Its official the last triathlon of the 2010 season is over and I will kindly say that I went out with a bang. Now I don’t want to sound cocky or big headed because by no means am I or ever will I be, but I had one hell of a race from start to finish. I am not sure if the triathlon gods were looking after me or what, but I raced what seemed to be a flawless 70.3 miles.
Coming into Syracuse I was growing with excitement and knowing that this being the last race of the season I wanted to come back to Brockport knowing I left every ounce of energy out on that course. Plan and simple regardless of my training volume (or lack thereof at times) I wanted to be content with my effort. I watched Alistair Brownlee (21 year old I.T.U triathlete) on T.V about a month ago and at the finished he completely collapsed from exhaustion. That rang in the back of my head for the entire month and that’s exactly how I wanted to race. I wanted to collapse at the finish line and I basically did just that. The outskirts of Syracuse don’t offer much so Friday night was spent with Catherine eating and walking around the huge Carousel mall. Saturday was family filled and race preparation. It was nice having the family there again because for some reason knowing that they made the trip always makes me want to race faster. I feel as if they put forth all the time and energy to come watch I shouldn’t let them down. So we hung out, moseyed around the mall then went out to eat before bed.
Sunday came with rain clouds and cool weather, much of which was expected. Right before I went off for the swim start my family and Catie’s family all meet up, and I bid my farewell. The swim start wasn’t very chaotic, but the water was FREEZING! Sixty-two degrees is not warm even with a wetsuit on, so after hyperventilating for about the first five minutes of the swim I settled in and did what I needed to do in order to have the fastest swim time possible. I stayed to the inside, and hugged the buoys and believe it or not everybody else was off a little ways so I was on my own. I didn’t have anyone to draft off of so it was just me and my swimming ability which everyone knows by now is pathetic. After making the first turn I was feeling pretty good, but did the one thing I was really trying not to and that was to steer off course. I was following what I thought was one of the buoys but unfortunately for me the wave ahead of me all had orange swim caps which was the same color as the buoys so I started to follow them. Needless to say they weren’t swimming in the right direction so once I figured that out I got back on track and exited the water in 33:18 which was my fastest time of that distance. Upon exiting the water I saw my family and Catie cheering as I ran up to transition one. I got my wetsuit stripped by some volunteers and grabbed my bike gear and off I went for a very cold 56 miles on the bike.
By this time I was telling myself throwing away a personal best swim time would be a shame so I motored on with the bike. There were some pretty steep climbs in the first 15 miles so I just swung it into a spinning gear and cruised on up those suckers and made my way to the flat land. I decided to break the bike into eleven, five mile sections and keep track of my splits that way. I had no idea how this course looked or felt so it was all a mystery to me. Plus when you add in the fog which made it impossible to see twenty feet ahead of you this course really became the unknown. Being one of the later swim waves I was passing a lot of people within the first ten miles, and started to make up time once I hit the twenty mile marker. I was okay with doing 1:05 for the first twenty miles because based on the elevation charts the hardest part of the course was behind me. I started to pick it up and got into a rhythm. Once I was got going on the flat roads the miles began to tick away faster than I anticipated. I did the next 5 miles in 11:30 and that to me was a red light. I was riding way too fast, or at least I thought I was. I decided that I felt better than normal so I figured I’d push the envelope a bit the next twenty miles and sure enough I finished 40 miles in 1:57. This was when the thoughts of me riding to hard would destroy my run, but once again I opted to ride as hard as I possibly could and would deal with the run when it came. I was halted by the burning desire to take a pee so I pulled over, dropped trow, and let loose. I may have lost a minute but damn did that feel good. I am pretty sure I had goose bumps running up and down my legs. Ahhh man that was a relief. Okay back to the race after finishing nature’s call, I had around 11 miles to go on the bike leg and wanted to push it as fast as I possibly could to try to ride under sub 2:35. I was close, very close but I would have to ride a ridiculously fast 6 miles back home. There was a small little hill and as I was spinning up the incline I looked over and saw my family and although I don’t even think I said hi because I was in utter shock they made it out to the bike course I was extremely happy to see them. I apologize family. That right there made me ride the last 5 miles in under 11 minutes. Into T2 I was and the goal was to be in and out under 90 seconds.
