SWIM, 25:25

Rule 6: Travel in a group
BOOM!!! Goes the cannon, and we were off the beach and sprinting into the Gulf of Mexico. As soon as we started swimming, it was apparent that zombies were out in the ocean, as the Gulf’s usually serene waters were replaced by a zombie generated wave pool. I tripped a bit on the run in which left me to play catch up early, requiring a really hard effort for the first 400m or so. Eventually I found a group and just hoped we weren’t too far back from the leaders. The conditions made it difficult to determine how many people were “up the water”, but I was swimming hard and in no place to escape our decent sized group.

Exiting the water, I recognized a couple of faces and heard a couple more names of guys coming out behind me, so I was pretty happy to have escaped water zombies in relatively good position. My focus immediately turned to T1, which I knew would be crucial.

BIKE, 2:14:31

Rule 17: Dont be a hero
Out onto the bike and what do you know… more zombies, this time in the form of a stiff wind out of the East. After the first few minutes, I was grouped with a few others when we made a turn onto a longish straight road heading east towards the main out and back section of the course. Up the road I could see another largish group and my first instinct was to chase. However, my Zombieland training kicked in and I reconsidered. Dont be a hero. Due to the straight road, the pack was likely further than they looked. Additionally, I was already riding moderately hard at the back of our little group and we were heading into a headwind. Passing the group and then chasing the others down would’ve been a sure ticket to zombie cannibalization, especially at the beginning of the 56 mile ride.

Rule 8: Kill with Efficiency
With that key tactical decision out of the way, I focused on staying with my friends and keeping the pace honest. This was especially challenging with the course traversing primarily north and south, leaving us with a day full of zombie crosswinds. Thankfully my Shimano C75 wheel was more than up to the task, annihilating wind zombies left and right.

RUN, 1:15:48

Rule 22: Be Ruthless
Coming to the end of the ride, my leg/butt was feeling really tight so I was looking forward to getting off the bike. After gaffed transitions last year, I was really focused on good transitions this year. Towards the end of the ride I moved to the front of the group, jumped off my bike, grabbed my bag, threw on my shoes, and headed out on the run in no time. At this point, it was time to Be Ruthless. I had been waiting to attack, and now was the time to go in for the kill-shot. I took off out of T2 and after a minute of stumbling, found my stride. First mile: 5:36. The early mission of zapping my biking companions was effective. Now: to pick up some more scalps. I notched a couple more on the first lap but as I headed for the turnaround to start lap 2, I realized there was only open real estate in front of me.

Rule 32: Enjoy the Little Things
At this point, with my place more or less set, I focused on keeping my turnover up and enjoying the day. I made it over that stupid bridge for the last time and cruised in, soaking up the crowd support from awesome Timex teammates, friends, family, and the plethora of others who were out cheering.

TOTAL: 3:59:20, 25th Overall, 7th American

Rule 1: Cardio.
In the end, it still all comes down to fitness. You can make the correct tactical decisions during a race, but if you dont have the fitness to execute them, they are useless.

More musings at the Wide World of Andrew, http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

One note before I get to the race. Timex Teammate and Serious BA Laura Tingle decided she wasnt racing but was still nice enough to head down to the Deep South and put up with my prerace nonsense for a couple of days, so she deserves a huge shout out for that. Thanks LT!

And now… to the race! Although it was unseasonably warm and marvelously sunny in the days preceding, Sunday morning greeted us with cool air and impending storms. There was some on and off precipitation while we warmed up, but it didnt bother me too much as I was pretty focused on the tasks at hand. After setting up the bike, I arrived at the start around 7AM for the 7:30 start time and began pulling on the wetsuit. Thinking back, I realized this would be the first wetsuit swim since Clearwater last year. This was due to the change in the rules for wetsuit temps, but more on that later…

Unlike last year when we got to dive off the floating dock, this year we had an in-water start. These are easier with a wetsuit, but I still find them a bit challenging. The gun went off and I got going pretty well but soon found myself losing a bit of ground. I maneuvered around a bit, moved past a couple of guys, and continued fighting for position. The field eventually strung out a bit, but I was still fighting for some feet pretty much throughout the swim. According to LT, there was more or less a string of guys out of the water for the first 40sec or so and although I was a bit further back than I wouldve liked, I was still very much in the race.

