When the 2016 tri season started I had no intentions of doing any half iron distance races. Over the past few years, I’ve been racing on average 3 halfs and I really wanted my year to be about building speed and achieving the sub 2hr Olympic distance race. If you’ve read any of my past race reports or seen results from this year, you know I have been fairly successful at building speed coming off exclusively racing long course triathlon, but came up very short of the breaking the 2hr mark this year.

All I can say is, learn from your mistakes. After a less than stellar performance at Nationals in Omaha, I decided to reanalyze everything that could have possibly affected my performance. I also decided to extend my season into the fall signing up for a half iron race knowing the fitness level was there and that I would need to build some extra base mileage over the next 5 weeks to try and end the year on a high note.

Hydration and nutrition are pretty much what got me at Nationals, other stresses and some overtraining were also definitely some of the factors. For this half, I really decided to stick to the training plan, not pushing too hard on easy days and if I wasn’t feeling it on a specific workout, I’d bail and do something comparable or shorter. With my built up fitness, I was still only training 9-10hrs per weeks with targeted workouts for each discipline.  

In the weeks leading up to my race, I did most of my training solo. I really tried to be in the moment, staying focused on the workout and actually enjoying it all. I did a few workouts with Coach Ben and teammate Holly which were a good change to grueling it alone. The focus on stretching, strength training was also important. Typically later in the season, the core and weight lifting workouts don’t happen as often, but over the 5 weeks I really tried to get in 1-2 50min gym session in to supplement the tri training. These we all for the most part low weight (20-25lbs free weight) with high rep style exercise, with a focus on form. I know this is something I need to continue in the off season looking at 2017.

Race week, I took my taper very seriously! No extra miles, no unnecessary time spent standing. Got on average 8-9hrs of sleep each night and come race morning I felt great. I’ll say it again, but the local racing was very enjoyable this season, the extra stresses of bike traveling with you or making sure you know where things are located in case of potential mechanical issues aren’t even on your mind and make for a more relaxing race experience.

Race morning Tori kindly drove us to Rock Hall, MD site of the Waterman’s race weekend with VTSMTS series. This was my second trip racing in Rock Hall this season and have raced past race a couple of times so I am very familiar with the venue and course which always helps. I setup my transition area and went to warm up before my 8am race wave start. I found Holly who was equally racing and we each went into our own warm up zone. The weather on the east coast had been questionable for days, and I had almost been expecting the race to cancel the swim portion like Ironman Maryland had to do. Luckily this didn’t happen and the water temp was 70F. I opted to use the Xterra Speedsuit like in the spring to save time in transition. Right before entering the water, I ran into friend Vincenzo who was also racing. We joked around and he told me not to swim to fast to give him a shot in the race.

The horn went off and I immediately regretted wearing my clear blue goggles that I thought would help me sight buoys better, but the grey overcast sky made it difficult to find them in the distance. The swim is in a protected harbor in Rock Hall which is why the race was able to have the swim considering the terrible weather forecasted, however the entrance of the harbor channel was quite choppy for about 100m on each lap with 1-2 foot swells. I ended coming through transition 1 in 28:53 even after stopping momentarily 5 times to sight and clear foggy goggles.  I was pretty happy to have stayed course and was told I was in 5 position running down the boardwalk. I quickly made my way through T1 and came out in 3rd position.

Within the first 5 miles I caught the second place biker and would spend most of the next 53miles mostly alone. The course was 2 loops and the first 10miles of each loop was extremely windy. I was testing out a new Rudy Project Wing57 aerohelmet for the first time which worked great. However I had not secured the visor properly and with the strong winds, I had to stop for 30 seconds to fix it, nevertheless I came through the first 24miles in 1hr flat; I knew I had to slow down or I would be cooked for the run.  

I had taken 2x 20oz bottles of GU Roctane energy mix and 5 Roctane gels flushed down with sips of water for the bike leg. I thought my nutrition was pretty spot on until I hit mile 48. Luckily I had a strong tailwind pushing me, but I had overcooked the bike. My quads were getting tight and by mile 53 I heard a bike passing me, it was Vincenzo. I told him he was in first of second spot since I hadn’t seen anyone pass me, and that I was bonking.  I focused on finishing water and maintaining a smooth pedal stroke using the upstroke to maintain power and stay within reach of him going into transition with a bike leg PR of 2:22:30, normalized power of 250W at 23.5mph average on a fairly windy day.

