My
nerves were totally frayed leading into this race. I had bigger expectations
than previous years, and qualifying for the AGNC’s was key to achieving my race
goals for the year. My wife helped diffuse them, by reminding me that I’d
qualified the last two years, and that I was much better trained this year.
Still, my mind was playing tricks on me. Because
the swim start felt so awful two-weeks ago at Rev3, I decided to warm up by
running shortly and a good swim with some pickups to get the blood flowing. Twenty
minutes later it would be time to race. The
swim start felt way better than Rev3, but it was a fray to say the least. Lots
of jostling in the first 200 yards, but I found some feet and got a decent
draft into more open water. I am still plagued by inefficiency on the swim, and
had to let that precious draft go to let my HR and breathing settle. After
composing myself, I focused on strong long strokes and a good kick. I was nowhere
near any opportunity to draft. I stayed focused and pushed to finish hard. The
first six miles of the bike course are really fast. For three miles it’s
slightly downhill and flat and the next three miles descend to the lowest course
point. It’s a screaming fast turn-filled descent that gets the adrenaline
running (especially when you forget to re-clamp the front caliper). With the HR
low still low, I took in a bottle before the climbs to come. I felt pretty
solid for the first three miles up out of the cellar, I picked off a bunch of
people and the legs felt decent up the first few steeper grades. Around mile
nine something didn’t feel right. I was pushing it up a gradual grade, but the
bike was just not responding. Did I flat? Nope. Were the rear brakes rubbing?
Nope. What is going on? Then it hit me, fatigue from Rev3 HIM two-weeks ago was
still in my legs. At least it wasn’t a flat…so, with the internal governor switched
on, I knew this wasn’t going to be my best bike. Around mile 16 I got
absolutely smoked by another 30-34, and I tried to catch him for a mile or so,
but he was gone. I didn’t have that extra register, and I was not about to go
into the pain cave without my best bike-legs underneath me. By this point I was
by myself, and unusually for a 40K, I just wanted off the bike. I
was fired up to run. The two-loop run course sets up so nicely for a fast run
because there is only one hill, and it comes at you near miles 2 and 5. I got
the feet moving real quickly out of the gate, down the hill I leaned forward
and let gravity do it’s thing. My pace was faster than I had planned, but I
felt like I might just be able to hold it. Leaders started passing on the
return of loop one, and I was keeping a mental tally of my place, best estimate
of 20 or so in front of me with no idea how many in my AG. High-cadence was my
focus in the flats below the hill, I felt efficient and fast and knew I had an
opportunity for a strong run. I felt great even as my HR spiked going up the
hill, I was able to immediately turn it up at the top and my HR settled
quickly. I saw my wife and girls at the turn-around; I love that part of the
race, better energy than any fuel. Now time to repeat the loop, and let it rip.
I was starting to fatigue pushing the final hill, but with less than a mile to
go I was able to gut it out and crank it up on the flats to the finish. I crossed
the line in 2:14 claiming third in the AG and 13th OA. Checking
the splits when I got home, I noticed a nice little 2:00 min addition to my
final time…my first race penalty, which is most likely the result of a rear bottle
ejection right in front of the official, ouch. The final result was 3rd
AG / 17th OA.