While most of the posts recently have been Kona this or taper that, I’m here to offer a change of pace for those of us that dont consider IMs to be the end all, be all in the triathlon world.  Hawaii is great and all but 112 mile bike ride + 26 mile run is just stupid.  So due to the fact that Clearwater isnt until November 8th, I’m still in full training mode.

However because I still have a while until the race I wanted to find another race to break up the monotony before then.  The solution?  The South Carolina Half.  So last Friday I started a two day mini taper and then Saturday morning I jumped in the car for the seven hour drive from Huntsville over to Greenwood, SC.

I arrived at the race site without any hassle and after parking the car I started getting my bike ready. After heading over to transition for the usual prerace nonsense, I got to meet Jeremy Sipos, a fellow member of the Posse who lives in the ATL. Soon enough it was off to the swim start, which was about a quarter mile from transition.

After pulling on the awesomeness that is my Helix wetsuit I only got to warmup for about 5 minutes in the water before we were called out for the start. While I would’ve liked to have loosened up a bit more I wasn’t too worried because we were allowed to wear wetsuits even though the water was reported to be a cozy 73 degrees.  Ater a prayer and the national anthem, the largest open field in the (short) history of the race was back into the water for an air horn start.

The lake was nice and calm and after a few minutes I settled into a group with two other guys. There was another guy out front so we were 2-3-4. I was sitting in third (2nd in our group) and about a quarter of the way through the swim the guy in front of me started veering off course a bit so I cut back to the inside. He must’ve realized his error because soon enough he came back towards me and I ended up pulling my two compadres the rest of the way. Fine by me as I was in a good rhythm; just trying to go as fast as possible without overheating in the wetsuit. Finishing up the swim I could tell the first place guy wasn’t too far ahead so I was hoping he’d come back during the run, if not on the bike.
I jumped onto the bike and I was ready to rock and roll. In order to not have a repeat of Almere, I was determined to not to go out too hard and I also wanted to make sure to eat enough. Not going out too hard was simply solved by trying for the same power as Almere as I was fine through 56 miles there (just couldnt quite make it 75…). So once I settled into my targeted power range I braced myself for what was sure to be a number of people coming past me on the bike because, well, that’s what usually happens to me in races.

However, a funny thing happened… no one was coming. On the other hand, I was actually catching the guy ahead of me… what a concept! About 12 or so miles in I caught him and was feeling good so proceeded to go right by him into the lead. “He must be a swimmer,” I thought and after passing him I was still ready for others to start coming by. I continued to lead up until the aid station at mile 30 when while I was grabbing a bottle of Gatorade, former #1 passed me to retake the lead. I let him lead for about 5 minutes then repassed him on a downhill as I was determined to keep the speed up and we just weren’t going fast enough with him in front.

So the miles ticked by and I kept riding my race, waiting for the others to come. 30, 35, 40 miles down. At this point, I was still feeling great. Additionally, I knew that time was running out on the cyclists. If someone else wanted to win the race, he’d have to catch me pretty soon or be ready to run really fast. 45, 50 miles down. By now I was pretty excited and I start kicking it in, just so I could win ST’s all important “race to T2.” The best part was that the power was still there and I finished strong.

Heading out on the run I saw my pursuers and realized they weren’t far behind. However, I also knew that as long as I didn’t totally blow up, I should have be able to hold everyone off. I felt good and came through the first mile in 5:42. The run course is two loops and I just told myself to just take it nice and easy on the first, then if I needed to I could always pick it up on the second. The miles started slowly clicking away (2= 5:48, 3 = 5:40) and I just sang along to the song(s) in my head and tried to stay relaxed. Finishing up the first loop, I got a huge boost from the crowd and headed out onto the second. There were some hilly parts around the turnaround with uneven footing but other than that I was feeling fine. It was nice to see the other competitors out on the course as well. Soon I arrived at mile 11 (11 = 5:52) which sat near the top of a hill and was a place that I told myself I just needed to get to as it would me mostly downhill from there. Still feeling good, I started to open it up a bit. I turned back into the park for the last time and it was a thrill running through the crowd again.

At this point I was still feeling great, but was ready to be done. However, the finish for this race is a bit evil. After running by the lake, participants had to trek up an ~13% grade hill. It was only about 20m long, but that’s an eternity at the end of the race. As I begin the ascent, the announcer starts screaming, “Come on, if you sprint you can break 4 hours!”

