After a couple of solid training weeks, I was ready to race. I felt like a bum during my taper this past week as I was doing a lot of nothing. I am reading a great book that I got for Christmas entitled "Unbroken." Anyways, last weekend I decided to compete in a local sprint Tri to get in a solid effort 1 week out from Kansas and I knew it wouldn't take too much out of me. After some difficulties with the course, I did manage to pull out the win but I could definitely tell I needed to rest more as I didn't feel great in either the swim, bike, or run.
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
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