We both entered transition, I grabbed my race belt and realized I had forgot to layout my GU carb drink bottle, but I exited 1 minute before him and started running at 6:45/mile. By the first mile, my quads weren’t happy, I had already used one Roctane gel exiting transition and knew I would need more than 2 for this half marathon if I wanted break 1:30 off the bike (something that has been eluding me ever since I started doing half irons). Vincenzo came by at 1.5 miles and had stopped momentarily to pound and massage my cramping quads. He gave me one of his extra gels and told me to keep pushing. After having the gel, I slowly picked it up to a 6:30 pace trying to stay with him before backing off and staying steady at 6:40 until mile 7. I was using each water stop for Gatorade. At the halfway mark I was at 43:45 and I know I could run under 1:30 but it would be close. The next 10k was mental fight of gauging effort and keeping my running form in check to avoid quad spasms from ruining the rest of the day. I looked at my Garmin and could only watch as my pace got slower to 6:56 overall pace. I came across the line in 1:30:42, just missing that run goal but with a huge 10 minute personal best since Raleigh 70.3 the year before.       
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Knowing that I had run a 4:25:22 and had gotten 3rd place behind 2 Pros (7min back from Vincenzo in 2nd and 12min from Todd in 1st place) was a great feeling. I was ecstatic to have finally been able to tie all 3 disciplines together and end my 2016 on a high note after great disappointment at Nationals. 50 minutes later Holly came across the finishline in first place for the women’s race under 5hrs mark, something she hadn’t yet done. It was a great weekend for both of us and huge thanks goes to Ben Bartlett for coaching this season, we are both proof of his success as a multisport coach. Huge thanks to all the family and friends who I’ve been able visit, train and have cheer me on this year, I really appreciate all the Love. As the 2016 season comes to an end for me, I’ve decided to take 3 months off to let my energy bank rebuild for 2017, hoping to fatten us for the winter too, you know I’ll be eating those Cheez-Its!!

​4:25:22 (S: 28:53 T1: 1:40 B: 2:23:05 T2: 1:04 R: 1:30.42)

It’s been a few weeks since I completed my first ever SwimRun event and I’ve had some time to think and digest it all. Over the last weekend the World Championship of SwimRun better known as Otillo took place. This Race is brutal! It’s a one-day SwimRun race in the archipelago of Stockhom with a total distance is 75 KM of which 10 km are open-water swimming and 65 km are trail-running. The course record was smashed by nearly 16min with the team of two coming across the finish line in just under 8hrs; Truly a remarkable effort, maybe someday I’ll give it a shot if I can find a willing partner!

Coming off of a disappointing finish in Omaha at Triathlon Age Group Nationals, the Garden State Swim Run was a nice change of pace. I had decided to sign up for the Elite race which consisted of two 6.25mile swimrun loops including 4 swim and 4 single track trail runs (a little over 2 mile swim and 10.5miles trail run). I had done some research about whether to use paddle and pool buoy to assist with my floatation since you end up swimming with your shoes on, but decided that I was confident enough to race with neither. 12mile was nothing close to the 75k Otillo and I figured I’d be just fine.

Morning of the race, Tori her Mother and I got there and noticed almost all the racers had both Paddles and Buoys. When I saw this, I thought to myself: ‘Darn, I knew I should have brought them!’ .The race was setup with a one loop option and a two loop option, which I was doing. There ended being about 25people  doing the Elite two loop race and 45 doing the single loop amateur race.

The beginning of the race was a mass start. We all quickly ran a half mile and entered the water for the first swim section.  I was in third but was shortly passed a couple dozen other athletes with paddles and buoys. At this point early on, I wasn’t worried and really just wanted to focus on enjoying the first experience since the race was out of my control.

After the first 2 swims (combining for 1k), we hit the longer trail sections (2 and 2.5mile). I had previously drilled some drainage holes in my trail shoes to help make the shoes lighter to shed some of the water weight. I decided the run in Saucony Peregrine since I knew they would have an edge on control and traction as well as protect my feet on the technical trails over the lighter density foam shoes. It was in fact true, many new comers to trail running did get pretty banged up on this trail, but I was loving it and not having any issues with the trails.