Do I want to sprint? Hell no. But he totally just called me out so I oblige, huff up the hill, and finish in 3:59:53. I’m told that it is a course record, so that was pretty cool.

The post race spread included a nice meal of hamburger, grilled chicken, pasta salad, and a brownie in addition to Coca Cola and lemonade. There was also Bruster’s Ice Cream which, unfortunately, was not free. However, I had no problem forking over $5 for a double scoop waffle cone of sheer goodness.

All in all the race was a lot of fun and tt certainly helps get over the poor performance in Almere and gives me confidence for Clearwater. For now though, its back to work!

Results can be found here.

Newspaper article: Hodges, McDonagh capture half triathlon

For more musings from an electrochemist, please visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com.

Like last year, the pros got to dive into the river and the same was true this year.  Not having been a swimmer growing up, I’m not exactly the best diver but I did what I could. We were off and right away I was caught in between some people when I noticed a break opening up. I tried to pass the two guys I was swimming behind in an attempt to catch the guys up ahead, but to no avail. So I ended up swimming the rest of the way in open water while pulling 3 guys along. Awesome.

Out of the water I was a little upset that I had missed the first two guys and then had to pull the second pack the whole way but I’m pretty sure we would’ve swam slower had I not been in front, so sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Once I was out on the bike the guys I pulled through the water (David Thompson, Daniel B., and Chris Bagg) immediately left me at the start of the ride. Coming to the first out and back, Andrew Yoder was way out ahead but I just tried to settle into my pace and ride with a nice consistent effort. As if I didnt already dislike biking, the conditions didnt help any as the roads were littered with obtrusions and it was raining and a bit chilly. Anyway, the rest of the ride was more or less uneventful other than the dodging of potholes and occasional downpours. The bike course was two loops and I did manage to negative split, finishing my second lap faster than my first, so I was feeling pretty good coming into the run.

As I entered transition, I noticed only four bikes on the racks. Apparently Andrew Yoder had gone down in a corner, moving me up a spot. So just like last year, I was starting the run in 5th which I was pretty happy about because the prize money went 5 deep and I was, as usual, pretty confident no one would be catching me.

I set out on the run and was feeling awesome which just reaffirmed me belief that the ART has really helped. Within the first mile I got my first split from Lindsey, “3:30 to 4th!!” she informed me. The next time I saw her, only a few miles later, the gap was down to 1:30. I moved into 4th around mile 6 and was still feeling great, moving fast but still under control. Starting the second lap blisters started mounting and the HEED they were serving was not sitting well in my stomach but other than that my legs felt great so I kept clicking off the miles. Finally between mile 9 and 10 I passed another guy, moving into 3rd. 1st and 2nd were way ahead and both of them were moving pretty well so I just kept up my pace and was content to cruise on home.

I was still feeling fine until about half a mile to go when I had a blister under the ball on my left foot pop. I had plenty of other blisters all over my feet but this particular one was in a spot where I had had another blister which had popped in Kansas.  So basically there were probably 3-5 layers of skin removed which made it VERY painful to put any kind of pressure on it all. Luckily though I was only about half a mile from the finish so I crossed the line as quickly as possible and proceeded to go directly to the medical tent where I was cleaned up and taped up.  Here is a nice shot of the mutilated flesh from later that evening:  

Although there was a great post race spread which included trail mix, watermelon, soda, pasta with marinara sauce, huge cookies, and other goodies which I’m likely forgetting, I had to dart back to the hotel to check out and then get on the road back to DC.  Overall though the race was really well run and its great when you can win some money!

Results can be found here: http://www.hfpracing.com/results/results.php?eventid=38&raceid=94

Thanks for reading!

For more musings from an Ares I Design Engineer/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

Coming out of the water and into transition I confirmed what I had thought: there was a pack that I had missed. I was pretty bummed about that but realized I just had to put it behind me and have a good rest of the race. Out onto the bike course I was feeling pretty good but immediately took notice of the wind and knew it would be a factor. I was passed by a couple people (no surprise) and actually passed one guy (surprise!) before a group of three came up on me around the 15 mile mark. They weren’t moving too fast so I decided to go with them. I soon realized that I could comfortably sit 10m behind the last person in the group so I decided to stay with them. This meant going really hard on the up hills and coasting on some of the downhills but the mental benefit of having someone to pace off was well worth it. Additionally I was always cognizant of staying at least 10m as I get kind of paranoid about being called for drafting. I guess thats what happens when you ride by yourself most of the time…

As we rolled along the temperature and wind picked up while the hills were relentless. Finally just past the 40 mile mark we hit the last turnaround and I decided to take off and punch it for the last 15 or so miles. At this point we had a nice tailwind and a couple of downhill sections so I just tried to get as small as possible and lose the other riders. It worked as I flew home on the Trek and was stoked to get out on the run.