Swim: 20:01

Out on the bike, I punched it hard. The guys that I needed to be riding with were right up the road, and I knew it was now or never to catch them. After 10min or so, I had caught up with a couple of guys and was committed to riding with them. Our group caught a couple of other riders, which made us 5 in total.

At this point I figured we were places 8-20 or so, but wasnt really sure how many were up the road.

The effort level varied with the hills but we were getting plenty of love from the head ref, so everyone was playing by the rules. Then, a bit before mile 20, we hit a series of long hills and Chris Legh decided to drop the hammer. This split the group up and I soon found myself being dropped off the back. Frustrated, I tried to accelerate up and over the next hill, but to no avail.

After losing the group, I just put my head down and focused on pushing as hard as I could on the pedals for the duration of the bike leg. The rain picked up and I actually started getting a bit chilly, which certainly didnt help the situation. Luckily we had a bit of a tailwind for the last 5 miles or so because at this point, pedaling was becoming quite difficult.

Bike: 2:22:19

Out on the run, it took me a couple of miles to find my running legs, but once I got into a rhythm, I felt pretty good at 5:45-5:50 per mile.

This course is incredibly spectator friendly which resulted in a nice crowd, despite the rain. So the spectators were great and my legs felt strong. The only problem was my feet, particularly my left one, where I was developing a pretty large blister on the bottom thanks to the rain and resulting we shoes. I put it out of mind, though, and just focused on relaxing and running fast. The last few miles were, as usual, pretty tough as I felt I was running pretty low on calories. I had to really focus on cadence during the last mile until I finally took the last right turn into the chute.

Run: 1:16:55

Total: 4:02:26th, 14th place

After crossing the finish, I started chatting with Justin Park, then all of the sudden my vision started to fade and I couldnt see anything, so that was fun. Thankfully I managed to stay on my feet until the dizzyness/loss of vision/lightheadedness passed. Upon regaining a sense of equilibrium, I had to jet in order to catch the aforementioned flight in Atlanta. I felt pretty bad about it but unfortunately airlines dont really care if you would prefer if the flight left a bit later; they tend to leave anyway.

However, before LT and I could head back to the car, I had to remove the racing flats because walking was quite difficult, thanks to the hole on the bottom of my foot:

Somehow, the picture just doesnt do it justice…..

All in all, I cant really say I’m thrilled with the result. I’m content that I left it all out on the course, but the bottom line is I needed to ride at least 2:14 in the race, not 2:22. Getting there wont be easy but it will happen as the result of consistent, and I remain focused on making it happen. And hey, as my grad school professor said, “If it was easy, everyone would do it!”

With the race starting at 7:30 in Guntersville, I got to sleep in my own bed and didn’t even have to change my alarm clock, as 4:30 is my usual weekday wake up time.

As usual this race, like all Team Magic races, featured a TT start. Unlike in the past, when they seeded people according to swim time, today the RDs decided to let the 60 and over crowd start first, and then proceed from fastest to slowest. As a result, I had #46 and was honestly a little worried about swimming over some of the older racers. I dont mind having to swim through a crowd but I do feel pretty bad swimming over people. (Now, if only there were a way to avoid this………..)

So after the first 45 were in the water, I was off. By about half way through the swim I had passed just about everyone except teammate and uber-swimmer Bruce Gennari and a kid from the University of Alabama’s triathlon team. Bruce was on his way out of transition as the ‘bama kid and I were entering. I got out of transition a bit ahead of the bama kid and was out trying to limit my losses to Bruce.