I passed nearly 10 people and by the second long trail section I was being I told I was in 3rd place for the Elite race. I could definitely feel the heavy weight of my feet every time I exited the water. Kicking with shoes on itself was a workout, so I know I was losing a ton of energy without the help of a buoy between my legs. Every run, I would get closer and at the swim the 2 racers ahead would pull away again. The last run section I pushed hard knowing the race end ended with a short 150m swim, but I stayed in 3rd which was a great surprise when I had had no expectations. Ended up with even split of the course, which I didn’t think I’d do given the leg fatigue towards the beginning of the final access road hill. Finished in 2:21:21, 10min back from first and 4min back from second place both of which were equipped with the needed SwimRun gear.

When it’s all said and done, I walked away with a new great experience that will help me in the next one and a 32Oz growler as a podium prize (this should be all the prizes at all race in my opinoin, great choice by the Garden State SwimRun Staff!). If I am able, I will definitely try this race again next year. It was very well orchestrated in its’ first edition. I hope to see more SwimRun format races pop up in the US in the coming years, especially if I get to enjoy a double IPA with a box of Cheez-It afterwards! 

10 months ago, I set my sights on racing at USAT Nationals in Omaha. My focus on speed in my training came along very nicely throughout the season in the lead-up to racing against the Country’s top Age Group Athletes. A couple overall victories at some local race, a few PR, and some great results in WO had me feeling very good about the prospect of making Team USA in 25-29 Age Group to race in Rotterdam next September.

Looking at past year’s results and my personal experience at USAT Nationals race, I knew I’d have to be right under 2 hours. In Milwaukee, I had race a 2:08 for 50th, winning time was 1:52 so I was hoping to shed 10min. This year USAT move Nationals to a new venue in Omaha for a 3 year stint on the Nebraska-Iowa border at Carter Lake north of the city.

First thought that comes to mind when you hear Nebraska and August is: HOOOT!! And that it didn’t disappoint. In the weeks leading up the race we were getting emails and notifications about water temps being at 85F; days prior the Midwest had a heat wave taking temperature into the 110F range with heat index. I also knew based on the last 2 years, starting Championship Races in August in the later 25-29 age group waves, there would be no sheltering us from the mid-day heat that we were certain to encounter with a 9:30am start in Omaha.

The last few week of training, I did extensive heat training running in the middle of the day in the sun, all while making sure fluids and calories were going in. Almost 300hrs of swim, bike, run training this year and managed to stay fairly injury free so I’m very thankful of that!

Tori and I travelled to Omaha for a mini 4 day vacation. I got my Chamois Butt’r taken at TSA, when it’s never been an issue before.  I was pretty mad, but new I’d probably find some at the race. We arrived early Thursday, walked around Omaha, visited the botanical garden, and enjoyed some of the Old Market area. Our friend James arrived a few hours later and Him and I talked about what our race day schedule and transition/bike gear check would be in the morning after we reassembled our bikes in our hotel rooms.

On Friday morning we got up and did a shake-out bike to run brick. We scoped out the bike, transition, and run courses. Nearing the end of the ride after a few accelerations to make certain my bike was ready to go full throttle in and out of turns, I ripped my rear derailleur hanger bracket right off the frame. Until this point I had been noticing some odd clicking sounds but decided I would take a look at it after the ride. It turns out the bracket had been damage during the fight even though I had packaged and padded the new bike in the travel bag. That clearly ended the ride.

 I was lucky that James was with me and it was still early in the morning so we called the Sleep Inn Hotel courtesy shuttle, awesome the whole weekend BTW, and we had the Green St Cycles to hopefully get a replacement bracket. Luckily they had not opened yet and I was second in line, they were also a Specialized Bike retailer so they had the part on hand.  I was also able to get Chamois Butt’r for the race, which is essential to a happy ride. 30min later we were out of the store and back to hotel to finish our pre-race run.

We then rode our bikes over to packet pickup/transition area, checked out the athlele village and racked our bike overnight. James and I had a slow 2 mile walk back to the Hotel all the while wishing we would be racing on this nice towpath around the periphery of the lake instead of a dusty industrial out and back street the venue had selected; compared to Milwaukee, we both thought the run course was nothing special. We all got an early dinner in the Old Market area at Spaghetti Works and heading back to watch some Olympic coverage before hitting the sack for an early start!