Starting the run I was feeling great. My butt/piriformis/sciatic nerve issue had not acted up so I was really pumped to redeem myself from the crap run I had in Florida. It was nice to be able to move my legs and my fast pace was affirmed when I came through the mile in 5:35. Oops. Thats a little too fast. I tried to settle down but it was great to be running comfortably and have people ahead of me to catch. The run course had some shade which was nice but also had some hills, wide open sections, and lots of turns. There were also a lot of little loops so sometimes I felt like I was never really going anywhere.

I was still feeling good through about 6 miles but then I started hurting around the end of the first loop/beginning of the second loop. It happened a bit after I passed Timex teammate Alex MM and fellow Paulo disciple Will Ronco and I basically just had to suck it up and try not to slow down too much. While my second lap was certainly slower than my first, I managed to keep a decent enough pace and was thrilled to finally see the chute. As I was crossing the line, the announcer said, “Almost rounding out the top 10, in 9th place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, Alabama!” I had to chuckle. My race number was ‘9′ and after having no idea what place I was in as I crossed the line in 9th place in 4:11. This kept my streak alive of never finishing higher than my race number. And yes, I have been given ‘1′ before. (Of course now that I have mentioned it I’ve probably jinxed myself but sandbagging AG stud and Timex teammate Tim Hola thought it would be a nice addition to the report.)

I was a little lightheaded for a while post race but I got to chat with a bunch of people (including all the Timexers there) which was a lot of fun. However, I couldnt stay too long as I had a plane to catch so Will and I grabbed our stuff and took off.

Here are Will and I packing up after a day at the office:

Finally, a nice healthy post race meal in downtown Lawrence:

 I rarely eat fries anymore but these sweet potatoe fries were really delicious. Crispy on the outside, sweet and chewing on the inside… cooked to perfection. Of course the burger wasnt bad either. Not a bad end to the day.

Results: http://www.ironmankansas.com/results/08PrelimOverall.html

For more musings from a electrochemist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

Because my bike was already there, preparations were minimal and I was nice and relaxed as I was getting ready for the race. Pretty soon I was standing on the beach in the dark with all the other male pros listening to race director and man of many talents Tom Ziebart sing the National Anthem. (BTW, I was much more happy to listen to the anthem standing on the edge of the lake as opposed to having to float in the 55 degree water like we had to do in California…)

The gun was off and we were sprinting into the water. The beach start was a bit of a shock to the system as it seems they are a rarity now. In fact the last time I did a beach start was this race a year ago. Anyway, because of that I felt a bit strange running into the water and it took me a while to remember what I needed to do which probably resulted in a pretty poor starting position. Once we started swimming though I was pretty confident I was in the front pack so that was good enough for me. Because we werent allowed to wear wetsuits, I was in the pointzero3 and it was feeling great. Once again I settled in on some feet and had a relatively uneventful swim. A few times I moved to the outside to make sure the group was staying together but for the most part I was content to stay in the pack as I knew I wouldnt have been able to swim away from anyone.

As we came out of the water I was around 12th and at the back of the first pack feeling good. A decent (but long) transition and I was out on the bike. Right away I had to watch a few guys slowly pull away from me as I knew I wouldnt be able to maintain the power necessary to stay with them for the whole race. So I just settled into my desired wattage and started cranking. A couple miles into the ride Courtney Ogden passed me and I was a bit worried that he would be the first in a line of many. (Surprisingly enough though he was the only guy to pass on the bike!)

Unfortunately about 3 or 4 miles into the ride my left piriformis started hurting and my whole left leg got really numb. It was really weird… anytime I slowed down or stood up my leg would get that feeling like it was “asleep”. This made for a painful ride but I just stared at my PT and was determined not to let BIGZACH catch me. I saw him at an out and back just before 25 miles and it gave me some motivation to really focus on the ride and block out the pain and try to hold him off.  It worked and as I mentioned before, I finished the ride in the same position that I had started as in addition to being passed by Courtney Ogden, I actually passed TJ Tollakson. (As an aside he mustve been feeling bad as he can certainly destroy me on a good day but he was clearly having some problems and had to withdraw.)

