Muncie 70.3 RR

This weekend was the annual Muncie Endurathlon.  It has been around for years and has a great history to this race.  It was a World Championship race back in 1995 and it used to be a Kona qualifying race until about the mid 1990's.  This was going to be my 2nd attempt at this race.  The last time I was here, I remember the swim being warm and a little slow, the bike is pancake flat, and the run is challenging with some rolling hills that is completely exposed to the sun.  

We started our trip on Thursday after work when we made the 2.5 hour drive from Nashville to Louisville to visit with my aunts Francie and Carol.  It is always a lot of fun to visit with them and super nice for them to open up their home to us.  We hit the road early Friday morning for Muncie.  Friday was mostly like any other "day before the race" day.  Once in Muncie, I got in a few short workouts, attended the pro meeting, and relaxed at our homestay's  house.  The Gries' were very welcoming to my wife and I and we had a blast staying at their house.  They cooked some amazing food and made sure we were properly fueled for the next day.  

Race morning was just like all the others.  Wake up super early, prep your nutrition stuff, put on your race number tattoos, and head to the race.  I got there with plenty of time and got my transition all set up.  On the way to the race site, of course I hear a song on the radio that gets stuck in my head for the rest of the day.  It was a little unusual for this song to be on the radio, but it is what it is. 

Not everyday you hear a Disney song on the radio.  It definitely made me laugh and I was hoping that this was the one song NOT to get stuck in my head.  But when you think that to yourself, you know it has already happened.

The water temp was 74 degrees so we were going to swim in our wetsuits.  This was a little unusual as Muncie is typically super hot and never a wetsuit swim.  It didn't matter to me since I have my Xterra Vendetta.

Pre Swim shot with some Crazy eyes. 

At 7 am, the gun went off.  I got out pretty good but not quite as hard as I went in Kansas.  I settled on some feet about 400 yards in, and stayed there.  I was swimming comfortably enough to notice a gap open up in front of the guy I was swimming behind.  I put in a hard 100 yards or so and bridged up to the feet up ahead.  I was glad that I did because I believe the other guy got dropped from the pack.  I was comfortable in the pack for the rest of the way and we came out of the water in the mid 26's.  Not fast, but for the effort I was giving, that was to be expected.  I led the group of 7 guys out of the water and ran into T1.  My transition was ok and I ran quickly out of T1.

About 10 seconds for taking my spill.

Right after the mount line, I jumped on my bike and immediately started to hammer.  Four pedal strokes into the bike, I hit a bump while I was pedaling downwards with my right foot.  I was not in my bike shoes yet.  When I hit the bump, my foot slipped off of my shoe and I lost my balance.  I shot over my handlebars and hit the road.  I was fortunate enough to roll and not hit super hard.  I jumped up, did a quick assessment and made sure nothing was broken.  My Rudy Project Wingspan kept my head safe for sure as I have a nice little scuff on the back of my helmet.  Nothing appeared to be broken so I quickly picked up my bike.  Looked it over, fixed the brakes as they had moved and were not mashed against my wheels.  After running back to get my bike shoe that was lost about 10 yards back, and picking up my water bottles, I got on my bike slowly and took off.  I ended up losing about 1 - 1.5 minutes.  The 6 other guys that I came out of the water with were long gone.  The first mile or two I was still assessing the situation.  My bike hit on the gear side and the rear derailleur took most of the damage.  It was jumping every time I shifted, but was manageable to race on.  It wouldn't have been worth it to pull over and wait for a mechanic as I'm sure I would have lost a lot more time doing that just so my gears wouldn't be jumping.  Mike Hermanson and Patrick Evoe both made quick work of me in those first few miles as I was still getting my head back in the game.

I told myself I was going to at least get in a solid training day.  Once we got on the main road, I put my head down and just hammered away while having "Let It Go" running on an endless loop in my brain.  I ended up averaging around 278 watts for the ride.  Not bad considering those first 5 miles was only about 260ish because of crashing.  Here is my Strava file from the bike. This is by far the best I have ridden in a race this year so I'm happy I was able to do that after an accident.

My T2 was slow as I noticed a lot of blood when I pulled my foot out of my cycling shoes.  I didn't notice it right after the crash as I don't think it had started bleeding yet.  However, one toenail got ripped partially off, and another toe had the skin ripped off.  So my foot was covered in blood.  I wasn't sure how bad it was so I sat down to put on my run shoes.  I looked at the bottom of my foot to make sure the bottom was ok (it was) and then slipped on my running shoes carefully.  Then I was off running.

Nice little shot of my rear after the race. 

The run was uneventful as I was so far back I didn't see many people out there. I settled into a comfy pace for the first 6-7 miles and then the fatigue and pain in my foot started to creep up.  I slowed down and jogged it in.  I ran about 6:15 pace for the first half and then about 6:50 pace for the second half.  I crossed the finish line somewhere around 4:13ish.  Still nothing close to what I used to be able to do, but I have never crashed before in a 70.3, so I have nothing to compare it to.





My bike fitness is coming along as I only averaged about 250-255 watts at NOLA 70.3.  I felt very comfortable holding the wattage I did for Muncie and feel that I could have pushed harder had I been in the group that I came out of the water with.  The guys that finished 5th - 7th place on Saturday all came from that group.  Not saying I would have finished that high, but....

I still think back to 2011 when I was racing full time and remember averaging 300 watts for Muncie.  So I'm almost where I used to be, but not quite.  I knew this was going to be a rebuilding/relearning year, but I sure hoped everything to progress faster than it actually has.  All I can do is continue to put in the work and be patient.  I know the Lord has a plan for me and that I just need to have faith and be patient.

I'm not as beat up from the crash as expected so training resumed on Monday as usual.  I did rest up on Sunday.  We stopped back in Louisville Saturday after the race and had a wonderful evening with my aunts and my bro and sis in law, Dana and Ben.  So it is always nice to visit with family and relax after a long and stressful day.

Next up is the Music City Triathlon here in Nashville on the 27th of July and then Steelhead 70.3 on the 10th of August.

Thanks for reading.