Starting the run my legs needed a little time to get rolling. As I approached the first mile I looked down at my watched and ran it in 5:55 and told myself to back off a bit or else I would pay for it around mile ten. As I kept running I noticed that my mile times were all around 6:25 and I wasn’t feeling too bad and at that moment I decided fuck it this was the perfect race to let loose and just let my body do the talking. I felt good, I was ready to run 13.1 and I was going to get from point A to point B as fast as I physically could. Around mile 4 I caught up to a guy who was flying and we chatted a bit and he told me he just got back from the Duathlon World Championships in Sweeden so I figured I would try to hold his pace. We ran about the next three-four miles playing cat and mouse with one another. I ran ahead then he caught me and so on. Once mile seven came around only 44 minutes had added onto my time and I started to feel pretty shitty, but as soon as I began to fall into a hole a spectator yelled out “Great pace, you look the best that I’ve seen so far!” and I thought to myself “Well lady I feel like shit, but if you insist” so I surged on and passed Mr. Duathlete and held that lead for the rest of the race. At every water station I was in “I want everything you have mode” so I drank Gatorade, water and took in Gu every three miles. Around mile ten I spotted another kid in my age group and made it my responsibility to pass him as he was hurting bad and I could tell that. I decided to slow for a few seconds right behind him, gain a little energy and then sprint by him. That way he probably thought I was feeling really good and running really fast when in actuality I wanted to lie on the sidewalk and eat a dozen donuts. I ran past him, and by this time the ten mile marker appeared and I looked down at my watched and thought to myself okay two 6:40 miles and you will break 4:40. By mile eleven I wanted to be done. I ran faster than I thought I ever could up to this point and slowing down seemed like a great option. People always tell me to enjoy the scenery when racing, and take it all in, but seeing how we were running through downtown Syracuse it was quite sketchy. So I decided that I would run faster for my personal safety. I didn’t want to get sniped down 2 miles from the finish. (Just kidding Syracuse is a nice city). Around mile twelve I noticed there was a youngster off on the sidewalk barely walking and I checked out his calf and it read “20”. Ah sweet victory that kid is in my age group so once again I did the whole wait for a few seconds save a little energy and then jet pass him. This time the “jet” was more like a slow jog, but you get the picture. I started thinking man I must be doing pretty well in my age group. Eh not so much. I finished seventh out of 80. Mile thirteen came and I could hear the music playing, the crowd cheering, and the inner harbor was in sight. I started to get goose bumps and took it all in. I started looking through the crowd in hopes to spot my mom, dad, cousins, aunts, girlfriend, but I think I missed everyone but Frankie and Ashley. As I approached the finish line I check my watch 4:38 so I decided what the hell mid as well pump the fist and give a little shout out to Master J (the big guy upstairs).
This race was hands down the best race I have ever had in my entire life. From start to finish I felt like I was made of iron or something crazy like that. I was so ecstatic that I finally showed not only myself but my family what kind of race I could have if things go my way. I was there for them. Also at home was my Granny who is not doing all that well and at 102 she is still fighting with whatever energy she has left and I figured if she is still chugging away why can’t I? I ended a season on a personal record for the distance I went a happy but sore guy. This year has hosted the craziest season ever. I trained my ass off since January. I rode like Lance, I ran like Meb, and swam like a brick. I became an Ironman, I won my first duathlon, I finished 4th overall at a highly competitive triathlon, and had the best race of my life yesterday. Overall I couldn’t have asked for a better season. Although it was myself who put in all the hard work, it was my parents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and more over Catie who have been absolutely beyond amazing. Never in a million years would I have imagined a girlfriend put up with my prancing around in spandex for hours on end, waking up before the sun, and throwing away Saturdays so I could ride my bike for six hours. My parents have been so incredibly supportive and I consider myself the luckiest son in the world. So I thank you everyone for the kind words of encouragement. Cheers to 2010.
