New Orleans Marathon race report

Soon after the savannah marathon was over Ben and I had plans to sign up for another race. We knew we wanted to do a race in a state neither of us had run in, and we knew it was going to be a RnR series since we had free admission d/t the savannah marathon being cut short d/t sever heat.

4 days later, we settled on the New Orleans marathon. We chose it for a few reasons, it was far enough away where we could chill and get back into shape, it was in NOLA which neither of us had been to, and it was an east coast race which allowed us to reduce vacation time taken.

Not long after we chose the race, I talked Matthias into coming. He had planned to do his first half marathon in jan/feb since i convinced him to sign up for a half ironman (having never done a tri and not knowing how to swim when he signed up) and thought NOLA fit in perfectly. From there, I sent an e-mail out to a bunch of folks gauging interest. During the same time frame, my DRINKmaple crew had a few e-mails going out regarding a marathon in arizona and other west coast locations. i might have dropped the idea of NOLA (or it was already floating, i can't recall 100%) and it sort of took off. a week later we had roughly 10-13 people going. It didn't take long, but we soon had Julia interested. First, she was coming to cheer and eat, then she said she would do the 5k (ok, so i lied, there was no 5k, tee hee), then she said she would do the 10k. next thing you know she is signed up for her first race since high school and first half marathon ever. ahhh, i love positive peer pressure.

I generally gain 20-25lbs over the winter and run a whopping zero miles. I really wanted to make sure I put in a solid effort, mainly to start my triathlon season off strong. I was just sick of spending the first 2 months of the season dropping the 20-25lbs i had gained over the winter. I knew i wanted to improve my run this winter and the only way i was going to do that was to run often. i decided to set a goal, run 80 days out of the next 100 days. day 1 was december first. I also realize my limitations, that is, i just don't hold myself accountable, that and i'm lazy. so i decided to make a fb group and invited a bunch of like minded individuals that would keep me socially accountable. the grew started with a few people. there were no rules, you could set your own goals, but a lot of people really jumped on the 80/100 bandwagon and off it went.

you can see my training log here

my thought process is quite simple. i believe that volume = success in the marathon world. not just any volume. coming from a triathlete background i believe that complimenting cycling, overall fitness, and a strong core results in success. my best time in an open marathon had been 3:40. my pr in the ironman marathon was only a handful of minutes more. that could be 1 of 2 things. 1) i run INSANELY well off the bike, or 2) i am leaving a lot of time on the table in my open marathons.

i personally feel it's a little bit of both. my plan was to run often and slowly increase volume weekly. i did not do any specific speed work. almost all of my runs were of descending pace (negative splits) or even splits as close as possible. i rarely went out hard and slowed down for the latter part of the run. i also DO NOT believe in long runs. over my career (as an athlete and professionally) i have yet to see/find/feel the benefits of the long runs (runs over 15/16 miles). i personally feel that one is better off running 8 miles 5 times a week, than it is to run 5 miles 4 times a week and do a 20 miler on the weekend. i firmly believe in what i call "aggregate running". with that said, i did one 15 mile run. it was on the treadmill before work. I did it 3 weeks out from the marathon. the primary reason was because i wanted to get a larger volume in that week and i was out to NH on friday so i wasn't going to be able to put in any decent volume. overall, i put in 12 weeks of training. 4 more weeks than i have ever trained in past.

fast forward to race week. i flew into NOLA on friday and met with julia, we rented a car and got to the house where we shortly met up with ben, brian, and i got to meet nora. the house was nice, it had a rustic feel to it, yet was quite modern. it was also equipped with an outdoor, heated, saltwater pool.

Once we got settled, julia and i head to 1000 figs for lunch, we crushed some falafel and other "yummies" as she would say. from there we made our way back to the house and just hung out and relaxed for a while. not long after jay and ashley showed up we went out to dinner and had paella at a local restaurant. it was quite delicious. we came home, hung out a little and crashed. the next morning we picked up tim and matthias from the airport and headed to the expo.

julia picking up her first race bib since high school

matthias picking up his first half marathon race bib

after picking up the bibs, i found my way to purchase my obligatory race pint glass. by this time we were all getting slightly hangry and decided to wander the big easy to find food. it took a lot of yelping, a lot of walking but we finally settled on a specialty cheese shop that sold some craft chocolate and honey. the food was pretty good, solid choice and exactly what i needed for lunch pre race. we finally made our way home, relaxed a little, probably ended up in the pool and then all went our separate ways for dinner. julia, matthias, and i found our way to Peche and had a little of everything. the star at this restaurant is the whole grilled red snapper and no doubt, the smashed sweet potato, it was to die for. don't get the oysters, they are not as good as new england oysters. afterwards we hit up whole foods to pick up breakfast items. we bumped into the maple crew there and snapped a group photo.

that's a solid looking bunch!

we came home, talked a bit of running and what not and head to bed. i set my alarm for 4:30am (yeah, i know, it's not an ironman) so i could eat food. i had some almond yogurt with granola and dried cherries. i also drank 8 oz of kombucha, a banana, and a bottle of suja juice. i went back to bed. and just laid down and relaxed. my alarm rang again at 5:45. i immediately got dressed, went out and chugged a can of stumptown nitro cold brew. i had another half of a banana and just wasn't feeling like eating anymore. i went on to increase my power to weight ratio and we called and uber. unfortunately there were 6 of us (jay, tim, and ashley left earlier to get to the race earlier), so that means 2 of us had to sit in the trunk.

brian and i getting cozy in the trunk

we got dropped off at the race, found our way to the bag drop off and sort of lost each other. i waited with ben and nora for matthias and julia but eventually gave up. i decided that i wanted to get into the corrals and stay warm with a bunch of people. on my way over i bumped into the DRINKmaple crew and we snapped a sweet pre race selfie!

the crew minus jay and timmy

i walked with folks and we exchanged our good luck hugs etc when they got to their corral. i worked my way up to what became the front of corral 2. i stood in the cold for a good 10 minutes, watching my HR fluctuate between the high 70's and low 90's. i could tell i was a bit nervous at times. the national anthem was sung, she did a great job and the first waves were off. i had never been at the front of a wave before, but next thing i know, i was at the front line of corral 2. my good friend brad callow once told me years ago that "you can always make up time, but you can never make up energy". that has something i have held near and dear to my heart and race day planning. the idea is that if you run a perfect race, your first half time should be the same if not a hair bit slower than your 2nd half. ie; a perfect 3:30 race would be 1:46 first half, 1:44 second half. my goal was to run 3:30. i knew/felt i was in 3:15 shape, but i'm also realistic that a lot can go wrong and shaving 25 mins off a PR is pretty unheard of. not to mention i have bigger aspirations this year, this was simply to have a good time with friends, tick off another state, and getting a pr was just the cherry on top.

as the gun went off i caught myself for the first 50 yards keeping up with folks. i immediately knew this could only mean that i was going too fast. i checked my watch. sure thing 6:47. i gut checked myself and slowed down. one by one, people who looked much slower than me started blowing by me. by mile 1.5 i was near the back of the 2nd corral. by mile 1.75 i could see corral 2 distancing me and by mile 2 i was being overtaken by the corral 3 folks. am i really running this slow, or is everyone going out too fast. i kept asking myself that. i checked, rechecked, and then checked my watch again.. nope, i was on pace. 

