Early last week my legs felt about as fatigued as they ever have been and I doubted I’d be very well recovered for the race. “Ah well, it’s a ‘C’ race” I thought, “don’t worry about it”. I couldn't help it though. I knew I would judge my chances at my next two races based on my performance. Not a good thing, but, I knew it was the truth.
The forecasted high temperature for race day was 106 degrees. Yeah, that’s warm. It’s been warm here in Phoenix, with above normal temps for two weeks or so. I’d been watching the Tempe Town Lake water temperature online. In the morning it had been 76-77; right on the edge of the 78 degree legal limit, and then it would climb into the 80’s by mid day. The race director said they’d make the call about wetsuits on race day. I held some hope that it would be wetsuit legal, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t. As such, I safety-pinned the pocket on my race jersey closed to help reduce drag in the water.
Race morning came and sure enough, no wetsuits. This is a bit of a disadvantage for me, as swimming is not my strength. I’m not awful, but I’m not going to win it in the swim. As I looked around, I noticed that most of my competition either decided to swim with no top or they had on their speed suits. I was debating right up until I got in the water if I should ditch the jersey or not. You see, they have a rule, or a law, in Tempe, that men have to wear tops during races. So, if I swam without one, I would have had to put it on in transition. Having experienced the whole ordeal of trying to put a jersey on a wet body before, I decided against it.
Then gun went off… Wait, no it didn’t, a guy with a bull horn said, “3-2-1, swim!” I could see the lead pack of 10 or so pull away. I thought a few might come back to me, but they never did. And it seems that I must have been the fastest of those left behind as no one passed me the entire swim. Well, not that I could tell. I was left to go it alone the whole time. Not good. No wetsuit, no speed suit, no draft.
I hit the exit and checked my watch. I expected to see 21:xx-23:xx but what I saw was 28:xx. Oh crap… My heart sank. I looked again. I just couldn’t understand how that was possible. I thought for sure I’d blown the race. My girlfriend Sarah yelled to me that there were nine ahead of me in my age-group. Ugh. Well, time to get to work.
I blew through transition in just over a minute. Early in the bike I had a lot of cramping in my glutes. It was strange; I’ve never had that before. I figured it would pass and it did. The bike was mostly uneventful, although I was never very comfortable with my pacing. My new Kuota Kueen-K was awesome and silky smooth with the race wheels on! There were a few out-and-backs on the course and I was keeping an eye on a few guys. I put a little time into them here and there, but lost it back to a few. Bike time: 1:01:28
I was greeted in transition by mostly empty bike racks. Sarah told me that, as best she could tell, there were six ahead of me in my age group. I made it in-and-out of T2 in :43 and started the run. I felt really good and I picked-off a few guys early. It was getting warm, but the race director had aid stations just about every half mile. It was really great! Just near the end of the first loop of the run, I could see my one of my AG competitors running across the Mill Avenue Bridge, still far in front. I tried to stay calm and I held my pace. As I began the second loop, Sarah told me there were still three in front of me. I caught one of them a half mile later. At four miles I was crossing the Rural Bridge and I could see another competitor about a quarter mile ahead. I picked-up the pace and slowly began to reel them in.
By mile five I’d caught them. I intended to shadow for a while, I felt like it was too early to make a move. I didn’t want a mile-long foot race on my hands. But, they had a friend riding along next to them, an extra set of eyes, and before I knew it, my cover was blown. I had to go. I put in a surge and I heard his friend encouraging him to go with me. I dug in. No way. I wasn’t going to back down, and I wasn’t going to let up, and I wasn’t going to look back. Not yet. Three quarters of a mile later, there was (another) u-turn on the course. As I looked back across the bridge, I realized the chase was over. No where to be seen. Still, didn’t let up until the finish. Run time: 36:26Around the finish line, there was plenty of discussion about the swim and consensus is that it was about 300-400 yards long. That still means I didn’t have a great swim, I gave up 4-5 minutes to the leaders, but at least it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.
Preliminary results had me at 2nd AG and 6th OA. But at awards, I learned that I’d won my AG.
Click here for results and scroll down for age-group standings.
What a great way to open the season. I can’t wait for Deuces!