Finally the bike was over and it was time to run. Usually this is a good thing for me but today I was worried as my piriformis was really hurting. After throwing on my shoes, I started to run out of transition and I thought I was going to fall over. The only other time I had felt this bad off the bike was Hawaii… and that was 112 mile ride with my seat too high. Regardless of this as soon as I left transition I was totally focused on just running with good form and stride rate and I decided I would let the speed take care of itself. After a couple of the early out and backs, I realized that as long as I ran nice and easy I could get by with a good-but-not-great run and maintain my position. Additionally, the next guy was so far ahead that even if I did have a great run, it likely would not have helped any. Quite simply, 10-15 sec a mile just wasnt worth the risk of blowing up later in the race.

So after a mile and a half or so I started feeling semi-normal and got into a decent rhythm, running between 5:55 and 6:05 min miles depending on the terrain. While the uneven ground consisting of roots and sand was quite unfriendly in a few spots, the weather was the best we could have asked for as it was overcast and even sprinkling a few times. Back to the race and I just kept clicking off the miles and got a nice boost when I saw Craig Alexander in a golf being driven back to transition. His dropping out in addition to a pass of a walking Victor Z meant I was now in the 8th place… Thats right, in the money! Finally I was finishing up the longest last 0.1 miles ever and the announcer was proclaiming, “In eight place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, AL…” as I came across the line in 4:11. Not a great time, as it turns out the bike and run were both long so the time is a bit irrelevant.

Overall I was really pleased with the result. Mentally the race had been quite difficult as it was basically a time trial from the time I started the bike and my piriformis had been killing me so I was really happy to finish with a good placing.

In addition to the money, I also found out at the awards that I got a Clearwater spot as none of the guys ahead of me claimed theirs. Additionally I may also be on the team for ITU LD worlds in Holland at the end of August as the top 2 Americans at this race were supposed to have qualified.  I’d be really excited to go as it is 4k-120k-30k which is great because it favors swimmers and runners a bit more.

Official results can be found here.

BTW… Lindsey in her first half IM had a totally kick ass race, finishing 8th overall… including pros! In fact the next amateur was over 8 minutes behind her!! Great job, Lindsey!

 For more musings from a rocket scientist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

Saturday morning we arrived nice and early and I had no problems racking the bike or getting set up. I felt good on the run warm up and was looking forward to a good race. Once we were finally allowed in the water I got in a little swim and immediately noticed that for the large majority of the race we would be swimming straight into the sun. Not too much fun, but what can you do?

Finally the gun went off and we were off. Apart from the typical jostling, I actually got off to a pretty good start. I usually get beat up pretty bad at Collegiate Nationals (what do you expect with a bunch of testosterone laden competitive college kids?) but this time it actually wasn’t too bad. So pretty soon things strung out and I found myself in a nice little group. I was pretty sure that the first place guy wasn’t too far ahead, so I was content to find some feet and try to keep pace. As it turns out I was out of the water in 8th or so, about 40 seconds back. So a decent swim. At this point, I was feeling pretty good and thought I had a shot at it.

Off to the bike which for me usually means people passing me and me screaming obscenities under my breath directed towards my bike. This time however this was not the case. I started out by actually passing (!) a couple of guys who mustve just been fast swimmers and after 7 or 8 miles I found myself in a group with 3 other guys. We all took turns heading to the front and trying to separate ourselves but we ended up staying together the whole time. While we did end up staying more or less together, there were numerous officials out there and they stopped on multiple occasions to make sure we were riding cleanly. Coming into the end of the ride I was feeling pretty good as we were 3-7 and I was confident I could outrun everyone in the group, meaning I was looking at no worse than 3rd.

Out on to the run and sure enough, I separated myself within the first half mile from the three others. Marc Bonnet-Emyard was out on the course and gave me splits,

“2 min to 1st, 1 min to 2nd” he screamed.

“1 minute” I thought. “Totally doable.”

So I set out to chase down Kevin (the guy in 2nd) even though I had no feeling in my feet due to the cold weather and just overall didnt feel that great. Occasionally I’d catch a glimpse of him while other times he was out of sight. The run course was tough with three pretty serious hills and multiple tight turns but unfortunately when he was in sight I noticed I wasnt really making up any time and I still wasnt feeling that great. With about 3/4 of a mile to go I saw Mark again and he let me know there was no one behind me at which point I realized I wasnt going to catch Kevin so I might as well enjoy the last few minutes of the race. I came into the chute and while I was disappointed to not win, I was still pleased with the result as it looks like the suffering Paulo has put me through on the bike might actually be paying off. 

