good pace. I knew Felipe was closing in on me, so I just tried to hold on to around a 7 minute pace. The aid stations felt like they were taking forever to get to. It was hot and I was freakin' tired.
Ok, Felipe caught me at mile 8, and he was cruisin'. I knew I couldn't hold his pace, so I was content with holding onto third at that point. To be honest, I really just wanted to get to the finish line. So a few miles later, I noticed Felipe wasn't going any faster than me. The heat must have been taking a toll on him, too. I thought "What the hell, I'm already near death, I might as well see if I can go faster"...so I picked up the pace to see what would happen.
As I approached mile 12, I noticed I wasn't making up enough ground, so I just settled into a pace that I knew would get me to the finish standing. As I approached the finish, I saw my boys along the side of the road chearing me on, so that made me smile...A couple of high 5's and I tried to hold my best form for the camera. Run Split: 1:34:11 (ouch!!)
Total time was 4:26:49
9 minutes faster than my previous attempts at this race, so I'm happy. It was in much tougher conditions, too.
An IV, 1 Pepsi, 1 Sunkist, 2 Chicken Sandwiches, 1 Gatorade, 3 cookies, and 3 beers later...I felt like a million bucks : )
I was given an award for Top Amateur and received the title that I'm getting tattooed on my behind. I am also getting a cool trophy to add to the collection. Oh yeah, got a check too, but I had to hand that over to my better half. It covered the race fee and some gas $$. Really cool, though : )
Anyway, I'm tired now. Have to try and recover for next weekend's Festival of Flowers Int'l distance race. It has a stacked field, and I have to figure out how to get these dead legs to wake up before then.
Later.
Overall, had a good race. Finished 3rd overall behind Dan Moss and Felipe Bastos. I am now the "USAT Southeast Regional Amateur Long Course Champion". Pretty cool, as I never knew there was such a thing...oh well. I should get that tattooed on my butt or something.
OK here goes...
Swim: This is the first year we had an "Open" wave, so it was nice to go out first in calm water. Beach start, so that was cool too...take off running and dive forward. I just took off for the first buouy. I swam side by side with Felipe all the way to the first buouy. I guess we were giving Dan a good draft that he couldn't miss : ) Anyway, at the first turn I thought, I'd get behind Felipe. Dan was already there, so I just tailed Dan to the second turn. The three of us were still all together making the final turn, but after the final turn buouy Felipe opened a gap on Dan, and Dan opened a gap on me. I think we exited the water all about a minute apart. I was very happy to swim with them, as I wanted to be close to the front at the end of the swim. Mission accomplished. They don't stop the swim split until you get up that ridiculously steep hill, so I was about a minute or so faster than the split. 28:58
T1: The run up the beach and to T1 at RnR Man is the toughest. It's always hard to run fast after being horizontal for 27 minutes or so, but then to have to run up a seriously steep hill to transition is enough to wear me out. All went well. Mounted the bike well, and I was off. No issues with transition.
Bike: The bike course is rolling hills, very similar to the foothills of SC, so very familiar to me. One age grouper caught us on the swim. He was freakin' flyin' on the swim. He went like 24:XX in the water. Crazy fast. Anyway, I caught him in the first few miles of the bike, and he tagged along behind me. Them at around mile 10 or so I caught Felipe. He tagged along behind the guy behind me. Anyway I pushed the pace pretty good. I didn't feel real strong on the bike, and I knew the run was going to be tough as it was supposed to be in the mid 90's, so I didn't kill myself on the bike. I kept the pace up pretty good and put in a few surges to drop the guys behind me. I should have charged them admission after the race for giving them an up and close guided tour of the bike course...anyway. Dropped Felipe at around mile 45, and the other guy hung around enjoying the broken air behind me all the way to T2. Just so you know, I knew this wasn't a draft legal event, not sure everyone else knew that...(sarcasm) Bike Time: 2:21:40
T2: Legs felt good getting off the bike. My family was there to chear me on and give high 5's, which is plenty motivation for me!! I knew I wasn't in any condition to try and catch Dan, who was about 4 minuntes ahead of me. I just wanted to hold onto 2nd.
Run: This can be a lonely run course, as you are away from the race site for the entire run. The out and back sections are out away from transition. Kind of quiet. First few miles I felt good. I was holding 6:40 pace, so I was content knowing I needed to stay in reserve for the "heat fest" yet to come. As I passed miles 5 and 6, I could feel the sun taking its toll on my body. I was unable to hold good pace. I knew Felipe was closing in on me, so I just tried to hold on to around a 7 minute pace. The aid stations felt like they were taking forever to get to. It was hot and I was freakin' tired.
Ok, Felipe caught me at mile 8, and he was cruisin'. I knew I couldn't hold his pace, so I was content with holding onto third at that point. To be honest, I really just wanted to get to the finish line. So a few miles later, I noticed Felipe wasn't going any faster than me. The heat must have been taking a toll on him, too. I thought "What the hell, I'm already near death, I might as well see if I can go faster"...so I picked up the pace to see what would happen.
As I approached mile 12, I noticed I wasn't making up enough ground, so I just settled into a pace that I knew would get me to the finish standing. As I approached the finish, I saw my boys along the side of the road chearing me on, so that made me smile...A couple of high 5's and I tried to hold my best form for the camera. Run Split: 1:34:11 (ouch!!)
Total time was 4:26:49
9 minutes faster than my previous attempts at this race, so I'm happy. It was in much tougher conditions, too.
An IV, 1 Pepsi, 1 Sunkist, 2 Chicken Sandwiches, 1 Gatorade, 3 cookies, and 3 beers later...I felt like a million bucks : )
I was given an award for Top Amateur and received the title that I'm getting tattooed on my behind. I am also getting a cool trophy to add to the collection. Oh yeah, got a check too, but I had to hand that over to my better half. It covered the race fee and some gas $$. Really cool, though : )
Anyway, I'm tired now. Have to try and recover for next weekend's Festival of Flowers Int'l distance race. It has a stacked field, and I have to figure out how to get these dead legs to wake up before then.
Later.
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