Since the last race I've put much more running training in my schedule along with some very hard efforts on the bike. Due to work I wasn't able to get down as early as I wanted to the day before the race to get my packet and check my bike in so I had to do everything the morning of which didn't allow me to get any warm up in other than the one mile hike from parking to transition. The wind was insane the morning of the race coming straight off the ocean which meant we were going to have a direct head wind the first half of the bike course. With how the course was set up you weren't able to see the swim course until it was your wave to start and the walked you down a set of steps into the water.
First couple steps into the water there were giant roots and the water was only waist deep. I was in the first wave of the Olympic+ distance but the fifth overall wave out. The course looked very short and I could see people standing at the turn buoy of half iron course (Yes! the water was that shallow over the whole distance). As the gun went off I jumped in towards the front only to find my arms hitting the ground because the water was so shallow. It got a little deeper after the first turn so I was able to swim a little more until we caught a bunch of the slower half iron people that were trying to walk/swim which turned into a very congested swim course. As I was getting out of the water one of the roots bit my foot which left two nice cuts on my feet. I ran up the stairs and made it through T1 without any problems.
As soon as I jumped on my bike all I could hear was the wind howling like crazy. I just tried to keep my head as low as possible and keep my power within check and not get to caught up with how fast or slow I was going. I was able to roll past a few people right out of the gate. I ran a group of three down around mile 8 and decided to hold there and save some for after the turnaround. The four of us quickly became only two, we averaged 19 to the turnaround, I counted 4 in front of me at the turnaround. The second I made the turn I was at 29mph with no problem only pushing 180 watts. I averaged 26 back to T2 and held 5th, I also had the 5th fastest split for the day which was really exciting along with my highest 20 minute power average to date (242). I can't thank the OpenRoad Bicycles Fleming Island group enough for all the help over the past year. Rolling into T2, I had my feet out of my shoes about to dismount and my right shoes hit the ground just right and ejected into the ditch. I just left it and figured I'd get it after the race.
T2 took a few seconds longer than I wanted since I had a harder time finding the row I was racked on. Socks on, Shoes on and I was on my way. My goal was not to get caught up looking at my watch and my pace and to just run and finish strong. I didn't feel the greatest the first two miles but I slowly found my stride and felt much better after the 5K mark. I ran the whole time and didn't have to walk at all like the last Olympic Race. I felt much better and I was able to end the race season on a solid note and have a good base to work on over winter.
5/8 Mile Swim- 15:29
T1- 1:47
30 Mile Bike- 1:20:34
T2- 2:16
10K Run- 55:34
23/254 Overall
2nd in Age Group
First couple steps into the water there were giant roots and the water was only waist deep. I was in the first wave of the Olympic+ distance but the fifth overall wave out. The course looked very short and I could see people standing at the turn buoy of half iron course (Yes! the water was that shallow over the whole distance). As the gun went off I jumped in towards the front only to find my arms hitting the ground because the water was so shallow. It got a little deeper after the first turn so I was able to swim a little more until we caught a bunch of the slower half iron people that were trying to walk/swim which turned into a very congested swim course. As I was getting out of the water one of the roots bit my foot which left two nice cuts on my feet. I ran up the stairs and made it through T1 without any problems.
As soon as I jumped on my bike all I could hear was the wind howling like crazy. I just tried to keep my head as low as possible and keep my power within check and not get to caught up with how fast or slow I was going. I was able to roll past a few people right out of the gate. I ran a group of three down around mile 8 and decided to hold there and save some for after the turnaround. The four of us quickly became only two, we averaged 19 to the turnaround, I counted 4 in front of me at the turnaround. The second I made the turn I was at 29mph with no problem only pushing 180 watts. I averaged 26 back to T2 and held 5th, I also had the 5th fastest split for the day which was really exciting along with my highest 20 minute power average to date (242). I can't thank the OpenRoad Bicycles Fleming Island group enough for all the help over the past year. Rolling into T2, I had my feet out of my shoes about to dismount and my right shoes hit the ground just right and ejected into the ditch. I just left it and figured I'd get it after the race.
T2 took a few seconds longer than I wanted since I had a harder time finding the row I was racked on. Socks on, Shoes on and I was on my way. My goal was not to get caught up looking at my watch and my pace and to just run and finish strong. I didn't feel the greatest the first two miles but I slowly found my stride and felt much better after the 5K mark. I ran the whole time and didn't have to walk at all like the last Olympic Race. I felt much better and I was able to end the race season on a solid note and have a good base to work on over winter.
5/8 Mile Swim- 15:29
T1- 1:47
30 Mile Bike- 1:20:34
T2- 2:16
10K Run- 55:34
23/254 Overall
2nd in Age Group
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