Full results can be found here: http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=2468.  Incidentally, Kevin and I ended up tying for the fastest run, so as I suspected, I wasnt catching him.

So there it is, 3rd overall which as you can see is the first place that doesnt get interviewed. It is however good enough for some Coldstone but that will have to wait for Part Deux…

-Andrew

For more musings from a corrosion engineer/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

After chatting with sponsors and collecting some gear we headed over to the Karl Struass Restaurant, Bar and Brewery where Triathlete Magazine held a joint party for both our team and the Zoot team.  Here is a pick with me, Samatha McGlone, and former Timex manager Ben Harper.

A good time was had by all, especially those who decided to stick around to close the bar down. There was even a rumor of a late night Carl’s Jr trip…

Sunday, March 30th

The day began with a presentation from the guys at Trek which highlighted all the changes to their all new Madone. Last year they highlighted all the features of the TTX so this year they focused a little more on the Madone as it was completely remodeled for 2008. One of the things I took away from the presentation (along from my conversations from the guys at Trek) that I was really impressed with is that any changes that Trek makes with their racing bikes is done because they know it will improve performance. In other words they won’t just change something because it looks cool and may help sell a few more bikes because they want their customers know that they are getting a top of the line product (like maybe adding a brake behind the fork just because it looks cool).

The next presentation was from TIMEX. A great part about our title sponsor is their willingness to try new technology while also staying true to their core customers. A recent innovation is their iControl system which allows you to control your iPod through your IRONMAN watch. They also have some really cool stuff coming down the pipeline but you’ll have to wait a bit for that ;) Because the folks at TIMEX realize that customers count on a durable product, they ensure any new technology has all the bugs worked out before bringing it to market. But stay tuned… there are some innovative products close to production.

PowerBar was next and we were treated to an excellent talk on nutrition both during exercise and throughout the day. The highlight of the talk though was that endurance performance was improved by 8% in trained athletes when consuming carbohydrates in a 2:1 glucose to fructose blend, as opposed to glucose alone. This is the basis for PowerBar’s C2 Max blend which contains this optimal ratio of carbohydrates. There is also a plethora of free information such as sample meal plans, race day nutrition strategies, and recovery suggestions on the PowerBar website (http://www.powerbar.com) so check that out if you need any nutrition related advice.

After a long day of talks, we were all ready for the team dinner. Here are some pics from the dinner.

Before:

During:

After (desert):

(Is that The Sergio with a big piece of cheesecake??)

After the meal it was back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub along with requisite relay races in the pool…

Monday, March 31st

After a long Sunday, Monday saw some talk cancellations causing our day to open up. For this reason most people decided to get a little training in as we were after all in Southern California. Sergio, Kyle, and I decided to take a nice little spin down the coast to enjoy the awesome whether and check out the scenery. Kyle and I were hoping The Sergio would act as a huge chick magnet but unfortunately I think our paleness outshined The Sergio’s incredible allure.

After cleaning up, it was time for a dinner of tasty, authentic Mexican food.

Finally, another peaceful night by the pool/fire:

“Tap the Rockies, eh?” Of course we had to swing by the 7-11 on the way home from the restaurant for a few cold ones. This small feat amazed Kyle as he was envious of the fact that there are places in the US where you can buy beer and slurpies at the same establishment!

Tuesday, April 1st

Well time had come to pack our bags and head back to our respective parts of the world. It was sad to go not only because most of us had to go back to the real world (cubicle) but more importantly because due to the fact that the team is so spread out most of us only get to see each other once or twice a year. As we left though optimism was certainly abound for the upcoming year.

Thanks for reading and look for team members at races all across the country this year!

-Andrew

For more musings from a rocket scientist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

The day started with a short drive up I5 to Oceanside. Going through the motions in transition, I felt pretty good and was pleased as the temperature felt surprising warm even though it was in the low 50s. As I was setting my transition area up, I had to make some final decisions regarding what I would wear in the race. The announced water temp was 60 with air temps in mid 50s to low 60s so I decided to ditch the neoprene for the swim and throw on a shirt in T1 for the bike.