Race morning we had scheduled a 6:30 shuttle to the race site. James was in the first 7:30am wave and I was to start at 8:48am. As it turned out, the race had to be delayed 20 minutes because too many athletes weren’t at the site yet. This made me a little mad, hitting the run course when it would be that much warmer out, and the run course was a death march/no shade type of course that would get very crowded.

As I got into transition, I setup my area fairly quickly, I inflated my tires that I had deflated the night before and noticed that with the morning dew that was covering my bike, it’s seemed that I had a slow leak, little air bubble trickling out between the rim and the tubular on my front wheel. I put as much pressure in it and headed over to James to tell him. I was ready to just race on it, but when we returned a few minutes the tire was completely flat.

Now it was time to scramble to find another wheel and I had 4 minute before transition closed. At this point, I was thinking to myself: ‘maybe you just aren’t meant to race today, the broken derailleur hanger yesterday, now the tire not holding pressure’…but I wanted to race, I wasn’t coming to all the way to Omaha and have all my training go to waste. I hurdled the transition fences with James following and headed straight to the only remaining service tent. Everything was put away, everyone was gone. I found the only mechanic left and told him that I needed a wheel to race on and transition was closing in 2 minutes. I didn’t know if I could make it.

He was awesome and kindly lent me a Shimano alloy wheel for the event. I thanked him immensely! I asked him if he needed any deposit or ID and he just said looking at my shirt: ‘I’ll remember you’re the Cheez-It’ guy, just bring it back when you’re done!’ That’s right I said, I had bit of a smile on my face despite all the stress this pre-race running around was causing me. Now I had to get backed fast. I hurdled the 400m back to transition to install the wheel and inflated the tire just as transition was closing. Couldn’t have made it any closer!  

I was pretty mentally exhausted after all of this, but knew I wouldn’t be racing for another 1.5 hrs and just had to get back in the race mindset. James’ wave 1 went off, and Tori and I waited to catch him heading out on the bike course. I then did a 15 minute run warm-up with strides before getting into the water. The water had cooled down but was still around 82 degrees so it was a No Wetsuit swim. I continued my warm-up in the water on the opposite side of the race pier for 5 more minutes with some acceleration.  At 9:20 the horn went off.

Comparatively to other Nationals, all started in a line with a hand on the pier. The swim was an out and back 2 buoy swim. I went out fast, glanced at the watch at after the first turn at was right on 10minutes in, I was on a great pace! The return wasn’t as perfect; the sun’s reflection in the water made it difficult to sight well even with UV reflective goggle lenses. In the end I ended swimming about 90-100yds more coming out of the water in 22:45, so 1:30 slower that what I’d hoped. I ran through transition, my front loaner wheel was still inflated!

Heading out onto the Bike I realized I’d hit ‘Stop’ instead of Lap on my watch. I had decided to race with a second watch just in case to not be racing blindly like an earlier season duathlon. I got out of T1 in 1:51 and headed on the bike course. The race official had decided to put a 20 minute buffer between us and the previous wave to help thin out the swim and the bike course for us since the 25-29 is typically the most competitive at Nationals. I my opinion this did very little, the bike course was crowded during bike legs. Sometime 3 wide, trying not to go over the double yellow line proved difficult. The major obstacles were 2x 10percent hills that ended making most of the field slow down considerably. The bike course ended being 24.85 miles which could have easily been made to exactly 24 miles on an out and back course. Came off the bike in 1:04:18 (24miles in 1:01).

I know coming into 2nd transition that this wouldn’t be a sub-2hr day, I was feeling pretty good, I think I was 16th. I knew I just needed to hunt people down, working a steady pace. Unfortunately half mile in, my hydration efforts started working against me. I had about 20oz water and carbs on the bike and they just weren’t sitting well in my stomach. Every stride became a struggle, feeling like I was punched in the gut and getting the wind knocked out of me. The run was also an out and back course alone an industrial road that the day prior James and I had been blasted by dust by passing trucks. By the time I hit the run, it was 85F with heat index close to 100F and all in the sun. I struggle through the first 4 miles trying to keep the pace up around 7:10, my 5k was a 21:55. I slowly started feeling better by mile 5 and really pushed to finish around 5:40mile pace. In the end, was a 42 minute flat for a total time of 2:12:18 for 32nd place in my age group.

