MIM race report

So it has been almost a week and a half since my last post and I apologize for that. Last week was my official first week of summer. I'm working at the Lancaster Aquatic Center for the summer while I race. I will be looking for a job over the course of the summer since I am no longer a student.

This past weekend I traveled down to Memphis for the annual Memphis in May triathlon. This will be my 5th yr racing here, and I was excited to race there for the first time as a professional. Casey, Beth, Ben, David Kuendig, and myself all drove down in two cars. We met up with several other Lexingtonians once we got there. Lexington, KY had quite a showing at that race. We drove down Friday morning after a little easy swim at the LAC. I managed to talk Casey into swimming with me once we got to the race site on Friday. She doesn't like to swim in the open water very much. And you could tell she hasn't done it much because of the zig-zags she was swimming through the water, haha. After a very short swim, we went and found a place to eat. We ended up eating at Olive Garden which is always a wonderful choice. Then we went and saw the movie "Angels and Demons" which was a lot better than I expected it to be. Saturday we ate some breakfast, did our usual pre-race workout routine, and then hung out for a while. Dave and I had to attend the pro meeting that afternoon, then we all went to "Amerigo's" which is the place we've eaten at the night before the race for 5 straight years now.

Race morning, Dave and I got to sleep in while Ben and Beth had to leave the hotel at 5 am to prepare for the race. Dave and I didn't start until 10:30 am. We left the hotel around 8 and got there with plenty of time to warmup and get everything ready for the race. Luckily, my race number was "4" so I got to be the first male professional in the water for the time trial start.

Myself, Dave, and George Van Meter (who had already finished his race)

The guy who started right behind me is an amazing swimmer, so I knew that he was going to pass me early in the swim.

At the start, I dove into the water, and sprinted past the one girl that started in front of me. Cameron Dye, flew by me about 200 yards into the swim and never looked back. I got out of the water quite a ways behind him, but was still the second pro out of the water. My swim time was 18:46. This was a little slower than last year, but I used a wetsuit last year so I was ok with this time.

I sprinted through T1 and was headed out onto the bike. It was a very windy day, and the first few miles had a strong cross wind. Around the 5 mile mark, another pro came flying by me. Andrew Starykowicz went by me like I was standing still. He passed me right as we turned with the wind. I put my head down and tried to keep him close. I was riding 32 - 34 mph with the wind and he was dropping me like a bad habit. I kept him within sight for about 5 miles, then he was gone. I rode by myself for the last 15 miles of the course, and the last 8ish were miserable. The wind had picked up, and was now a head wind for the remaining 8 or so miles. I rode as smart as I could by not killing myself but by trying to maintain a good tempo into the wind. I rode into T2 and was the 3rd pro off of the bike.

I had a great T2 and took off on the run. My first mile was 5:45 and I did not feel good at all. I managed to pick up the pace, and I negative split the run. I ran the second half of the run 50 seconds faster. I guess I should have gone out faster. Since it was an out and back run, I saw all of my competition, but Starykowicz had a good .25 of a mile on me, and I had about the same distance on the next guy behind me. I ran the whole run by myself. I crossed the finish line and was glad to be done. I was pleased with my race, knowing it was a slow day to race in Memphis.

My bike split was almost 2 minutes slower than I went 2 yrs ago on that same course. My run split was my fastest ever at Memphis, but it still wasn't "fast" by any means. I ended up in 4th place. The two guys that passed me both beat me, and the guy that finished behind me beat me. He started almost 5 minutes behind me, and only finished about 1 - 2 minutes behind me.

So I officially got my first professional paycheck for that 4th place performance, and I'm looking forward to my first draft legal race this coming Memorial Day in Austin, Texas.

Congrats to Beth Atnip for a huge PR on that windy day in Memphis and to Ben for a huge PR on the same course. They both fought through the conditions and ran their butts off to finish well.

Thanks for reading.

Tony