Pretty soon we were in the water and more than ready to start. Needless to say, it was cold and I was more than a bit disappointed when the guy singing the national anthem decided to extend the last note wayyyy too long. When he finally finished the cannon fired and we were underway. After getting beat up more than usual and swallowing a few mouthfuls of the Pacific Ocean, a little pack formed with about 10 or so athletes. I was feeling good and couldn’t really get out of it so I just decided to go with the flow. I had no idea what group I was in, but I couldn’t really get out of it, so that was that.

The rest of the swim was reatively uneventful and while running out of the water I noticed Craig Alexander right in front of me, so I figured the swim had gone pretty well. When I got to my bike I started screwing around with the shirt I was going to put on which was really frustrating. I hadn’t tried that before but I found out pretty quickly that trying to put on a tight shirt when you are all wet isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. So I finally got that on and after having a bunch of people pass me, I was out on the ride.

Right away I was feeling really good and riding with a couple other athletes. Then about 7 miles into the ride I hit a huge bump and out went BOTH my bottles. AWESOME. A few miles later as I was shifting to go up a short, steep hill, my rear derailleur decided to stop working. This sucked. I lost the guys I was riding with and had to push a big gear up the remaining hills. Considering the fact that I can leg press about as much as a 12 yr old girl, using a big gear up hills does not agree with me. But such is life. Finally after being passed by who knows how many people I had finished the ride and just wanted to get out on the run.

Once I started running I knew I was pretty far back so I knew I had a lot to make up. However, I still wanted to try to head out in a comfortable pace so I wouldn’t blow up. First mile was around 5:40 and I was nice and comfortable so I was pleased with that. Paulo was out on the course giving encouraging words but I knew I was pretty far back when he wasn’t actually giving any time splits to guys ahead of me. Anyway, I felt nice and relaxed and just kept clicking off the miles as efficiently as possible. Finally my right glute really started to tighten up the last mile, so I figured I had put in a pretty good effort.

So I ended up 20th overall in a time of 4:17. Full results can be found here.  Overall though not a bad start to the season. The swim, the run, and T2 were good but the bike and T1 sucked. But hey, what else is new?

Originally posted on my blog, ‘Wide World of Andrew’

I headed over the race site around 5:45 for a 7:03 start so I could find a place to park and warm up. After jogging around a bit and taking a few restroom breaks, it was game time. The weather forcast at the start was low 40s and sunny and it actually felt surprising warm. I went with shorts, a jersey, and gloves as I remembered last year in the half I did Brendan decided NOT to wear gloves and he ended up regretting it big time. I also saw my running buddy, David Riddle, at the start so we decided to take it out together even though I had a pretty good idea he would be dropping me before too long.

So the gun finally went off and we were on our way. About halfway into the first mile, David says, “just to let you know, the first mile is notoriously fast so dont freak out.” I thought he was referring to races in general when people go out too hard so I thought maybe we’d be 5:20-5:25 pace (since I wanted to run 5:30s at the beginning.) First mile: 4:52. HA! Wow, he wasnt kidding. Must be downhill. Anyway, I settled in and was still feeling really good. David took off around mile 2 which was fine with me as I knew he was in better shape.

I knew there were hills between miles 4.5 and 9 so I was trying to take it pretty conservatively up until that point. After about 3 miles I was more or less in no man’s land, clicking along, waiting for the hills to start. Finally there was a long uphill between 5 and 6 which, looking back, I probably couldve pushed a little harder. Up until that point I was still ahead of 5:30 pace but that mile was around 6:00 which really hurt the average. At that point I was 33:20 which put me 20 sec off 5:30 pace. At this point I decided to pick it up a bit and try to get my head in the game a little more. Luckily I saw a guy up the road so I set my sights on catching him. That happened around 6.5 and I came through 7 in 38:46 (5:25) and wanted to try to get to 9 in 49:30. That way, I would have 4 basically downhill or flat miles leaving me well under 5:30 pace. 

7-8 was partially rolling which transitioned into a long climb and then 8-9 was more of the rolling stuff leaving me at 49:56 through 9 miles. I was still feeling pretty good and had up my effort a bit but I believe those miles are both net uphill which caused them to be a bit slower. After passing the 9 mile marker I had a steep uphill to crest then it was all down. I kept it under control up the hill and then opened it up on the way down which, BTW, was really steep. IMHO, this is what cost a lot of time. Its so hard to make up time when you are going down a really steep hill.