Key take-aways from this race are that I was very lucky to even make it to the startline on this day given mechanical issues days and minutes prior, my health has been great throughout my race season and I’m so very thankful for all the support from family, coach, and friends far and near. I know the course was about 6.5 minutes slower than previous years based on the winner time comparatively and I wasn’t able to deliver on the run, so when all those stars align I will get my sub-2hr race! I was disappointed with my performance but nothing a box of Cheez-It’s can’t help you get over… 
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I haven’t decided yet what is on the schedule for 2017. I’ve decided to close out the season with a Half and will be hammering for the next 5 week to build on Olympic speed. I also have to get caught up on the food blog/Cheez Mealz section, so stay tuned for some of those throughout the fall. 

2:12:18 (S: 22:45 T1: 1:51 B: 1:04:18 T2: 1:25 R: 42:01)

10 weeks away from your next race can feel like forever, so after racing a Sprint in Richmond in mid-June, I toyed with the idea of one more test race in the lead up to USAT Nationals. Finding something local that fit my schedule was key and decided to wait until the week of  and see how my training was going before signing up for the Maryland Duathlon Olympic Distance (specific course 2R/26B/4R).
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Since my last sprint tri canceled the swim, I was now doing back to back duathlon races. I feel more confident than ever in my run, and with the addition of a new bike that I was planning on getting last year before 70.3 Worlds but just didn’t get around to it, I know I was going to have a good training race. The primary reasons for adding the race so late in the game was get the bike fit dialed in and really working my bike to run for Nationals in the heat. I also realized that there was price money at this race and went to sign up for what I thought was the open division to be in the running for it. As I found out the hard way, open men is not synonymous to open division or elite. But now to the race recap.

Another enjoyable 4:30am wake-up call to drive out 40min to Columbia where the Maryland Duathlon was taking place. It was an unconventional Olympic Distance 2mile run, 26mile bike, 4mile run and it was pretty hilly. The last few months I have been training all around the Maryland and Virginia and getting some great practice on the hills so this course nothing new to me. Definitely the best thing about the duathlon is you can setup your transition area in 3mins and you’re ready to race.

Once all setup, I did a warmup with Tori in the neighboring streets the race site; almost a full 20min and planned it right this time to make the start on time. The Elite wave, which I should have been in, went off at 7am, open men’s 3 minutes later at 7:03. I took the lead immediately from the first 1/4mile. First mile downhill was a speedy 5:13, next mile up was a 6:40, the 2mile course ended being about long 0.1miles (11:56 for 2.1mile). Entering transition I caught some elite men and women and was out quickly to attack the 2x 13mile loops rolling hills bike course.

A few days before the race, I did some threshold efforts to help me dial in my bike fit. I was very happy during the race with my seat and aerobar reach adjustments. I will most likely make additional changes as I get closer to Nationals in 3 weeks. My pedal stroke was smooth on the climbs and efforts felt controlled. I enjoyed pushing the rolling hills breathing in the smelly fresh country air. I came through the first loop in 35min and then bairly negative split the 26.5miles in 1:07:48. At the end of the bike leg, I passed a number of elite wave racers and came into transition ready to tackle the hilly 4mile double loop.

It was pretty warm on Sunday, in the 90’s and a ton of humidity by the time the race got under way. I had planned to aim for 6min/miles but at mile 2 a quad cramp slowed me down. I took in some fluids and some GU Roctane and carbs mix I was running with and went back at it on the second loop. I passed a few more people and finished the .22mile long course in 26:35 (6:18mile/pace). Total time was 1:48:16, about 7min ahead of the next Open Men’s finisher. I stood in the finish line shoot and congratulated all the runner as they came in. I then went for a quick cool down.

This was a training race for me but there a slight disappointment that I had not signed up in the correct division and gotten to battle for the prize money. In the end 1st Overall in the open men’s and 4th overall including elite wave is a great result. Focus from here on out is pushing the bike to run. I always try to have fun and be thankful I am able to keep striving for greater goal. That means a lot more hours and a whole ton calories and electrolytes…had to go buy the Family Cheez-It Box yesterday, just eat so many these days!! 

