My alarm went off at 4 am. Time to get some calories in me so I can maximize my performance without being held back by lack of nutrition. I was able to consume about 500 calories before I left the house. I also had another 200 calories for the ride down which included my EFS bottle with one scoop of Pre Race in it. So in total, I was able to take in about 700 calories prior to the start.
The conversation before the race with my wife was for her to take her time coming down and try to get there somewhere around mid bike. No reason for her to set the alarm, wake up the kids, grab a quick bite to eat on the way and then watch us exit the swim and then hang around for 2.5 hours to wait for us to return on the bike. Seems senseless to me, so I thought this new plan was much better for them. She could watch us for a loop and a half of the bike and then in transition and then on the two loop run course. Making her day much more tolerable as she has to keep up with the kids during the day also - they tend not to pay attention to the entire race, but prefer to play with the dogs that are around Tempe Beach Park and run off and play - like kids do. Her timing was perfect (again) as I saw her the second time we came down Mill Ave toward the tail end of loop 2 and periodically on loop 3.
As for the race - I didn't have much of a race plan other than, swim steady and smooth, keep the bike watts steady regardless of who passes you and give it what you have left on the run. I knew there were a couple of folks in my AG that were going to be tough to beat and there were only limited spots on the podium - but I did hope to grab one of those spots, so I was going to have to work hard but stay within myself if I were to have a shot at any hardware.
Swim (33:19 - 7th AG)
Water temperature was 74 degrees and wetsuit legal for the AG'ers - not the PRO's. I started the swim on the left side just inside the bouy. I didn't recognize anyone around me but I was sure there were some men that could swim faster than me. So, I was in the second row to give them room to get out front and I could hop on their feet for as long as I could. This worked for about 300 yards then I felt that I was working too hard and I let them go. I felt that I was swimming alone for most of the swim, which means no contact with others, which is my preference. As I was approaching the left hand turn I found myself drifting toward the middle of the course (about to cut the first turn bouy) then I noticed the large yellow bouy I should have been heading for. There are 2 bouys about 200 yds apart and I was looking at the wrong one. I got back on course without too much trouble and battled the crowd at the turn. We we rouned the second turn bouy we started to catch the wave in front of us. This is when things get tricky because you have to give them room to 'frog kick' as they are breast stroking or treading water or whatever is going on. But they can kick you if you don't give them enough room, and it hurts! You also have to look where you are going much more frequently so you don't swim up the back of the slower swimmers in the previous wave. I started to feel better on the backside of the swim and was more relaxed. It always takes me a while to settle in, but for some reason on this race it took me longer to relax - not sure why but I was relieved when it got easier. As we exited the water, I had no idea where I was in the group but noticed that my time was (32 min) - not bad for me, but I was hoping to be closer to 30 minutes. Anyway, as I came off the stairs I noticed that several of my teammates from ONE Multisport were wetsuit stripping. I quickly found Jo and Steve Fuller who stripped me of my wetsuit (thanks guys) and off I went to T1.
Bike (2:30:32 - 9th AG)
My plan as I headed out on the bike was to maintain my watts at about 180 to be sure to save my legs for the run. So, I was able to do that pretty well... The first loop of the bike I was averaging 191 watts, 192 watts the second lap and then the third lap I realized I was too high and came down to about 180 watts - averaging somewhere around 185 watts for the ride. On the ride there are several opportunities to see where others in your AG are as there are several out and backs. About halfway through the first loop I noticed Dan Cadriel and John Dean coming up on me. I figured it would not be long before they caught me. And it happened around mile 10 - Dan caught me on Rio Salado. I never did notice John Poisson or Jeff Bassett on the bike course. Possibly because I don't know them that well nor did I know what they were wearing. I did see other familiar faces around the course, but that were not in my AG - that always makes the local races more fun for me. There was a large crowd at the corner of Mill and Rio Salado right by Montis Restaurant. I hear my name several times but at that corner I am concentrating to be safe and can't look at who is yelling my name. There are a lot of corners and 180 degree turns on this course which makes the bike splits not as fast as some other races.
T2 - Had my shoes unbuckled approx. a half mile from transition and was able to do the flying dismount and keep moving quickly through transition. I had my helmet off and my running shoes on pretty quickly, I also grabbed an EFS gel for the run along with my EFS bottle of 150 calories to take with me on the first loop of the 2 loop run course. No complaints here either.
Run (1:35:02 - 2nd AG)
As I came out of transition I knew I had some work to do, but I didn't know who was in front of me in my AG besides Dan. So, I hate to say it, Dan was my target at this point simply because I didn't know anyone else out there. I knew I had to stay within myself on the first loop to leave something for the second loop. I felt pretty good as I went out on the run. My first mile was 6:40/mile which I knew was a little too fast, so I had to slow it down as the first 10K went on. I was able to do that as the miles clicked on. Buddy told me as I came through loop 1 (10K) that my time was 45 min flat. If I was able to hold it I would run a 1:31'ish but it was getting warm and I knew I was going to have to work harder on the second lap because Dan had put about 30 seconds into me and was now about 90 seconds ahead of me as I started the second lap. I locked on to the heels of a Durapulse runner on the north side of the lake and we were able to pick it up for awhile, until he started to tail off - then I was on my own again. I was only taking EFS drink that I was carrying through the first 6 miles then I added EFS gel at about a mile 8, every other mile. Then coke on the odd miles between gel shots. On my way to the out and back I found Shandra, Cindy Blair and Cassandra all right around mile 9 or 10 and gave them encouragement to keep it up - it wasn't long til this was over! The north side of the lake is very quiet as there is no crowd over there to encourage you and recognize faces, etc.. This makes the run rather boring - however, on the second lap, somewhere around mile 8 was Kenny Steil cheering us on. Nice to see a friendly face at that point in the race. Shortly thereafter I spotted Jeff Bassett, also in my AG, ahead of me about 3 minutes. Not far behind him was Dan - at this point I was not sure if I was hallucinating or if I was closing in on him. Low and behold about about mile 12 I caught Dan on the Rural Bridge. We ran together for a short time then I made the move to go ahead and see if he was going to run with me. I was secretly hoping 'not' at this point, because this was all I had left. I just ran my race and never looked back. I assumed he was on my feet the whole way in and I fully expected him to come around me at the last 100-200 yds and I wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. As I approached the crowd I saw Dana watching for me - her face lit up when I got closer and then there was Erik Svans, Carlos Mendoza and Sue Meno with her camera getting lots of pictures as a spectators. Today was my lucky day, as Dan was not on my heels and I was able to finish this race on the podium. 3rd place AG - I was happy with that! Dan came in about 55 seconds after me. It was a great race day and a nice way to finish the local tri season.
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