I felt good from the start of the ride and immediately started hammering on the Ordu. Then, after a few miles, the ‘bama kid passed me, which surprised me a bit. Once he completed the pass, though, the pace slowed a bit… enough for me to start getting antsy. So I passed him back and kept pressing forward. I wasnt worried too much about him beating me but I wanted to make sure to stay as close to possible to Bruce so that I could reel him in on the run.

Coming to the end of the ride, I thought I had dropped the kid so I was surprised to see him as I was racking my bike. Although this caught me a bit off guard, I was still pretty confident I could out run him and still had the matter of catching Bruce to deal with.

We took off on the run and the kid was killing it from the gun. It took me about 3/4 of a mile to get separation, at which point I focused solely on catching Bruce. My legs were a bit tired from the proceeding week of training but I still thought I was moving reasonably well. I came through the mile at 5:21, a few seconds slower than PE was telling me but not terrible. Finally, just before the turn I caught Bruce and turned my sights for home. Second mile was 5:28 which was a bit disconcerting but not too bad considering the turn around and slight hill in the middle. From there on out, it was a race against the clock. I knew I’d be first across the line but with the TT start, no “lead” is ever safe. I opened it up, raced across the finish line, and waited for the others to see if my time would hold.

Bruce came across second, which was a bit surprising as I thought the kid would catch him after his fast start. 3rd across the line was Dr. John Krichev who started behind both Bruce and me, so I knew that was a solid performance for him.

As it turned out, I held on for first, Krichev was 2nd, and Gennari took the final spot on the podium.

It was great to see everyone out there for a warm but otherwise beautiful day for racing.

Last weekend I went up to Benton Harbor, MI for Steelhead 70.3. I was 2nd here in 2006, before the race had a prize purse, so I was hoping to return and have another solid performance. More importantly, I had finally been having some better bike workouts on the Ordu (with specially designed tear-drop airfoil and rhomboid tubes), so I was really looking forward to racing hard.

Race morning arrived and I was ready to kill it. As I was eating breakfast, I flipped on the TV and started scrolling through the channels, stopping when I saw a radar shot. There it was… a large storm moving east across Lake Michigan. With Benton Harbor located on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, there was no guarantee we would get rained on but it looked pretty likely. On the short drive to the race the rain started and continued on and off until about 5 miles into the bike. Luckily though the rain wasnt coming down too bad, so I was still able to get everything set and ready to go in transition.

Around 6:30 I started my jog down to the start. Looking out over the lake, it appeared we’d be missing the worst of the storms, so that was a relief. I dont mind a little rain but lightning is a whole separate situation…

Soon enough we were lined up on the beach and ready to go. The usual chaos ensued after the gun went off as we raced to the first buoy, about 200m from the start. A bit after navigating that slight right turn, I was in a group next to the buoys but noticed another group to our left, a little further out. After watching them for a bit, it appeared they were gaining a bit of water on us, so I decided to attempt to make the jump to join them.

I got out and around the guy I was following but initially struggled to make up any time. Not wanting the group to get away, I put my head down, focused, and started closing the gap. Encouraged, I pressed on and finally did make contact. By that time, though, a couple of others had gone off the front of that group. Attempting to catch them wouldve been futile so swam up to the now smaller group of three, to a little break, and took off at my own pace.

Finishing up the swim, I was surrounded by four or five others so I was focused on a fast transition in order to set up a fast bike. I was in and out in decent time but probably shouldve attempted to move up further in the group at the end of the swim to ensure a better position for the start of the bike.

The start of the bike was a bit tricky as the rain had picked up quite a bit and the skies were still pretty dark, making visibility poor. I lost a bit of time in the first few miles so when we got out onto the main highway, 63, I really started pushing it to catch up to the three riders ahead of me. I was slowly closing the gap when Eric Bean and Michael Lovato came flying by. Their pace was too hot for me to match but I was able to catch the other three riders.