​Robious Landing Tri is a very fun sprint race with a longer than normal 18 miles bike, it ends up being a great practice race for Olympic distance. This was my third trip down to Richmond to race it and I definitely had high expectation for myself going into the race. The focus on training has been on bike and run in the last few weeks since Rock Hall. I am still training about 9-11hrs/week and getting my swims in with mostly speed focus aiming for that 21min 1500m swim at Nationals. I knew that some of the top guys in Mid-Atlantic would be there, and I had to be on my game.

After making the 4.5hr trip in heavy traffic on Saturday while eating a few handfuls of Cheez-Its, was very happy to be in Richmond. Tori and I ended up having a delicious Pasta Dinner at Edo’s with friends Kelly and Lina, who was also racing and planning her race before Para-Nationals in Santa Cruz. It’s always a great to see a friend racing well and being able to share a race together!

Race morning, we got word from the race director that the water level in the James River had risen so much that the debris and strong currents made the swim course unsafe for all. The 650m swim was switched into a 0.9 mile trail run making the event a duathlon. After checking in and setting up my transition area, the 7am start was fast approaching. It was a cool, muggy morning and the fog was thick. Tori warmed up with me briefly for 10 minutes; I remarked that the trail run in the foggy woods and on the roads would be interesting and a challenge. I definitely know I didn’t get enough warm up in (something to focus on for Nationals for sure), but knew I wanted to be towards the front of the run start and had to get there earlier rather than later.  

At the run start they decided to put us in wave of 8 leaving 30 seconds apart. I was in the second wave and took the lead in that wave running the 0.9 mile in 4:54 while nearly getting taken out by a few roots and low branches in the process. As I came into transition, I realized my watch had somehow frozen or malfunctioned in the multisport setting and realized I’d be racing blind since I was unable to reset it. Not what I’d planned, but I know I could go off perceived effort. I was only a few bike lengths behind the past winner and my legs already felt terrible. As I tried to keep him in clear view through the dense fog, 3miles in I could no longer see him. I felt like I was working so hard, my pedal strokes seemed uneven, I tried to remain focused looking ahead only able to see 20-30feet. I should have known better than to wear my sunglasses, the bike course was a foggy mess and I eventually tucked them into me trisuit. As I came into T2 I saw a clock around 55 minutes in, bike split was in fact 49:08 and 2 minutes slower than the past event. That’s when I realized how much I had severely underestimated my effort. I was nearly 4 min back from 2nd place heading into the run.

I headed out of T2 hard and ran on effort on the winding single track trails adjacent to the James River. I was about half a mile back at the turn around. Tori and Kelly were on the course cheering and giving me updates as I kept pushing. There we’re a few guys behind that we closing fast and I knew they had had a great bike split. I crossed the line in 3rd and waited for the later waves to come in. I was immediately handed a read out of my split by Go to 11 Racing team member and saw I had run a 17:24 off the bike. I was thrilled, something that I have been struggling for years was my bike to run and I was finally able to get into the groove and crush a run.

I ended up 4th out placing 5th place by only half a second. The net result was 4th Overall and 1st in the 25-29 Age Group. I know I hadn’t had anything close to my last bike performance at Rock Hall; I came out of it fairly content with my effort and feeling it was another good workout race in the lead-up to Nationals.

I ended finding the Girls and we went onto the course to cheer Lina along the run as she finished her race strong. Some things went well, others didn’t but I had a great time out there and got to see friends! At this point, I am uncertain if I will try to squeeze in another race as a workout or mainly focus on the training for the next 6 weeks. Big thanks to Coach Ben for helping me stay focused on the goal and Tori and Kelly for waking early on a Sunday morning. One thing is for sure, Cheez-It will be along for the journey!!

