Well, I have another 70.3 under my belt, and I learned that racing in the rain isn't really that bad. It was actually pretty nice. Last year at this race, it was in the mid 80's and sunny. This year it was in the mid 70's and raining. The wind wasn't too bad and I never really felt too overheated. My brother and I got to Augusta Friday evening and just hung out. We went for a little shake out run, and then met up with a buddy, Jamie Johnson, and his father at Mellow Mushroom to enjoy some pizza. Saturday was filled with a lot of hanging out in the hotel room, watching football, and doing a lot of nothing.
Sunday morning came and we set up our stuff for the race, and got ready to roll. I found out that the new rule change for the wetsuit cut off temperature would allow the pro's to wear wetsuits in the swim. I haven't raced (or even worn) in a wetsuit since Steelhead of 2009. So almost 1 year and 2 months!!!
I went to the start and at 7:30 we were off. I had a great first 100 yards but other than that, I never really felt like I was catching much water. I stayed close to the buoys hoping for a little help from the current, but I didn't stick to anybody's feet and that was a big mistake. I lost the only feet that I tried to stay on and I was having trouble sighting with my foggy goggles so I was relying on the splashing from the swimmers in front of me. I came out of the water in 17th position which was a huge difference from the 4th position that I came out in from Steelhead. At the time I didn't know what position I was in, but I knew I didn't have a great swim. Fortunately, I felt good on the bike and went after everyone. Chris Legh was right behind me so we paced off of each other to pass a few people and to catch the next bike pack. Once we caught them, he went right by them and was headed towards the main bike pack. I am not quite as strong as him on the bike so by the time I had recovered from our first effort, he had put a good 50 - 100 yards on me. I knew that it would take a really hard effort to get him, but I just didn't have it in my legs. He eventually caught the main pack as I got settled into that 2nd pack. We did not draft, we just used each other for pacing and to help each other stay motivated. We tried hard to catch the main pack for the first hour but we ended up losing almost 2 - 3 minutes on that pack over that last 25 miles or so. Patrick Evoe came by us with about 6 miles to go and really bumped up our pace heading back into T2.
I had an average T2 and was off on the run. I believe I was 15th starting the run and was a little demoralized at the time. I knew I was out of the money by a long shot and not even sure how far back I was of the next competitor (excluding the guys I came into T2 with). After about a mile of running, Nick Waninger was using his fleet feet to pull away from me, and I had pulled away from two other guys. I was just trying to keep Nick close and hoping we would catch a few guys. I went through 6 miles in about 34:30 and didn't really feel too terrible. I caught 2 more guys around mile 7 and then I started my 2nd lap of the run. At this time, a lot of AG'ers were on the run course so I couldn't really tell too much of a difference between guys that I was catching, or guys that were 1 lap behind me. It really helped to have some of them (people to pass) there because around mile 11 I thought about walking and again just about 1/2 mile from the finish*. I had some really rough patches and I know those last 2 miles were significantly slower than the rest of my run. I found out at the finish line that I ended up passing another 3 - 4 guys and finished 7th overall. I was really happy to see the finishing clock at 3:53 and change as I have never been faster than 3:54 and I haven't done that since 2008. I crossed the finish line in 3:53:51.
My finishing spot wasn't what I had hoped for, but there were some really fast guys there. I have never gone that fast in a 70.3 and I found out that it hurts A LOT to go that fast. I am really looking forward to Clearwater and hoping that I can have a similar result on the bike/run while putting together a better swim.
Now I just need to focus on recovering fast since I have a duathlon this weekend here in Central KY.
Tony
*One of the hardest aspects of racing professionally is the fact that you are by yourself for most of the race, so you are fighting that little voice in your head the whole race. When I raced as an AG'er, I always had a lot of people to pass, which gave me a lot of reinforcement for how fast I was going, and a lot of times it would help me continue going that same speed. My wave always started kind of late compared to everyone else, so that gave me hundreds of people to chase after. Now that I start first, you are either in first place and by yourself, or somewhere in the top 10 - 20 hoping that you are close to the other professionals that you are racing against. For example, at Kansas this year, I rode for almost 20 miles without seeing another competitor, so that little voice in my head telling me to slow down did not help matters, ha.
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