Ironman Maryland Race Report

I love doing new races in their Inaugural year. An even heavier factor in choosing a race is it's geographic location. It was a no-brainer when Ironman Maryland popped up, partway into the 2014 season, to jump on board. I had a lot of fun racing Ironman Florida to close out the 2013 season, leaving me itching for another flat, fast course and this race was calling my name. While never having raced Eagleman 70.3, in the same location, I have heard the legend of the FAST and flat course and tales of its scorching heat. A quick bit of research into The Farmer's Almanac produced a different story; mid-70s to mid-80s are expected in mid-September. The dice were thrown down on the table. I spoke with my coach, Tim Snow, and we put it on the schedule.

I had 8 weeks between IMLP and IMMD, which sounded like an ideal amount of time. The 10 weeks between IMMT and IMFL last year seemed to drag and motivation wavered. Racing 8 hours after a crash in Placid left me utterly spents and slowed my recovery down big time but 3 weeks after placid, I felt I had my legs back. I have been working with Ed Boyle as a masseuse this year and he has taught me a lot about listening to my body. While I don't wish a crash on anybody, and I was lucky to elude major injury, it was an interesting opportunity to be able to watch the body heal after a big race like an Ironman. I know a lot of athletes who throw a big event on the schedule in the same month they complete an Ironman and other athletes who lace up the shoes mid week post-Ironman to "start preparing" for their next adventure. I can speak first hand, watching bruises heal on my body, that your energy levels will return long before the bruises, tiny tears, and strains fully heal. Therefor, I recommend at least one week completely off after a major effort such as an Ironman.

If you know much about me or follow my ramblings, I love sharing these weekends with people. This year was nothing short of incredible as I was able to race side-by-side with a number of good friends as they tackled Ironman Lake Placid. I have also had the opportunity of helping a group of athletes prepare for IMChoo and I cannot thank Jay and Peluso Open Water Swimming enough! For Maryland, one of my college buddies was joining me for his first attempt at the distance. I knew he was in for a good day from the conversations we had over the preceding months and I could not wait to watch him chase his dream.

Ironman can be a stressful event and they best way to race fast is to limit as much stress as possible. I try my best to take care of things ahead of race week and plan to minimize stress leading up to the race. To my surprise, I called our hotel accommodations 2 weeks out from race day to find that we were not even in the system. I called my buddy and told him "don't panic, it wouldn't be an Ironman without a few speed bumps to test you along the way. We don't have a hotel room and Cambridge, MD is beyond booked. He took the reigns and tracked us down a place in Easton, MD about 15-20 minutes from the race site within 24 hours. Big props on that effort as I was prepared to sleep in a hammock or vehicle.

Race Morning: We woke up dark and early at 3:30 to scarf down pancakes with nut butter, nutella, bananas and cinnamon, collect our things, and make it to transition 20 minutes before the mad rush. We were able to get right in at 5:00, set up our gear, double, triple, quadruple check everything and then sit by the river until race start. Nerves never hit me until I was still in a porta potty line 20 minutes before the gun and I could see swarms of people crowding the swim start. Being a swimmer, I had to shove my way to the front of the mass so I wouldn't lose the front swim group. Sure enough, I made it to the front of the group with about 7 minutes to spare. With about 3 minutes until race start, the race director spoke to the front of the swim pack and said, "Just think, at the end of the day, one of you will be an Ironman champion!" For the first time all weekend, I had some nerves churning around and I knew I was ready to let it rip...8 hours from that moment ;)

Swim (0:58:15 1 M25-29/ 9 OA): Strava File
I noticed from the shore that the goggles I ended up wearing were not the best decision. They were a little older than I thought and were a bit scratched on the inside. It was tough to see and they kept fogging quickly despite having treated them with anti-fog the night before. This wasn't a huge deal to me seeing that there was nothing I could do about it at this point and I knew my only goal was to follow the feet of the fastest swim group. All I had to be able to do was follow some bubbles, spot a few buoys, and otherwise go for a ride on the EAC (finding NEMO anybody?) The swim was relatively uneventful and actually somewhat relaxing. I swam with Michael Hoffman, a very strong swimmer who I swam with in Florida last year. We stuck together most of the first lap until he was run into by a kayak and we both had goggle issues. We split and I latched onto another group and they carried my around the rest of the way. It was hard to tell if the buoys were difficult to spot due to my goggles or the slight bit of chop that had developed but I was having a tough time spotting. I relied on the feet of the swimmers in front of me and had to pay special attention when we ran into the back of the AG pack on our second lap. I wanted to make sure I didn't lose my workhorses on the way into the finish. Mission accomplished.

T1 (2:19):
The run to T1 was very short. You pop up on the shore and run about 100 meters tops and you're in the changing tent. The only alarming thing I noticed on the run was the fact that we swam 0:58?! Luckily, I had just enough time to see that the swim was almost 0.1 miles long and chalked it up to my advantage being a swimmer. The  mind has a huge impact on performance so I always try to look at the positive side of whatever I encounter.
I am always quick in transition. I don't believe it is a worthwhile place to throw time away. My T1 bags included shoes, helmet, and a flask of UCAN to help replenish some of the caloric deficit I developed from being in the water for an hour. The flask allowed me to truly start my bike feeling "topped off." I knew I came into T1 around 8th place and I had no idea where I was coming out. All I knew is that it was a no-nonsense transition.