So I came through 10 at 55:30 which meant I was 30sec over 5:30 pace, which was my minimum goal. That meant I just had to run at least 5:20 pace for the last three to get those 30sec back. So I took off and it felt great to open it up a bit. The last three miles took us back into downtown and I ran them in 5:11, 5:23, 5:52 (including the 0.1) and best of all I passed two guys in the last couple of miles. The last I passed was a Kenyan with about a half mile to go. I’m sure he had already mailed it in for the day so he can go road whore somewhere else next weekend, but it still felt good to pass him.

As I came across the line, I tried to sneak under 1:12, and sure enough, the results had me at 1:11:59 for a 5:30 average, which I felt pretty good with. You can never be upset with a PR on a hard course and better yet, I felt REALLY good the whole time. Totally in control the whole race which gives me some confidence heading into the season. Now if I can only learn to ride a bike I’ll be all set…

Splits: 4:52, 10:23(5:31), 15:30(5:07), 21:35(6:04), 27:15(5:40), 33:20(6:04), 38:46(5:25), 44:23(5:37), 49:56(5:32), 55:31(5:35), 1:00:43(5:11), 1:06:07(5:23), 1:12:00(5:52 for 1.1)

Official results can be found here. 

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbls sugar

3 tbls butter, melted

1 egg

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Walnuts (optional)

Blueberries (optional)

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl and mix.  Then do the same with the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, making sure to warm the milk up a bit so the butter stays melted.  Pour the wet into the bowl with the dry and stir until all the lumps are removed.  Let the batter sit for a couple of minutes while heating a large pan or skillet to medium-high heat before adding a bit of butter to grease the pan.  Pour batter onto skillet and add walnuts or blueberries to the cakes on the skillet if desired.  Let the pancakes cook until the bubbles on the top are no longer disappearing and then flip and cook for another minute or so on the other side.  Remove from skillet and serve with syrup on top and a glass of milk on the side.   

The day started fine until about 30 minutes before the start when we were informed that wetsuits would be allowed.  This was a bit of a shock but upon hearing this I lubed up, pulled on the Helix, and headed to the lake.  After the start one of my training partners, Chris Morrow, and I broke away pretty quickly and were out on our own in no time.  However, I wasn’t feeling great and Chris was able to open up a gap on me.  Thinking back on it, I realized that I had pulled my wetsuit on too quickly and that it wasn’t fitting properly.  This is a great lesson for wetsuit wearing: make sure you don’t rush it!  This is especially imperative with a suit as precisely designed as the Helix.  So back to the race, Chris gapped me on the first buoy and never looked back, which left me second out of the water.

As I started the bike my focus was on trying to go really hard since the run for this particular race is on a single track MTB trail.  Because of this I had to make sure that no one passed me on the bike so that I could have a comfortable lead on the run.  After 15 minutes or so I had caught Chris and for the rest of the ride I was just concentrating on pushing hard up the hills and really opening it up on the few flat sections in order to maintain or increase my lead.   

Coming off the bike and into T2 I was still in first so I was able to cruise the run and not worry about going too hard.  As I mentioned before, the run is on a single track mountain bike trail which is very technical and therefore not very fast.  Aside from the up and down of the hills, the roots and rocks can cause numerous impediments to fast running.  Because of this my strategy was to go hard up the hills and take it easy on the way down so as not to seriously hurt myself. 

Luckily I made it through unscathed and ended up having a great time.  Its amazing how quickly the time goes by when you are focusing on the trails rather than how much you are hurting.  However, while it was fun, I was still glad to take the last turn and head into the finish to take the win in a time of 1:59. 

Overall, the race was very well run and I have to give a big kudos to race director Steve Policastro who volunteered for the position and did a great job of organizing the race while also getting ready for his PhD proposal.  The bike course was fully staffed with police and volunteers at every corner, the run was clearly marked with large arrows, and there was a nice selection of bagels from Bodo’s, fruit, cookies, Gatorade, and water at the finish. 

So if you decide to travel down to beautiful Charlottesville, VA for this race next year don’t expect a fast time.  As I mentioned before the bike is hilly and the run is hazardous.  However, if you don’t like running on the roads because they beat up your legs too much, this race will be a lot of fun. 

There was also a very nice article by Sean McLernon in the Charlottesville Daily Progress and the awesome pictures were courtesy of Jason O. Watson Photography.  Jason is a fellow grad student here at UVa but does some awesome work with his camera as well.