my pace/goal was to run an 8:05 pace for the first 13 miles. coming out to 1:46ish. from 13-16 i would pick up the pace to 7:50 to even out the 5 seconds lost by going 8:05. from 16-20, i would pick up the pace a little more to 7:45. from 20-26.2 i give myself 2 options. 1) go all out, it's 10k, race it as that. 2) run 20-22 at a higher pace, then let loose at 24-26.2 if you are close to any time goals. 

racing with friends is great. i saw timmy and jay at around 3.75ish as they were coming the other way. we exchanged waives and quick words of encouragement. by the time i had reached the turn around and made my way back 4.5ish miles were already banked. at mile 5.5 ish i saw ben. he was rocking his head phones and in the zone. he looked good, i called to him, but he didn't hear me. not long after that, when i was at around mile 6.5-7ish, i saw matthias and julia. they both looked great. i also saw kate, then demello and they were looking strong as well. 

i was feeling strong, i kept checking my garmin to keep my pace in check. at around mile 8.6 i felt my left calf tweak. it was a sharp pain, middle gastroc. felt like the fascia between the two bellies tore. it was not good, but i figured i wasn't limping and would either run it off, or completely blow up. i let it go, took some salt and next thing i know i was at mile 13, still feeling strong. at the turnaround, i saw kate again and i also caught a glimpse of kimball.

from 13-16 i decided not to up my pace too much, i moved to try and hold a 7:50 or slightly below pace. i felt comfortable the whole time. i started to use gu in addition to my water and gatorade intake at each aid station. miles 13-17 were quite uneventful. they followed the western border of the park. once i finished mile 16 i decided to up the pace a little bit. i found a few folks that i caught up to, hung with for a second and decided to leave since they couldn't pace and were running 30-45 second pace swings. i think for most people mile 17-22 were the most difficult. the course was the most exposed here and there were some overpasses etc, making for mini "hills" perse. i caught timmy running the other way when i was between 18 and 19 miles. he was looking strong (apparently not feeling strong though) at around mile 20ish (after the turnaround) i saw kate, then john, then lynn who screamed to me that the 3:30 pace group was right in front of me, then kimball doing the kimball shuffle.

i knew the 3:30 pace group was not far ahead, i thought i was running a 3:30 pace and they were going fast. especially when they were a whole .5-3/4 mile in front of me at the turnaround. i decided that since it was mile 20ish i only had a 10k to go and would drop the pace and try to catch them. i was in quite the dilemma though, do i drop down to a sub 7 pace and risk blowing up before i caught them, or do i say more conservative, trust that i will catch them and drop only to a 7:30. that indecisiveness is the reason my pace was a 7:38 that mile. after that mile i was feeling strong and decided to go a little faster until i caught them at 23.4ish miles. from there i hung with them for a few seconds. the group, which was 30 strong at first dwindled down to the 2 pacers and 4 others, 2 were barely hanging on. the pacers had gone out too fast and blew everyone up. their pacing was terrible. i pushed onwards as i was feeling great. i decided that i had a chance of running 3:25 if i held my pace. i wanted to finish strong and run hard, but i also didn't want to shred my legs. i opted to find a good balance at the low 7's which i held to the finish. the last 1/4 mile i decided to just let loose and run a tad harder. i was able to find a good stride with little effort. my favorite quote was "go MAPLE, you're killing it....." followed by "ooooh shit, and he's doing it with the MANBUN!" as the crowd erupts in claps, cheers, and laughter. in the end, i crossed the finish line at 3:25:13 (garmin) and 3:25:57 (offical time). i had set a new pr, by over 14 minutes and i had run a 5 minute negative split. my final 5k time was sub 22 minutes and my final 10k time was sub 45 minutes.

i dropped to sub 6 to cross the finish line. not because i was chasing a time, i stopped looking at my watch, but because i was feeling good and i wanted to put an exclamation on my race. i finished, was greeted by julia, matthias, nora, and brian. we shared some laughter and comments and waited to cheer on ben. one by one my friends crossed the finish line. it was really great to see folks finish and share stories, struggles, and more laughter. 

seeing these two finish with such great times was a really awesome feeling. i wish i could have been there to scream at them as they crossed as they did for me. it was just awesome hearing about their race experience. just love it when people lose their race distance virginity.

lynn finished, then stayed in the gates and chatted with mark and me until kimball finished. that's what friends are for!

kimball post race, he's had better days. lol

making our way to get clothing bags, happy crew!

after hanging out a little bit i was starting to get stomach pains from the lack of food. i worked my way home alone (2 mile walk) and it was really nice to just reflect on what got me to the finish line.

thank you matthias for all those times you got on the bike with me when you didn't want to, thank you for all those times you got out and ran with me, at my pace, despite your heart rate being in the 190's. thank you for not complaining once, even though you have every right to. 

thank you julia aka "fisheater" for making sure i was well fed pre and especially post race. i'm know to travel for races and gaining 5lbs, but now, when i travel with you, i will be known to gain 10 lbs.

thank you to the DRINKmaple crew. from summertime century rides, to bricks, to the billion e-mail chains that end up costing me hundreds to thousands in race fees, to the awesome family of like minded individuals that opened their arms and brought me in. thank you for allowing me to be part of this great group.

thank you brad callow, chad vest, robin seila, sofia and her husband (i'm not going to refer to you unless you speak more in social settings, keith), and julia stoner for all your support and encouragement throughout the process of this race, it definitely means a lot. thanks to maureen for the 6 pack challenge, i'm sure the extra core workout helped me during the race worthy of a shout out. thanks to bethany for asking me a billion questions, which require a billion answers, which helps me reinforce why i train the way i train. thanks to all my dog walkers, you guys make my life so much easier!!!

big ups to the "did you run today" formerly secret facebook group and everyone in it. i made the group to make myself socially accountable. thanks to ya'll, it was fitting that i completed my goal of running 80 days out of 100 days and that the 80th day of running came on marathon day. there were moments (many of them) that i didn't want to run. there were moments i wanted to run 2 miles, or 5 miles when i ended up running 5 miles and 10 miles. it was you guys, posting your daily morning runs as i was still on the treadmill. it was you guys, who posted your evening splits while i was just doing a warmup run before climbing. it was you guys that i put in more miles than i ever had. 

special thanks to ben gebo. brother, you are such an infectiously positive human being. so much so, that i think you are on psychedelics, like.... all the time. which is highly possible i guess. lol. i'm pretty sure i could sell you the idea of running a marathon through syria as long as i smiled whilst doing so. acadia, savannah, and now new orleans.... iceland 2017 for sure! i still technically owe you a marathon of your choice and i am highly contemplating vermont....

i'm sure i'm missing a whole bunch of people. it's 1:30am and i really wanted to get this RR out before i just gave up and skipped it all together. i apologize if i missed anyone. you guys all kick ass. and honestly, if you don't want me to forget you on my RR, just come to the race and run with me! haha.

total tally for new orleans training:

dec 1st - feb 28th.
80 days run out of 90 days
95 runs in 90 days

(not including marathon on 90th day)

345 total miles run 

4.37 miles per day run

3.67 miles per run

New Orleans Rock n Roll Marathon 2016 strava file

Official race results 

The power of nudge

I had just gotten home, it was a busy day at work. My first patient cancelled and I utilized the time to get my daily run in. For those who do not know, I am participating in a winter running challenge. Run 80 out of 100 days, starting December first. It's 12/21/15 and I had only missed 1 day. Purposely skipped in order to avoid a scheduling conflict. I had logged 3+ miles on the treadmill, in new shoes, without socks. The result? Run #20 in the books and a medium sized blister on my right foot.