1:12:50  (R1:4:54 T1:0:48 B:49:08 T2:0:38 R2:17:24)  

​With early season focus on distance swimming and running speed work, I was very happy to finally get into my triathlon racing season this past weekend. After running the Boston 5k over 6weeks ago, I had a bit of soreness in the right shin and decided to take a few weeks off the track and take a break from speed workouts to let it recover. I was finally able to get back onto the bike saddle more consistently and worked on increasing bike and easy run mileage over the last 4-5 weeks.
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This season, my training has been quite different with such a late start to triathlon. I have been more relaxed, trying to limit racing and traveling and staying focused on the training. I’ve had a few good weeks in the pool, track, and on the trainer and open road depending on the weather. I was very happy a few weeks ago with 4x mile repeats in the 5:30 range after not having done any run based workouts and most importantly no shin pain! I tried not to overdo training leading up to and during my taper week and felt pretty ready to test my abilities going into Rock Hall.  

Race morning, I can never seem to get much food in me, it may be that we got up at 4am had to drive 2h to the race. Once at the race site, did all the usual transition check-in and setup. It was really great to show up and be done with setup in 5min, which is a stark contrast to most of the races I did last year. It’s been raining on off for a number of weeks now, but water temp was 78 so just barely wetsuit legal. I opted for the Xterra shorty speedsuit this time since I was a little concerned with overheating. Ended up doing a quick 8min warm-up with Tori and a few strides after that and headed to the race start. I was feeling pretty sluggish at this point, a little tired too.

Wave 1 went off and I started the 2 lap swim. I realized after the first lap and emptying my leaky goggles twice that this wouldn’t be a fast swim. I kept going hard on the second lap around the Rock Hall Harbor where now all swimmers were on the course. I was pacing 1:20/100yds and kept maneuvering around people and emptying out my leaky goggles 2 more times before the swim was done. All in all, my GPS had me at 1950yds in 26min. After looking at other GPS athletes trackers, the course seems long by anywhere from 250-300yds. At this point I was a little upset with my swim, I didn’t really know how much extra I had swam or taken the time to look at my pace, but I knew it wasn’t the 21-22min 1500m I was aiming for. Tori told me I was 7th as I ran to T1 .15mile run up the pier. The shorty was a great decision for a fast transition.

As I headed onto the bike course I passed someone right away, then another a few miles after and then stayed tucked in aero in my big ring. I had a strong nutrition plan for this humid and hot day, 4 Roctane GU’s and 16oz energy carb drink for about 750calories combined.  At 12miles I was averaging 25.3mph and realized I should probably slow it down a bit since I didn’t think I would be able to sustain the effort. Took a right turn and rod past Nicholson raceway and got pounded by some strong gusts of wind for a few minutes which slowed me down naturally. At this point I hadn’t passed anyone since mile 2 so I assumed whoever was in front was going the same pace as me. As I headed back towards Rock Hall, I spotted a bike and motorcycle in the distance; I passed at mile 18 and realized I was now in 1st behind the lead motorcycle. The whole race I hadn’t had a clue where I was in the field of athletes. I knew there would be some great athletes out, but had not expected to be in the lead myself. There is certain sense of relief and energy being behind the lead motorcycle and I kept my pedal strokes strong and smooth coming into T2 in 59:11 (24.3mph). I was so happy to have been under the hour mark! Quick T2 and off on the run.

As I excited T2 and headed on the run course, I heard an announcement of the second athlete coming into transition about 45sec behind me. I knew I had to keep it even on the 10k or try to negative split. 6:08 mile 1 and I could see someone behind me at the turnaround. I started to have some abdominal discomfort possibly from ingesting harbor water during the swim rich in bacteria. Was it too good to be true?! First loop was 19:10, I pushed harder trying not to focus on the gut pain and taking in water at each aid station. With half a mile to go no one had caught up to me yet and I went for a final surge into the finish, last mile in 6:05. 10k in 38:10 and overall 2:05:55. I knew I still had to wait for later waves athletes to finish before securing the overall victory. 2nd place finisher ran a 36min 10k and finished 2min behind. I had beaten him last year at General Smallwood Olympic for the overall win there as well. It’s a good feeling when that happens, since I know he is a great triathlete and I know I will be racing him in Omaha in August again for Team USA Slot.
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I want say that I’m so thankful to be healthy right now and able to push myself to achieve such a results. I’ve really learned it’s about being consistent in my training, which is not always something I prioritized. Great thanks to Family, Friends, Coach and especially Tori who drove me and has to deal with my Cheez-It stories on a daily basis. She did get a free Ice Cream out of it!    
2:05:55 (S:26:08 T1:1:44 B:59:11 T2:0:40 R:38:11)