Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Muncie 70.3

This past weekend I made my first trip up to Muncie, Indiana for the Half Ironman race that has been held there for the past 32 years. I have always heard great things about it and since it is now an Ironman owned event, I figured I would go race. I drove up Friday morning and actually came into town on the bike course so I was able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I drove straight to the race site and got in a little bike ride and open water swim before heading to my homestay's house. Thank you to Karen Wenger and Al Smith for hosting me and Casey for the weekend and giving a place to sleep. After the Pro meeting and an amazing dinner that was cooked by Karen, we sat around and relaxed before going to bed.

Saturday morning was a little different than most race mornings as I got to sleep until 5:15am since the race didn't start until 8am. This was extremely late compared to most 70.3 races. I ate a little food, then headed down to the race site. After racking my bike, I got everything set up and headed down to the water. I was anxious to try out my new Profile Design speed suit as I have never used one before. The water temp was well over 80 degrees so we were definitely not using wetsuits.

At 8 am, the gun went off. I got a pretty good start and was out well. After a few hundred yards, I settled in on some feet and felt good about my position. I got a little too comfortable and I lost those feet. I immiediately put on a surge to get back on but it was too late. I was by myself for 300 - 400 yards before a group of guys caught me. I just sat in that group all of the way until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a few guys who usually out swim me but also a few guys that I normally out swim so I guess it was where I should have been????

Any ways, I ran into T1 and was out onto my bike. I had a much better transition than I did in Kansas and also Muncie has a much easier first few miles on the bike to get warmed up than Kansas did. It took me a few miles to get warmed up but once I warmed up, I was moving pretty good. I passed a few guys that I came out of the water with and made a move to catch 2 guys that were just up the road. I exerted maybe just a tad too much energy in catching those guys too fast, but it doesn't matter now, I caught them. Me, Joe McDaniel, Zach Ruble, and Daniel Bretscher all stayed pretty close for almost the whole bike leg. We were only about 1 minute or so down from the "main" pack and at both turn arounds we were maintaining this gap. We had a nice little tail wind from 33ish miles up until 45 - 47 miles. It was great to have a nice tail wind during this section. Mike Caiazzo flew by us around the 45 mile mark and kept going. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished 2nd overall.

I came into T2 with the same 3 guys that I had been riding with for most of the bike leg and we were in spots 9 - 12 overall. I had a good transition and was off running. I felt alright, but not normal for the first 1.5 miles. Then it hit me. My legs already felt like jello and it felt like my quads were going to cramp at any second. I backed off a little and tryed to maintain my pace. I could see the "main" pack just barely up the road. They maybe had 1 - 2 minutes on me and I felt that with my running ability that I should have been able to catch at least 3 - 4 of those guys. Well, the wheels fell off and I just went slower and slower. I did catch 1 guy but only to be passed by another. I was sitting in 10th place for most of the run leg and not making up any ground. Once I had covered 5 miles, I had to walk a little. I started walking 30 seconds per 2 miles of running. That plan worked and got me to the finish line even if it wasn't as fast as I wanted to go. Brent Poulsen flew by me around mile 10 and I was able to hold on to 11th postion for the rest of the run.

This was my best swim/bike combo of the year but unfortunately the heat got to me on the run and I just melted. This was my hottest race of the year and I believe I was a little too excited to start the run. I should have been a little more patient and settled into a slower pace to start the run. Maybe I could have held this slightly slower pace and ended up running faster in the long run.

Anyways, I had a decent result given the conditions and was extremely pleased with my bike leg as I have never gone that fast for 56 miles before. Next up is the Giant Eagle Triathlon on the 31st of July. Then Steelhead 70.3 on the 14th of August.

T-Bird

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Muncie is a really nice city. Really laid back. I wish I could afford to move away from Indy, but the technology job market isn't great there. American Citizenship is one step beyond permanent residence (Green Card). But the cost of living is superb in Muncie, so I'll keep looking!