At this point the rain had stopped but we were off the the freshly paved SR 63 and onto slightly less enjoyable asphalt. I was maintaining contact when all of the sudden I noticed the others starting to pull away. I tried to up the intensity level but knew I wouldnt be able to match that intensity level for the remainder of the race. Soon after, I hit a particularly rough section of road and felt my rear rim hit the pavement. I stopped, checked the tire, and sure enough… a slow leak.

The change went relatively quickly but towards the end three competitors went racing past. Hoping I could maybe catch them, I took off with a vengeance. I was back into what I felt was a good pace rather quickly and just tried to focus on getting the guys ahead. Soon after, though, I heard a loud hiss, indicative of another flat. Having brought only one tube, this meant game over.

I was near an intersection with a police officer so he, thankfully, called the wheel truck. Unfortunately, it still took 10-15min for them to arrive. Meantime, I watched the rest of the men’s field and most (if not all) of the women’s field fly by and found a nice little piece of glass which had penetrated my tire.

So needless to say, I was/am pretty upset. But, hey, it happens. I’d love to go find another big race this weekend to do but the reality is that I only have so many vacation days and those remaining for the rest of the year have already been allocated. So for now its back to work until Mountain Lakes on the 14th and RocketMan on the 29th.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

PS Other than the race, the weekend was a lot of fun courtesy fellow team member/world financier Mark Vermeersch.  I flew into Chicago and Mr. Vermeersch arranged accommodations and transportation for the entire weekend, the highlight of which had to be the trip to the burger bar on Saturday evening in Chicago.

Having never raced the BLST 70.3, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived in Lubbock, TX for the race. I had heard it was supposed to be warm but hadn’t heard much else about the course. I knew I’d be in for a long day, though, when at the pro meeting, the race director said, “This ain’t no Starbucks racing; this is old school triathlon.”

Swim: 22:44

Being old school, the race began with a classic beach start into a beautiful spring fed lake. I got out well and soon found myself battling for position in the pack. After another minute I was worried about getting trapped by slower swimmers so I moved up and closed a gap to the next guy up the water. This took a considerable effort so I was pleased to be able to grab his feet and rest for a bit. After the first turn, I considered making another move but at this point the first few guys had opened up a sizable gap so catching them would’ve been a very tough task, if not altogether out of the question. I sat in until the next turn at which point I swung a bit wide and tried to open it up a bit for the finish.

Bike: 2:27:55

Out on the bike, I was shooting blanks. The combination of the hard, no wetsuit swim and a few short hills at the beginning of the ride left my legs really sluggish for the first 5 miles or so. They gradually started feeling better and I settled into a decent grove. Although the course traversed soybean fields and oil fields, the race director somehow managed to find what had to be the only hills in the vicinity for the course. Combined with some pretty strong winds, this was not a course to be attacked short on ammo. Regardless, I felt pretty strong on the back half and kept the power up throughout the ride.

Run: 1:22:22

Heading out on the run, I was looking forward to rocking and rolling. From the beginning though, it was evident not only would the bazooka not be available but the machine gun, colt-45, and air pistol would also not be available. Rather, I’d have to show up with a knife… not the greatest idea! I haven’t had too much time to adjust to my new bike position and my quads were not very happy as I started the run. I was moving along decently on the flats but the first steep hill around mile 3 was pretty rough. The second, around mile 4.5, wasn’t any better. Making matters worse, at the top of that second hill was the “Energy Lab” an out and back section which was a surprisingly accurate approximation of the famous Energy Lab section in Hawaii.

I finally reached the turnaround and started heading back, suffering through the rest of the run. There were a number of other Timex Teammates racing, and seeing them on their way out when I was heading back definitely provided some encouragement. Additional encouragement was provided by none other than two- time IM World Champion Craig Alexander! I finally reach the finish and bolted straight for the med tent for a cold towel and IV.

Total: 4:15, 13th

All in all I was pretty pleased with my performance relative to recent training indicators, which have been slightly less than epic. Looking forward, next up is the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri and then Steelhead 70.3 with a few other Timex Teammates. Hopefully we’ll be able to step things up by then!