I finally win some beer money!
Posted in Racing by Andrew HodgesAfter finishing out of the money in my two races, the MedExpress Mountaineer Triathlon was my last chance to win some cash for a while. For a little background, this race is put on by HFP Racing in Morgantown, WV, home of WVU. The race is notorious for its scenic but hilly course and it certainly lived up to its billing.
After arriving at the race site in the morning, I quickly received some good news: the water temperature was 75-76 which meant that although the AGers would be able to wear wetsuits, the pros would not as our cut-off is 72. This was great news for me as my swimming has really improved and as we all know wetsuits help slower swimmers more than faster ones. No wetsuits also meant I would get to wear my new pointzero3 skinsuit from blueseventy which I was excited about.
After jumping into the river and taking a few strokes, I was amazed at how fast the pz3 felt. I was gliding effortlessly through the cool calm water which gave me confidence at the start of the race. Before I knew it we were corralled onto the dock for our dive start. The gun was off and we were in the water.
Feeling confident in my new pz3, I wanted to try to swim with Brian Rhodes for a long as possible since I knew he was the best swimmer in the field. Into the first turn I was only a couple meters behind him and feeling good. I stayed there until about 2/3 of the way into the swim when we came up on the third turn, which I totally goofed. The bad angle I took caused me to lose his feet and swim the rest of the race alone. Still, I was only about 15-20 sec back when I came out of the water in 2nd.
After a quick transition, I was out on the bike. It took a little while for me to get up to speed but once I got going I was feeling pretty good. Still though, as usual, I began getting passed. This is something I’ve gotten used to so I just had to put it out of my mind and focus on my race. I came through the first lap in around 1:13 and starting the second lap I just wanted to focus on going faster than the first. By the time I finally came into the finish of the bike, I had fallen all the way down to fifth, a little disappointing. But the good news was my second lap was faster than the first and now it was time to start running.
As I started the run, it was time to look on the bright side. I was already in fifth so I would at least be guaranteed money. I knew the others were pretty far ahead of me though so I just wanted to start the run easy and then pick up the pace and try to pick off as many as people as possible. After an uneventful flat first 5 miles, I finally moved into 4th place. Then, it was the “stupidly steep” hill. Think two blocks at 10-15% grade. As I was shuffling up a thought crossed my mind that maybe crawling would be faster. About a mile or so later, I passed the next guy.
“Sweet!” I thought.
I was now into third place starting my second lap of the run. Then I got a time check from a couple of friends,
“3:30 to first and 2:20 to second!” Rudy screamed.
“2:20 with 6 miles to go? I can do that.”
With that news I had renewed motivation and really focused. At this point though it was getting hot and I wasn’t feeling great. At a turn around point two miles down the road though I did another time check and I was only 1 min back from 2nd. This really helped as I got a little rush of adrenaline and I decided I just needed to suck it up and catch the guy ahead of me. Finally, at about 10.5 miles I moved into second and was only 1:30 back from first! At this point I got another shot of adrenaline when I realized I was heading in for a $1750 dollar pay day! But first I had to make it up the retardedly steep hill again. Once I hit that hill, illusions of first place left the window and I simply wanted to make it up without falling backwards. Soon I was up and over and focusing on good form and turning the legs over through the remainder of the hilly course through the campus of WVU.
Crossing the finish line was very gratifying and I was really pleased with my race. I thought my coach, Paulo Sousa, did a great job getting me through the last 6 weeks during which time I race three half IMs. This was a lot for me since up to this point I hadnt done more than two in the same year.
The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the weather with friends and cheering on other finishers. I had a couple of fellow UVA students do the International race the same day. Rudy ”BRO” Khasar (middle) was 1st OA and Chris Morrow (right) was 2nd in his AG dispite going off course and riding an extra 3 miles after recording the fastest swim of the day.
On the way home there was the obligatory ice cream stop in Berkely Springs, WV where I ordered the Peanut Butter Paradise which contains two warm brownies, two huge scopes of peanut butter ice cream with chocolate swirls, a slathering of hot fudge and hot peanut butter and two mounds of whipped cream. Sadly, I do not have a picture of this beauty. I can tell you though that it was well worth the $4.50 + tax it set me back. All in all, not a bad day at the office.
PS Last night after dinner at Chipotle, the beer money was spent at South Street Brewery here in Charlottesville, VA with a bunch of my friends and training partners from the Charlottesville Triathlon Club. As far as I know, a good time was had by all.