Shortly after I entered the house, my housemate returned. We caught up a bit, spoke about our work days and the discussion lead to her not wanting to go to yoga. I was texting back and forth with Amber, who had just finished her workout. I told her I was considering getting in a 2nd run to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Her response, "Do it". I told my roommate that I was considering a second run, but could see in her eyes that yoga was not in the books. I knew I couldn't let her down. I suggested that if she spun, I would join her. 20 minutes later, we were side by side on our trainers, watching Episode 3 (she's catching up on star wars before we go see Episode 7). An hour later, I finish my ride, put my sneakers on and realized by blister was still painful.

I decided to switch to my tri sneakers and headed out. My last words before I left? "Just one quick mile". As I turned right out of my house, then left down Curtis, I couldn't help but realize how amazing the weather was. I thought to myself, what a waste to not run more than 1 mile. Again, I saw Amber's text "Do it", and I did. My mile run turned into a little over 5 miles. I didn't look at my watch, I just ran to Porter, then Davis, then Teele, I leg my legs go wherever they chose.

It's amazing how we all have a sense of direction, we all know what we want to do, what we should do. Sometimes all we need is a little nudge.

More about the "power of nudge" can be learned by reading the book "Nudge". It was a great read recommend by my friend Brad and I highly recommend it as well!

Rock and Roll Savannah Marathon 2015

This race came into fruition sometime in mid July. I had e-mailed Ben since we talked about a fall marathon. I sent over a list of races that made sense for me and we narrowed it down to Savannah. I wanted to tick off a state that I had not done and I wanted it to be in the south were the weather was likely warmer. I didn't have any expectations as I had IMMD on Oct 3rd (later pushed to Oct 17th) and Manchester City marathon the week prior. I was just hoping to carry my fitness over and tick off another state. 

Fast forward to mid Oct. It was the Saturday before Savannah marathon and the night prior to Manchester City marathon. I realized I had missed the bib pickup and ultimately decided to not race Manchester City marathon. Instead I drove to Stow and "helped" my friend Kendra with her morning workout. Quotes because she was in her final build for IMCoz and pretty much paced me for 10 miles. It was my 3rd run after IMMD the first two were 30 min (3 miles or under) treadmill runs and I had thought my legs were back, until mile 5. Things tightened up and by mile 10 I realized my legs were not back yet. That Tuesday night I opted to run 30 mins on the treadmill prior to climbing and for the first time I was able to put down some speed without feeling any big aches. Thursday came and I opted to have a few beers at home instead of workout. I had planned to get a short morning run on Friday morning prior to my flight, but I overslept my alarm and hurried to get things packed and head to the airport.

My flight was ok, I ended up sitting next to this lady who had her 2 kids across the isle. She was a cardiologist who worked in Boston and was flying to Savannah. She had originally planned to run, but sprained her ankle and decided to go down anyways to visit her father. She was a nice lady, but had a lot to talk about. I mostly hated the kind of parent she was, you know the type that asks the kids what they want nonstop. There is only so many times that you call out your boys name before you need to realize that 1) he has headphones on and 2) he has totally tuned you out. Anyways, she was a nice lady, I was just hoping for a little rest on the plane. I hope she gets that foot taken care of and comes back strong next year to run Boston and Savannah as well.

I landed in Hilton Head airport pretty early. I got in touch with Ben and after about an hour of phone tag and figuring things out I decided to take a cab to the hotel to check us in and just get ready. This will be the last cab that I ride voluntarily. I was going to order an uber, but decided to support the cabbies in the area, never again. The cabby looked unhappy to take my to my location, no hello, no how was your flight. I got a "where you going" and that was that. When we arrived at the hotel the meter showed 15.74. While he was struggling to unlock his phone and attach the square cc reader the meter jumped to 16.08. I gave him my card and I watched him punch 18 dollars onto his phone and swipe my card. He then handed the phone to me to sign and had this look on his face when I chose the no tip option. Cabbies wonder why people don't use them anymore. Lets see, uber offers better rides, nicer drivers and they don't tip themselves. Needless to say, we took about 10 rides over the next 2 days, all uber rides, oftentimes there were cabs in front of us and we pulled out our phones right in front of them to wait for an uber. Ok ok, you're here for a race report, not a rant about cabbies.

After checking in and settling a bit, I called an Uber which promptly took me downtown where I met up with Ben and we took the ferry across the river and picked up our bibs. The ferry ride was nice, it was free and it gave us a different vantage point of the city. Downtown Savannah is very similar to Charleston, SC. Maybe a little dirtier.

I thought the expo was very well run. Getting our bibs and bags was very easy. When I picked up my bib I saw #DRINKmaple and I thought "wow, kate and jeff are sponsoring this race? that's huge". I was showing my buddy Ben and was so stoked to be wearing my DRINKmaple hat. I was like cool, people are going to think I'm some kind of sponsored athlete. I was so excited for my friends I took some photos of my bib.

We decided to sit outside and wait for Brian outside. We laid on the grass by the river and took in the last hour of the day. The sun literally set on our ferry ride back, it was pretty cool. 

Once we crossed we decided to walk around a little. We ended up getting apps walking around a bit more and ended up grabbing dinner at a little pub. The food was ok, nothing to write home about, other than Brian got hosed on the angle hair pasta.

After dinner we did a little more walking and found a cool little bee shop. I picked up a few products while Brian picked up some royal jelly. I had never had it before, neither had Ben. We're both adventurous eaters so we said yes when Brian offered. I thought the flavor was interesting, there is not much that grosses me out in terms of edible foods. I can't say it was a flavor I enjoyed, but it didn't bother me. I knew it was good for me so I didn't mind it. Ben on the other hand, didn't fair as well. I can't remember exactly how he described it, but it was something along the lines of "the most foul thing I've ever had". I laughed, a lot, for a long time.

We got back to the hotel and began prepping for the morning. I set the alarm at 4:40 so we could eat and take the free shuttle down to the race start. I woke up first and then woke the boys up. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty weak. The coffee, which came out of an automated machine, was the worst coffee I have ever had in my life. It helped me get my 2nd poop of the morning, which I was proud of and made me feel ready for the race. That morning the 3 of us piled into a minivan with 3 others. The lady in the front was complaining about the RnR marathon in New Orleans last year. She was complaining about how there was not enough water, this and that. Lady, do a race in Mexico, you'll never complain about races again. At IMCoz in 2013, volunteers peaced out when it rained, lol.

