Onward and upward. There is no rest for the wicked. For me I only have a few weeks and it was back to racing again. This time it was Jersey State olympic distance. This was a race that I did last year and I did very well here so I was pumped to go back. This is a very competitive race and I was really ready to go out there and drop the hammer coming off of my fitness from 70.3 training.
This was an olympic race, I had been here before and I was super excited. I had a few race nerves but I was ready to go. I knew which restaurant I was having dinner at, we got to the hotel. Everything went well. En route to the race we passed a tree down in the road and I didn't think anything of it. Little did I know this was right in the middle of the bike course so this meant a shortened bike course(foreshadowing for a later decision fyi).
I got suited up and headed over toward the swim start. I watched my buddy go off with the elites and I just couldn't believe how some of those dudes were flying through the water. Next thing I knew it was my turn to go. So waddled down like a penguin in a flock getting ready to jump in. I jumped in and did a few strokes up to the line. The water was great and it was go time. I could hear my Dad whistling for me from the start, I had no idea they were coming so that was a pretty rad feeling. The gun went off and there we went. Swim felt great. I didn't crush my time from last year but it was right around the same but this year was without a wetsuit which made me feel pretty good. I still have a lot of work to do on my swim though.
From there it was off on the bike. I knew that the course was shortened by three miles and I decided to hammer my bike and just hold on for the 10k. Well hammer I did. I think at the end of the day I held somewhere around 24-25 mph for the bike leg of this race. I hammered it alright and I wasn't even ready for the pain of this run.
The pain came and it came quick. The heat was almost unbearable, I am not using that as an excuse because everyone had to battle the heat, however I did not fair well. It became clear that I was not going to PR this run very early on so I went into survival mode. I poured ice anywhere and everywhere I could, I drank water and I covered myself in towels. Thankfully Stefan found me from earlier. He pushed me along for a few miles and was very helpful.
Stefan however faired much better than I on the bike and so he lost me soon after. I crossed the line and felt defeated. Not in a good way though but in the man, I just messed that one up and I shouldn't have done that kind of way. But hey you live and you learn, I realized that my the nutrition attack I had for this day didn't work, I realized I couldn't push the bike that hard in the heat and most important I realized I had an amazing support system in people I might only see at races.
Thank you John and Stefan for helping me through this run, Thanks Mom, Dad and Jamee for coming out to support again and thank you to my sponsors and supports for enabling me to do something I love!
Next up is Atlantic City International Tri and I'll give you a sneak peak, its a good one!
Until next time my friends,
Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself.
