Wow, this Timex team is phenomenal. Here’s my race report. Hopefully it’s not too long.

I felt pretty relaxed race morning. I was more curious than anything else to see how my off season training was going to translate into my first race of the year. Coming out of the northeast winter I had not done any open water swims and three outdoor rides so far this year. However, I’ve had my most productive winter training to date.
I was in the 3rd M35-39 wave, which was the tenth wave of the day. Due to the narrow start area, athletes were not permitted to do swim warmups. The amateur waves were allowed to enter the water 3 minutes before the start. I hit the water and tried to stick my face in and I had a hard time catching my breath. You never really get used to sticking your face into 60 degree water. I took a few strokes and tried again and I slowly adjusted to the temperature. I positioned myself near the front and tried to stay relaxed and get ready for the horn. A few moments later we were off and any anxiety quickly faded away. I settled in and tried to find my rhythm. I had a good swim focus block of training in February and I really felt stronger and more confident coming into the race (relatively speaking as I do not come from a swim background). I swam within myself and felt very comfortable during the swim. However, one of my biggest weaknesses while swimming in open water is gauging my effort (it’s an obvious statement but something I need to learn to do better). The swim itself was pretty uneventful and a good warmup for the effort to come.
I made it thru the 1st transition with a steady flow and out onto the bike course. The first 40k went by really quickly and felt really good. However, then the hills and wind hit and my first taste of lactic acid buildup in my quads for the year and oh yeah a heart rate probably pretty close to 200. Oh boy, I didn’t remember the course being that challenging while riding it on my trusty computrainer during one of my numerous indoor riding sessions (I have definetely got my money’s worth out of my trainer, I ride it almost to a fault). While negotiating the hills, I tried to stay as even as possible, but I started to develop some tightness in my lower back and I found that when I did hit the flats, I needed to stand up and stretch my back quite frequently. This is a little annoying but not anything serious. My caloric intake was better then previous races as I got 3 powergels and 1.5 bottles of endurance fluids in during the duration of the bike. The end of the bike into transition is unique as they have you ride your bike all the way to the back of the bike racks before dismounting.
Once I figured out where to hand off my bike I was into transition and shortly onto the run. My legs felt great and I focused in on finding my rhythm. I tried to stay within myself as I did not want to come blasting onto the run only to crash and burn later. Another thought that kept creaping into my head was that it would be a long run and even though I felt really good at the start, I would go thru some lows as well and I wanted to have something left when that happened, in order to hopefully stay as consistent as possible. I believe I was able to hold, roughly 6.05 pace for the first half of the run, but as I came thru the first 10k, I felt my effort becoming more strained. Cola, chased by a shot of water, became my fluid of choice over the remainder of the run. The simple sugars had an immediate impact and I was able to stop any bleeding around 6.20sh pace. I think about my 3 boys a lot while racing and while going thru tough sections of a race, I draw a lot of energy from those thoughts and the sacrifices my family makes in order for me to continue my little addiction. Another source of positive energy that I tap into during races is the phenomenal support from my teammates and team management. The Timex multisport team has been an absolute privelege and pleasure to be a part of and I am truly lucky to be part of such a great group of people. I’m really looking forward to the 2008 racing season.
Results: 4:25:31 8th AM/2nd AG