After a little road blockage snafu, we found our way to about 5 blocks from the race start. As we walked, Ben retold the story of how he shat himself at the BAA Half. I laughed so hard I likely would have shat myself if I hadn't gone twice already. You plan for these races and always imagine something along the race will be the most memorable. I can say without a doubt, the 3 of us laughing our asses off (pun intended?) walking to the race start was the most memorable moment of this trip. Typical right? Poop story....

We hung at the Hyatt hotel whilst waiting for the race to start, I got my 3rd pre race poop in, hooray. By 6:40 we decided it was a good time to head out. Brian jumped in at corral 1 while Ben and I scurried to the bag check. We hadn't realized how far back it was so it was a bit of a scramble. We worked our way back to the start line and entered corral 3. After about 10 minutes I realized we were in corral 3 of the half marathon start and corral 3 of the marathon start was another 20 yards up. We decided it wasn't worth pushing past people and stayed where we were. It was a cloudy, foggy morning. You could feel the humidity, it was high, but not too bad. The temperature didn't feel bad either, felt like mid 60's. Ironically the race director sent out an e-mail the night prior regarding the heat. I thought it was cute, seriously? 80 degrees with 80% humidity warrants a warning? I've raced ironmans in warmer weather.

The race was late to start, I believe 10 minutes. The first few miles were slow. I was trying to be conscious of my pace as I knew my legs were not fully recovered from IMMD. I decided to hold an 8:30-8:40 pace. It was hard, a few times I got caught up with folks and my pace quickened to the low 7's. It's always hard when you see people who you know are slowing blow by you as if you're standing still. Not meaning that I don't want them running faster than me, but you think you're running too slow when you see folks crush by you, so you speed up, only to check your watch and realize you need to slow down. I can't say I like races that mix the marathon and the half marathon start together. 40k people is too intense. I couldn't believe the people crushing by me the first mile. By the time mile 2 came around there was a slight uphill and by uphill, I mean a bridge. I noticed my HR was a bit high so I scaled back the pace but was still passing folks that burned too many matches the first 2 miles. I kept steady and saw Ben out of the corner of my eye a few times. By mile 4 I lost him and just focused on myself. I had to pee but was hoping to just hold it off, by mile 6 I knew I had to hit a port a potty. I made a quick stop that took about 34 seconds. By this time I was running next to a girl who had a really good pace. She was holding 8:35's very consistently. I pushed the pace a bit in order to catch up with her, which I did. I hung with her for a little until I realized the soreness I felt at mile 5 wasn't going away, nor was it getting worse. She fell off her pace and I never saw her again. When I hit mile 10 I pretty much felt exactly how I felt after running with Kendra. I was pretty worried, 16 miles to go, I'm running 15 seconds slower than I was 6 days ago and it's only getting warmer out. Crap!

At mile 9.5(ish) the race split (THANK GOD!) the half marathoners went right, the full went left. There was an immediate water stop and like all stops I dumped 2-3 cups of water on myself, had some gatorade then rinsed with water. The girl next to me was running an 8:30 pace (ish) so I pulled up next to her and we ran side by side for a good half mile before I decided to talk to her. We spoke about the "lonely" part of the race, but both agreed how much nicer it was having the half folks out of the way. I found it was her 2nd marathon and she was trying to BQ. She needed a 3:35. I told her she was slightly off pace. She told me she intended to pick things up at mile 13. I offered her the advice that she should wait until mile 16, I felt with the heat, 13 might be too soon. She opted to take my advice. I told her I would do my best to pace her to a BQ and that I would tell her when I could no longer hang on. Next thing I know we were running low 7's. The stretch of the highway was nice, long stretch, really allowed you to get in the zone. I kept staring at my watch and kept us under 8:40, trying to hold 8:35's best we could. At around mile 14 I decided to pick up the pace a little bit to 8:25's. I knew in order for her to BQ she had to stop bleeding time. When I looked back I saw that she was about 30 yards back. I thought about slowing down to link up with her, but decided that it was better for me to hold the pace and make her work back up to me. It never happened, a mile later I saw she was further back. There were 2 guys that were playing yoyo with me. Both guys very energetic, slapping hands of supporters, making jokes, goofing, just having a grand time. I was so jealous. I was running on fumes, my calves were sore. GAH, some people are just so fast! At around mile 16 I saw Brian run by. He was maybe 10 yards behind the first place female and he was in 6th overall. He looked ok, his shirt was off and he didn't offer me any words, we fist bumped. I felt inspired. I decided that mile 16 was where I was going to put down my best work. 10 miles. Anyone can suffer for 10 miles. About 4 minutes went by and my shirt came off. I tucked it into my tri shorts. I caught one of the guys that I was playing yoyo with. We ran side by side and had some good conversations for about 2 miles. His buddy John then ran past us and stayed about 25 yards ahead. Mile 18 came and about 2 minutes later I decided I wanted to lift the pace and just put some energy out. I caught John within 45 seconds and decided to just keep pushing. I worked up to mile 21ish and all of a sudden I saw a TON of runners ahead of me. I knew I was in good position, likely top 160ish. But all of a sudden there were hundreds of people in front of me, with bib numbers in the 5 digits. Something was off, people were complaining, people were on their cell phones off the side of the roads. I caught wind that they were calling the race because it was too hot. I was glad that I made the cutoff (or so I thought). By the time mile 22 came around there were thousands of runners in front of me. They were turning folks back at 3 points of the race, then the half marathoners merged in with us again. I was looking for mile markers and didn't see 23, something felt off. The race marker said 24, but my watch said 22.XX. I caught up to a guy with a lower bib number than myself. I asked him if the race was accurate, he looked at his garmin and said yes. I just assumed that my garmin was messed up. I kept pushing the pace, feeling good, but frustrated that I had to cut in and out of all the folks that simply gave up and were walking on the course. I crossed the line at 3:25:26, my garmin showed 24.7. I was pretty stoked, I thought I had set a huge PR, but in the back of my mind I was slightly nervous. I knew my first half was too slow, I ran a conservative 1:49(ish) so I knew I had a monster negative split. Regardless, I worked my way over to the meetup point and stretched etc until Brian showed up. We chatted a bit and about an hour later, found Ben, took some photos and headed back to the hotel. 

STRAVA MARATHON FILE

We all felt pretty trashed, so we opted to take a photo with the trash can, or what was left of it. Brian and I hit the pool to swim a bit and loosen up. Afterwards we checked up on Ben, who was alive and well. After showering I caught up a bit with my friend Jess who ran the half and we headed out into town. We ended up at Vinny Van Go Go's for pizza and beers, then spent the rest of the night around town exploring and wrapping up the night at a dueling piano bar. 

On the plane I sat next to a guy who was slightly ahead of me at the race until mile 22ish. He told me he was the first guy to miss the cutoff, resulting in a 24.7 mile race. That's when I realized that I had not completed the whole course. Pretty bummed. I'm more annoyed than anything. I really don't understand what cutting 1 mile off does. In the end, with 40k people racing the race director has to do what makes sense for them. Just because I know how to properly pace and keep properly hydrated doesn't mean that the race should go on just for me.

