In just two short days I will be toeing the line of my first 70.3!! Challenge Atlantic City half is on sunday and I am a ball of nerves/excitement.
The race season does not begin there however, it began two weekends ago at the Escape The Cape triathlon down in Cape May NJ. Many of you may have heard of this iconic race where the start is from the back of a ferry boat! Its pretty sweet, a little scary and a ton of fun all at the same time!
I was wondering how this race would go because I have been training a lot different that before. For one I had a plan, normally I would just swim bike and run three days a week and rest one but it wasn't really structured. The other thing was that I was training for a half and that was WAY different than training for short course racing.
The morning started a little rough with a down pour. I was in transition and I remember saying to myself this sucks and I started letting it get to me and I stopped. I knew I couldn't let myself get that negative on race morning so I just embraced it. Unfortunately we had about a 30min delay getting out of the terminal. When it comes to the swim I made two key mistakes again this year. Mistake number 1 bring more food. I had breakfast at 4:15 and then one cliff bar 4 hours later. For me that isn't enough. Number two get off the boat early. Once the international athletes start jumping I need to be down low on the dock and ready to go (more on that later). Either way, amazingly fun way to start a race and you honestly cannot beat it!
Now for the bike.....eh is my feeling on my performance here and it is mostly due to rain and crowds. Because I was in the back of the pack on the boat, most people were out on the bike course along with the international athletes. On top of this the course was wet. I am not a risk taker on the bike, its just not my style. I race, I push but I will always reach for my break going into a turn and there were people who didn't want to do that. I remember this guy specifically who would pass me on the outside at every turn and then I would get him on the flat. Coming into one of the final turns he took it way too high, lost control, crossed into the on coming cyclists and then into the guardrail he went. Just not cool and that made me hold back on the bike a bit more than I wanted to.
On to the run and I'll be honest with all of you about this run course because I love you....It SUCKS! There are two sand runs for the sprint course and I am not talking nice flat hard sand runs, NO! soft sand, high dune, full suck runs. I was holding a good pace on the flats but those sand runs just punished me. I could remember looking down at my watch and just thinking man this isn't gonna cut it today. The owner of my company has a house right along the run course though and it was super rad to hear him yelling out there. I could remember hit the turn and heading back and thinking I couldn't let him see the struggle! Pull it together!! I got back on to the road and I knew I had 800 meters to go and I just dropped it and went for it. I almost collapsed after crossing the line and that's how it should be.
Once I handed in my chip and got some water and settled it was time to hit the results tent.....Well it was time for someone else to hit the results tent. For whatever reason I like the element of surprise so I have someone check it for me and let me know if I need to stay for awards or not. I knew I had to stay but I had no idea where I stacked up against my field.
They went through the international awards first and then went from oldest to youngest. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I knew in the back of my head I was going to get my time on the stage but I just wanted to know if I was going to get to step on that RedBull podium for top 3! Finally my AG came up and I made my way towards the stage. They started with 5th, not me, then 4th not me and I knew right there I would get to stand on the podium. I took 3rd overall and I was happy. I wanted to have times closer to 1st and 2nd but I had to tell myself that training for long course is way different than training for the short course. I was satisfied with my times but for my later season short course stuff I really need some speed work and hard runs off the bike if I want that top spot!
For now it is on to Challenge Half in a few days and like I said at the start I am just a ball full of all kinds of emotions. There are a lot of unknown factors that come with a new distance but I am sure that I followed my plan and it will just be another day at the office on Sunday. If you are interested in tracking me you can find me on the other social media forms!
Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself!