I'm very happy to say that my racing season is finally over. Looking at my pace, how I felt and how many miles were left, I still would have set a PR if they didn't cut off 1.5 miles of the course. 3 weeks after my ironman PR too!

What's next? Rest and relaxation... HAHA, JUST KIDDING! I think it's time to focus other aspects of life for a bit. I want to not lose too much fitness this offseason, get stronger at the rock gym and really hit some ice climbing goals, catching up on a bunch of books I want to read and really improving my skills in the kitchen!

Ironman Maryland 2015 race report

This race came into fruition sometime in 2014 when folks on trifury thought it would be nice to do another destination ironman after the success of ironman arizona as a team. slowly but surely we had 25+ folks sign up. i'm a big fan of group races and i've always wanted to have a crew to share the experience with, especially after racing in cozumel in 2013.

going in, i had taken roughly most of 2014 off. i was busy with other aspects of life and didn't prioritize racing as much. i missed it, but i didn't regret it. 2015 was my year, at least that's what i would tell myself. i didn't know much about maryland, i knew it was a fast course looking at times of teammates who did it in 2014 and was pretty confident i could break 10 hours if i just put the time in.

st croix 70.3 2015

i started the season racing st. croix with team awesome. we had raced cozumel together and we had our awesome support team/sherpas join us again. it was a humbling experience. but expected. now way did i think i was going to race well with 4 weeks of training.

after st croix i came home and really had to re-evaluate where my strength and weaknesses were. i always knew i had to put in the time to swim. but i really wanted to improve my bike and run. so i put in the most volume there. all in all, i put in a solid 12 weeks of training, 3 weeks was "ok" training and 3 weeks was junk d/t the race postponement etc.

by the time it was time to leave boston, i had already put in 8 centuries, following 5 of them with runs of 3-8 miles. in my previous four 140.6 races i had not put in a single ride of 100 miles. so i was feeling pretty confident. i drove down with john yen and the whole way we were keeping up with the weather etc. i was pretty nervous that the race would be cancelled, but i was just hoping we would catch a break. then, right when we got out of jersey john just sank. he said the race was being cancelled. there wasn't much more to say or do. we just turned around and headed home. the ride back was sad. i felt more for john than anything. he sacrificed a whole year, spending less time with his family and it was all being taken away.

i got home and the first thing i did was put my bike on the trainer. my gut said something would happen. either the race gets postponed for 10/17 or i was going to sign up for b2b and race that. for the first time in my life i train for a race and it gets canceled. go figure, right?

the next 2 weeks were grim. it was hard to focus, i developed plantar fascitis around oct 4th and it kept worsening. by the sat prior to the race i did a 5 mile run and i couldn't walk after. i was on a heavy dose of anti inflammatory and icing daily. even up to the morning of the race my foot was sore. at this point, i didn't even care. i was just happy the race was going on.

race morning i wake up at 4:15am and i do my morning ritual. we stayed as a group of 15+ at a house we rented a few minutes outside of cambridge. it was nice, we all worked together and all did our own thing at the same time.

once i got to the race i pumped up my tires and worked my way over to the changing tent. it was a brisk morning (low 40's with a light wind) so i decided to change into my wetsuit at the mens transition tent. afterwards i made my way to the swim start (by this time i had already lost mike and john). by the time i got there i bumped into mike, then janos. the wind started picking up but i was in a crowd of 50+ people and had not given it much though. roughly 10-15 minutes (i think) prior to the race starting there was an announcement stating that the swim would be shortened d/t the 30mph winds (there was a small craft advisory, thus making it unsafe for the kayaks and small boats to offer support). the swim was now 1.2 miles. there was a lot of booing, a lot of sad faces for the first timers who were now afraid they were not "ironman" upon completion. roughly 10 minutes later the winds died down to 20mph and the swim was lengthened to 3000m, roughly 1.9 miles. there were some cheers. to me, it didn't matter. i suck at swimming 1.2 vs 1.9, i'm going to suffer.


swim: 1:02:07
i seeded myself in the 1:20-1:30 with 5-6 teammates, it was comforting having them around. i'm probably more of a 1:20 swimmer, but i get a bit of confidence swimming past others vs being passed nonstop in the swim. the first thing i noticed was that the water was choppy, but not as bad as i expected. no worse than wisconsin in 2013, which i thought was the worst swim ever. it was a 2 loop rectangular swim. the outwards portion was directly into the sunlight, which worsened on the 2nd loop. it took me about 10 minutes but i was able to find my rhythm and swim to the turn around. that's when things started to get rough. coming back the chop worsened, i had expected it to lighten up since (no idea why, perhaps lying to myself to make the swim tolerable). i sucked down a few gulps of water but decided it was time to HTFU (harden the fuck up, for all you non triathletes reading) and just go. by the time i was about to finish the first loop i came into pretty shallow water and decided to stand up, walk a few yards and just mentally recover. low and behold, i bump into my teammate terry, who then asks me where to turn. it was funny. i pointed her in what i thought was the correct direction (luckily, it was) and off i went. the 2nd loop was no better. the chop worsened and i really had to dig deep mentally to stay focused. i came out of the water, not knowing my time, other than the fact that it was slow since there were not a lot of bikes left in t1 (which is pretty normal for me to experience).

t1: 0:09:02
OMG, what a shit show. i knew it was going to be a cold day, so i packed towels to dry my tri shorts with and i didn't wear a top under the wetsuit to expedite the process. i got to T1 and the volunteer literally told me there was no room, change outside if i could. of course, i didn't believe him (the 10 athletes changing at the doorway should been a dead giveaway), so i ran in, only to get 5 feet, turn around and come back out. i emptied my bag out and toweled off the best i could. i stuffed a plastic bag in front of my junk and put on my kiwami kona full sleeve zipup with the help of the volunteer. even though i towel dried myself, it still took the both of us quite some time to get the shirt on. the transition times for this race was inflated. there were no bike grabbers/catchers so we had to run the whole transition ourselves. no big deal, such is life. on the way out from transition there was a group of 8-10 folks running out of the shoot to the bike mount line. i was running faster than everyone so i decided to pull right to go around people. this guy in front of me suddenly turns right, stops and kisses his wife in front of my. i stopped as fast as i could to avoid going all macca on his rear derailleur, instead my front wheel catches and the bike falls down and my brand new rear hydration system BREAKS COMPLETELY OFF. great... off to a wonderful start. someone at the gate cheering said forget it man, you got this, go kill it! i picked up the cage, took the bottle out and just ran to the mount line. i mount my bike, stuff the bottle in my tri shorts and start putting out some watts cus i was annoyed.

bike: 5:20:55
luckily i set my garmin 520 with alerts, every time i went over 250 watts it would beep. i knew the bike course was flat, so i really had no reason to spike over 250 watts, not even to pass. on a flat ride with no wind i can comfortably hold 25mph with under 250 watts. the ride coming out of t1 was quite fast. i felt the wind was to my back for the first 10ish mile. i was passing groups of people. i must say, the drafting was bad, but not as bad and blatant as the out and back portion of placid, or the long single file lines of wisconsin out of t1 and def not as bad as the monster packs of cozumel. what i saw were packs of 5-6 riders, spaced about 2-3 bike lengths apart. for me, it was really annoying because it meant i had to put out more watts for longer to pass them. but one by one i did. there were a few folks that just sucked in general. 1) the guy in the orange (custom neon orange with yellow) trek project 1. he was literally wheel sucking his friend. i just looked at him and shook my head as i passed them. then there were the folks who tried to latch onto my wheel when i passed the group. meh, big no no. i would bury myself before i let anyone latch on to me. just not my style. it's not that i'm a super strong cyclist, it's just i don't like strangers riding so close to me. on top of that there was a lot of soft pedaling, folks riding on the passing lane sitting up and eating. about 25 miles into the bike the winds started to get really strong, it shifted from a head wind, to cross wind, back to head wind. it really felt unrelenting. it took me some time, but i slowly caught all my teammates 1 at a time. i was surprised how long it took me to catch them, but we all seeded ourselves differently at the swim, so that was expected. with it being so cold my nutrition was a bit off. i was relying on liquid nutrition, but i really had to pee a lot drinking so much, so i decided to stop for my special needs bag and pick up the 500 calories i had there. which helped me finish the 2nd loop. i noticed my NP going from 145 to 144, to 142, then finishing with 140. some of it was because i was getting tired, but mostly i was saving my legs for the run, i realized that i had already spent a lot of energy keeping from falling off the bike with the cross winds (123lbs race day with catalyst wheel cover and easton ecaero 90 fronts) so i wanted to conserve a few extra bit of juice for the run. when i finished the 2nd loop there was a left turn to finish the last 10 miles, the wind on this section was rough, probably the strongest of the day, but i was just happy to finish. i think i had a pretty good split. there were 2 guys drafting off this stronger cyclist and i didn't want them to latch onto me so i put down some watts and blew by them (the guy doing the pulling gave me some kudos, which was nice). coming into t2 i was worried about my plantar fascitis, but it hadn't bothered me at all on the bike so i decided to just go for it and see when my foot would blow up).

ironman maryland strava bike profile

dave yelling at me to turn around for a photo, the best i could do without stopping.

lots of folks sitting pretty close behind me all race

t2: 0:06:08
i racked my bike, ran into t2 tent and started changing. i took a second to gather myself, but pretty much could have gone a minute faster at best. it was a long transition, at least 90 seconds was running through the damn thing.

run: 3:51:29
my goal was to run a marathon PR. lots of people said it was not possible, but i did it for my half iron a few months back. i still think i have it in me, next year, for sure. i knew i had to hit 8 mins flat for a 3:27, but i also knew that the bike was so windy that i didn't have a 3:27 in me. i decided to go out at 8:10's and turn it up at 20 miles. the first mile was slower than expected, my HR monitor would not sync so i was running and trying to sync it. i gave up, then went back at it (i'm glad i did). i saw some teammates at special needs, it was nice to have then cheering me on. they asked how my foot was and not long after i felt the first twinge, it lasted a half mile and never came back. i was holding between 8 and 8:20's for a good portion of the run. i saw my teammate jason at 43 minutes into the run course. he runs a 2:43 open marathon and as expected (by everyone on the team, including myself) i thought he was going to catch me. i figured, 43 mins in, i'm at mile 5, he has 21 miles to catch me, that's very likely going to happen. i ran by my team tent and was told i had 24 minutes on him. the words out of my mouth were, oh man, he's definitely going to catch me. but i was encouraged to race hard and off i went. i'm not really competitive with others, especially teammates. mostly just pushing myself hard (or at board games really). i was still able to hold a sub 8:30 pace into mile 17 but that's when the wheels started falling off. it was a bit of everything. my GI was a bit off, i was really really cold as the wind picked up. i didn't realize how cold i was until the 3rd lap. i put a trashbag over myself and ran with that for 2-3 miles. at this time i was walking the water stops to make sure i took in some chips, cola, and chicken stock (god, i love that stuff). at the last mile, i passed a guy in my age group. i generally don't like to charge into the finish line, but he passed me again and i decided to keep up with him. unfortunately, he started running faster and faster. i decided to let him go the final 10 meters on his own, it might have been his first, so i didn't want to ruin his photo. i knew that i was probably ahead of him as i seeded myself pretty far back at the swim start. (i was correct, i had him by a few minutes).

trying to get my hrm to connect

i think this was heading into the final loop. i'm guessing it was around 21 miles, as you can see. i was hurting. 

still with half decent form here

trying to finish strong

ironman maryland marathon strava profile

when i finished i saw and hugged my sister, made my way over the the food and changing tent and got into some comfy clothes. general consensus by everyone in the tent was that the winds were brutal (granted, some of them were big guys, so i felt they were exaggerating slightly, typical triathletes though, lol). i made my way over to my team tent and waited for teammates. as the night grew on, it got colder and colder. i pulled the plug and headed back to the house to shower. i spent the 6 hours after the race in GI distress. too much gu/sugar ratio :-/.  the team made it back. we high fived all around and spent the next 2-3 hours into 1am talking about the race. it was truly special.

my goal coming into this race was sub 10 hours. after consulting ST and being humbled, i set my time on sub 10:30, which i eventually did (barely). i still believe on a normal wind day (7mph is cambridge, MD average on oct 3rd) i would have gone low 10's. but it is what it is. i have no gripes. i'm not upset at the guy who stopped to hug his wife, nor am i upset at all the folks who soft pedaled in the passing line, nor of the folks who tried to latch onto my wheel. the reality is that if i want to avoid those folks, i need to learn how to swim faster and more confident. there is no way in hell i can get to kona if i don't improve my swim.

official ironman maryland race results : you can't come in middle of the pack in the swim. even if you're a top 15-20% runner/cyclist (per immd 2015 results). i have a lot of work to do. it starts once i can walk right.

i'm really grateful for all the support i had this year.

to my family, who never understands why i do this, but always supports me. my mother who texted me the night prior and said "sorry i can't be there honey, good luck at your game tomorrow", followed by a bunch of random emojis (seriously, it's not a game mom, it's a damn race for the 1000th time!). to my sister who traveled from dc and was out there with her bf for 10+ hours, then sherpa'ing me home.



to my team:  trifury i joined in 2006, not having a single idea what to do. i was that young whipper snapper that you all took under your wing. special thanks to dave tyler. your commitment to the team is incredible. kudos to claire, so happy to made it down, you are such a strong person. to the everyone else on the team. we may not be the fastest team, we may not have the coolest bikes, or the fanciest of equipment but this team embodies team/family like no other. i couldn't imagine being a part of another team. dave, you better work on that lifetime membership fee for me!




to my drink maple friends: thank you for all those great rides in the middle of the summer. because of you guys, i had more centuries this year than i have had in my previous 8 years of triathlon. my 5:20 bike split was a credit to you guys.

to my breakaway computraining friends: thank you for all those great rides. sharon johnson, caroline, tom kinneman and janos. it is always humbling riding with you guys. really helps me realize how much more i have to improve on the bike!

to my housemates julia and matthias: thank you for putting up with my shit EVERYWHERE in the house. my stanky bike shoes floating around, my loud tv and music when i'm on the trainer. my nutrition/gu/powder etc EVERYWHERE. for watching my dog all those days i'm out training, all those weekends i'm traveling to race. (that goes for all my tufts dog walkers as well, you guys are the bomb!)

to brad callow: who sent me one of the most inspiring e-mails prior to my race. i would post it, but between all your fruity drinks and the e-mail you'll have a hard time convincing anyone in the world you were hetero (because no straight man can write something that nice). even maddy couldn't save you this time.

to all my friends: thank you for putting up with me not showing up to social events, falling asleep at 10pm, waking everyone up at 6am. thank you for following me to new york to ride in the daks, thank you for going to maine for my birthday, just so i can do an ftp test on cadillac mountain. thank you for being so supportive all the time.

riding up cadillac mountain twice on my 31st birthday, dragging everyone up with me :-)

to my slowtwitch family: asking a question on st is the most humbling and educational thing at the same time. i have learned so much. i don't post/read enough to know who is who just yet. but there are a few folks who have really helped me understand how to race better. thank you for all your support and sharing of knowledge.

st folks reminding me how not fast i am

last but not least. thanks to mike posanka and john yen. it's been a long year, i watched you guys train starting last year and it has been a pleasure sharing this experience with you. i couldn't be happier and more proud. you guys were the best training partners a guy could ask for. just serious enough, but no too serious. thanks for all the good laughs. john, i'm still going to punch you in the dick if i ever see you ride on the bull horns when you should be in aero, that's a promise.

Now it's time to sit back, relax for a few days, then get back into climbing. the cold weather is here and it's perfect for outdoor bouldering to build up some strength prior to ice climbing season. don't worry though, this year i'm committed to swimming twice a week, running 3 miles hard before every single gym climbing session and riding on the trainer 3-4x per week. no off season for me this year! IMMT and IMChoo next season. goal is sub 10:15 for IMMT and sub 9:50 for IMChoo!

Me, training? Nuh uh!

the last post I had made was after ironman st. croix 70.3. if i recall correctly, it was a tough race. but i wouldn't change it for a thing. in typical fashion i signed up for an early season race (usually patriot half iron) but team awesome struck and i ended up on a carribean island. no complaints here. since then i have taken some time to relax, repair my ego and get back to work (or start working).

i'm 10 weeks into a 17 week training plan for ironman maryland (race week is week 17) and i'm doing pretty good. i've had 2 weeks over 20 hours and my shortest week was week 2 at 14.18 hours where i took 2 days off to go climbing. i still have 6 weeks to go but i've learned a lot about myself and what i am capable of if i just dedicate myself to it.

in the past, i kept my ironman training plans to just 12 weeks. i told myself that it was the sweet spot. anything over and i wouldn't be able to keep my attention span. i would also lace the training plan with races, just to keep me motivated. the reality is that i didn't have the right goals, nor the right mindset. this time around my goal was to race sub 10. it would involve a PR of the swim, bike and run. it's no small challenge. in fact, i'm likely not going to succeed, but if the stars align, it's possible.

what i've found over this training plan was that the time is always there and that i just have to better allocate it. instead of not wanting to wake up early for a bike ride because starbucks is not open, i buy my coffee the night prior and put it in the fridge (yes, i like my coffee cold). instead of saying i can't wake up early, i go to bed earlier (did my first 4am alarm for a workout, wtf right?). instead of not being able to cook every night (like i prefer) d/t inability to food shop, i signed up for blue apron once a month during my heavy volume weeks so that i can feel like i'm eating healthy as well as get the enjoyment of cooking at home without the added stress of purchasing and using every single item i buy. to top it all off, i utilized laundry service for the first time in my this past weekend. hot damn, it's amazing. i hope i don't get addicted to it. but it allowed me to go out for a friends birthday, cook lunch for my mom on saturday and utilize that time to get in another swim workout as well as catch up on a few desperately needed zzz's...

i'm truly impressed by all my teammates/friends who are parents and still find the time to train 15-20 hours a week.

a friend asked me a bit about cycling power, watts, aerodynamics etc. i'll answer some of these questions my next blog post!

Ironman St. Croix 70.3

after ironman cozumel TM and i threw around the idea of another race. she mentioned st. croix to me. a half iron distance with a steep climb called the "beast". i had heard of the race before, that it was a tough bike course and variable conditions ranging from monsoons to blistering heat. i had a bit of a hiatus after ironman cozumel. it was the crowning jewel of my 2013 race season. one which saw me race 2 ironmans, reach the beach, ragnar trail relay (ultra team), 3 half irons, 2 olympic/international distances and a bunch of scattered short races. for the early half of 2014 i was kinda MIA. i was in a relationship, i started putting weight back on and i simply prioritized anything and everything other than racing. it was probably what i needed. i'm sad i lost the fitness, but i was happy to let it go in search of other good things. on 8/1/14 i sent an e-mail to the cozumel crew. it read:

"i propose a week (or longer) of beautiful waters, beautiful people, amazing food, awesome temperatures, nothing but sun and some tree shade and maybe even strippers (for mike) and definitely dolphins (for chad). 

there is another race in the carribean. ironman st. croix.

good news: it's a 70.3 (half ironman) so we'll be done in 5-7 hours tops.

it's considered the most famous and beautiful half ironman in the world. it's next year, may 6th, 2015 i believe.

if we can get the cozumel crew together i think it would be hard for TM and myself to not sign up and do it.

flights are relatively inexpensive. around 450-650.

just planting the seed. i'm pretty much in if folks go. i just have to be conscious of my vacation time since i want to spend 3 weeks in argentina late 2015.

so here i stand, better yet. here i kneel proposing to all of you. to share another amazing week of laughter and creating of amazing memories!"

it honestly didn't take much. mike responded, yes. chad responded, yes, TM responded, yes. then we had our first casualty. katie was going to be in a wedding the same weekend in mexico. tsk tsk.

it didn't take long (but longer than it should have) but we signed up for the race, booked the flights and eventually found a place to stay.

at first, i was really excited. i looked at the finishing times and though that if i were to put in the training i would be able to compete for a top 3 spot and possibly qualify for 70.3 worlds in austria. thus, i started training early. for once! i started in sept/oct with weekly spin rides at the house. i had friends sherpa their own bikes over and we pedal mashed for an hour and even did some runs afterwards. this lasted 4-5 weeks? then..... between the ending of a relationship and beginning of ice season i kind of fell off the bandwagon. from mid oct/early nov to april i did nothing but ice climb. regardless, i came to this race knowing that i was going to suffer. despite being suited to my style (steep bike with rolling hills between steep climbs, 2 loop run course in the heat, somewhat flat easy swim) i was easily in the worst racing shape of my life. but more on that later. ya'll want to know about st croix!

whilst waiting for our rental car, chad digs out is candy. i'm surprised he has all his teeth. st. croix has a small airport, so small you walk onto the runway to get onto the planes. first time flying in a plane with a propeller as well, kinda fun, kinda freaky. 

headed out to check out christiansted as well as find some grub. nothing was really open so we ate at angry nates, a super touristy place. we were introduced to some decent local hot sauce, but paid like 13 bucks for an omlette. hot damn island prices are high!

the view from our balcony, the dark stuff in the water is sea grass. it was kind cool, once you swim past it you were in crystal clear water. 

after checking out the town and doing some grocery shopping chad and i were wiped. we had been up all night as we took the midnight flight out with a few hours layover in peurto rico (which has one of the shittiest airports ever). we arrived in st croix at 8am and by the time it was 2pm we were zonked. chad kind of passed out on the couch and after some light reading i decided to head upstairs and take a nap. i set my alarm for 5pm. when i woke up i was surprised to see a text from TM saying she was "here". i head downstairs, open the door and see her bike bag and luggage. then i see her. apparently she got in on friday... oops. 

kathy joined later that night and manny and kevin joined saturday afternoon. mike overslept his flight and showed up at night. 

saturday night was last minute prep time. taping gu to my bike, mentally talking myself through the race, trying not to freak out. prior to the race i had swam a total of 25 mins in the pool (and poorly mind you). i had done a few long trainer rides but only 2 outdoor rides totally 110 miles and put in about 30-40 miles of running. essentially, i did jack shit. i was really worried about the swim (per usual). 

race morning came and we got there early. 

kevin drove TM and me to the race and went back for everyone else as they were going to shut off the island to traffic, especially christiansted. it was a typical race morning. i got my shit together but whilst unpacking my bag i realized that i had left my visor at the condo. UGH. i have never raced a tri without my visor. already, the mental shield gets its first ding. 

the swim start was on an island, so we had to swim to it, i decided to follow TM who was taking it really easy. needless to say, i struggled to keep up with her. so before the race even started i'm really worried that i'm not going to finish. 

luckily TM and my friend jay put some positive words in my head and i was able to find some peace prior to the gun going off. when my wave started i checked out my "competition", it felt good to be in an earlier wave. it allows me to judge how well i'm doing. as the gun shot off i started the swim. i actually felt pretty good starting. but about 300 yards in i knew i was in for a long day. i was having trouble sighting and the waves were a bit larger than i had anticipated. i had my first gulp of salt water and began to freak. panic set in. i grabbed my first kayak, then my first bouy, then another kayak. by the time i had finished the first leg (triangle swim) i had chewed up 26 minutes of time. i was seriously worried that i wouldn't finish. i've never had that slow of a swim before. i was on pace to NOT finish the swim. then, something took over. i told myself that i've been in this situation before. i wasn't going to drown, i could go on. i put my head down and just kept going. i didn't care if no one was around me, i didn't care if i was a bit off course. it took me 26 minutes to finish the final 2 legs.  

coming out of the water is always a relief. i was happy to see all my friends there screaming and yelling at me. but i also knew that the hard part is still to come (when generally the swim is the hardest part for me). 

T1 was pretty typical for me. i ate a gu, did a quick stretch and headed out. i was pretty confident TM was a few miles ahead of me. going into this, i told myself i would stick with her and pace her to a good race for as long as i could before i bonked and let her finish strong. here i am yelling at the crowd asking if TM was on the bike already. to my surprise she wasn't out of T1 yet. she was a good 5-10 mins behind me with the wave start and i guess my swim wasn't as bad as i thought it was, haha. 

the bike was challenging. the beast itself wasn't bad. i rode up the whole climb, got out of the saddle 1-2 times just to pick up a little extra momentum but i was really surprised to see the amount of folks walking their bikes. it didn't even feel like anyone tried. after the beast was a fun descent. i was sure to spin down to keep the legs loose. after that i thought i would be in the clear, but i wasn't. to keep it short, i had the hardest bike ride ever. i thought losing my nutrition at challenge AC was bad, this was bad's bigger brother. i recall looking down at my bike computer and seeing 94.8 for temperature. the constant rolling hills, the heat, the lack of real food took a toll on me. by the time i rolled into T2 i was spent. i sat down and gathered myself, and fixed my hair of course ;-). 

but all i had left was 13.1 miles. no big deal. been there, done that hundreds of times. never done it after a hard swim, brutal bike and in intense heat. god, that run SUCKED. especially through the golf course. i've never been so drenched in water, ice in my pants, ice in my butt crack and just not cared. i just kept dumping anything that was cold over me. the funny thing is that once i was cool, i was putting down 7:30min/mi. but once the water evaporated (and it did so very fast) my pace was dropping down to the 9's. eventually after mile 9 i decided to just give in. i started my first walk. it was 60 seconds, then running, next time i pushed it to 90 seconds. then i decided i didn't want to limp around for vacation and shut it down. i started walking for longer periods until mile 12 where i just wanted to finish up and eat a bag of chips and have a can of ginger ale.

here i am, decelerating at the turnaround for lap #2. 

i was happy to finish the race. i've never mentally broken like that. i had fun, most of the time. but there were a few dark moments where i just didn't want to be out there. we all have our dark days when we race. but it's important to know that no matter how bad you have it race day, no matter how much you want to quit, the only thing keeping you from doing so is yourself. 

that and not wanting to disappoint all these amazing people who flew in to cheer you on and support you! 

post race relaxation. a little reading, a little sun bathing, a little swimming. 

sometimes i can't find my shades, so i use my swim goggles to read.  

finding local food is really important to me. this was at harvey's. they had some pretty rocking scotch bonnet hot sauce as well as home made dranks. 

a few days later we finally made it to singh's for some roti! 

i may look like the odd one out, but the truth is that these two were the only two not wearing wetsuits. at 70+ feet down the water temp was around 70-72 degrees. too cold for my blood. 

on our last night we decided to hit up a few tourist spots. we went to see/feed the drunken pigs but by the time we got there, they were closed. thus our journey to find good food. it took us a good 45 minutes but we finally found villa moralles. a small family owned restaurant only open from thu-sat nights serving home style peurto rican and creole cuisines. i got the fried whole snapper. apparently if you want the head on, you have to call ahead! sigh, only if i had know. the place also had awesome mojitos and even more awesome pnia coladas. i think everyone was satisfied with their meals. what was even more impressive was their hospitality. everyone was super nice and the owner, john was a hoot!

photo with the legend himself. 

our last day on the island. we decided that it would be nice to find a nice beach to relax a bit before we had to head back for our flight. we had breakfast at polly's where i picked up breakfast for a homeless man only to have him just leave it on the floor (he was likely high on meth, probably the blue stuff, cus who the hell passes up fresh passion fruit juice and an awesome breakfast sandwich?). after breakfast we made the trek to find a good beach and drove by rainbow beach. the water was clear, the sand was white and the beach was vacant. this was our spot. 

not too shabby.

as i look back and reflect i think that this was the hardest race i have ever done. at least during the race (bike and run especially) i felt like i hated life. but i honestly have not looked back at this trip and think it was difficult. my friends (the one's that don't race at least) have no idea how much of an impact they have on me during race day. from the rides to the race start, to seeing everyone going into T1, then again leaving T2, at the end of a brutal bike ride i'm greeted by folks screaming my name and most importantly at the finish line to greet me. no matter how good or bad i did their words are always so supportive. extra thanks and love to TM. without her, none of this would be possible. i mean seriously, sign up for a race on a tropical island by myself? that's cray cray!