Bike (4:48:15 1 M25-29/ 8 OA): Strava File
My only goal on the bike was to allow myself to settle in for the first hour. I got too into the race in IMLP and pushed way too hard for the first two hours, digging myself in a hole the rest of the ride. Same story in IMFL last year. I started to cruise out on the course and only watched my HR. It was a tad elevated from the swim and spectator support, as expected. I tried to breathe easy and deep, I tried physical therapy exercises to position my diaphragm and round my back, and I paid no attention to other athletes which was far easier than I expected; I was alone for the first 2.5 hours. Alone isn't exaclty correct, I had one athlete pass me inside of the first 60 miles and I was able to keep him in sight around the bends down the road. I was really nervous opening up the bike alone because I kept questioning if I was even on the course anymore. Sure enough, course tape and a spectator here and there allowed me to realize that all was well. A few spectators that were out on runs kept us up to speed on our position. I was really surprised to hear that I was sitting in 3rd overall. My first conversation with a runner went along these lines: "Nice work man, you're in third!" "What?! Third or 13th?" "Third, go get 'em!" "Damn, I think he said third. Cool!"
Long, flat courses are often best raced by the athlete that stays the most mentally in check. Whoever can hold a nice, aero position while keeping steady power on the pedals, will be handsomely rewarded with a nice bike split. The beauty of the course, my course-specific training, and some serious work on my position allowed me to do exactly that. Anytime I was about to sit up or lose focus, the course changed from a swamp to an ocean view or dipped into a forest, or opened onto a screaming section of road that demanded my attention. I rode the first hour about 15 watts under goal wattage and picked things up for the second hour which ended up being my most demanding hour of the race. I dropped the pace a little bit, hoping to cross a timing mat and get everybody excited who was tracking the race.
I always use my special needs stop to pick up bottles that I have mixed using Infinit Nutrition. As I rolled into the special needs stop, around mile 60, a group of ~8 guys caught me. I made a quick stop for about 20-30 seconds and left at the tail end of this group. It was nice to have company on the road and actually feel like I was in a race. When I was by myself I was able to race my own race and pace however I wanted, but it felt like I was running away from the pack that was inevitably forming behind me. Once this group caught me, I was able to relax a little bit and pace off of the group knowing that as long as I held contact, I'd start the run at the front of the race, with the  main contenders.
The second loop of the ride was nothing to write home about. We picked up a few riders up the road and one or two more caught us from behind. People were pretty good about keeping their distance although there were times when the group got too close so we would try to jostle things out and stay legal. There certainly is still an advantage at the legal distance but it is what it is. In the last 5 miles heading into transition, things started to split up a little. People were getting antsy and everybody wanted to be the first person off the bike. That being said, nobody surged, the pace was pretty easy, and we all took care of last minute items like peeing, finishing off our nutrition, and eyeing each other nervously. It was as if everybody was trying to gauge how much the other athletes had damaged their legs on the ride, while trying to be discrete about their inquiries. The ride concluded with a mass of spectators who were cheering us all home.

T2 (1:57):
This transition was a bit rushed. The changing tent was packed and high-strung. Any slight time savings here could go a long way deep in the marathon. Again, I kept a phrase in mind that I picked up from some local Richmond guys. "Think slow, move fast." I also remembered the words of Jessie Kropelnicki about adding as little stress to your system as possible and was sure to hit the sunscreen volunteers on my way onto the course. In what felt like a blink of an eye, I was starting the run in 4th place overall and 3rd place had exited the tent just ahead of me.

Run (3:21:19 2 M25-29/ 4 OA): Garmin Connect File
I can only describe the opening miles of the marathon as some of the most high strung racing I have ever been a part of. Within the first 0.25 miles of the course, the top three athletes M25-29 were shoulder-to-should, locking down places 4-6 in the race. We didn't look at each other, we didn't talk to each other, we didn't give each other an inch as we blew through aid stations, and most outrageous of all, we were flying! Running felt easy and the heat of the competition was easy to fall victim to but at some point I had to decide that this grueling pace was not sustainable. Check the splits and see for yourself!

I was trying to talk myself out of this horrible decision but it was very tough to consciously let the only Kona slot we had run away from me this early in the race.
Being so early in the race was a major piece that allowed me to finally pull the plug. At about mile 2.5, I passed Matt Shanks on the side of the road and felt like I was in a situation similar to what he described in his killer race at Challenge AC. In his race, people started lighting up the early stages of the marathon and he made a decision to let them destroy their legs and catch them late in the race. As I passed Matt, I dropped slightly behind the two guys I was running with and gave him a shoulder shrug, trying to silently convey, "WTH are we doing? This is dumb, right?" Without words I could tell he was helping me decide to let them go. I decided to start to drop my HR just a tad and see how that worked for me. I started to back off of this group ever-so-slowly and let the other two guys edge away. It took a while before they realized I was gone and it was cool to see the look of surprise they had. I watched them start shaking out their arms and doing all kinds of odd movements to prepare to go to battle one-on-one.
Whether they thought I was hurting or not is only know by them but I decided to pull the plug on that suicide pace and start running my own race. By the time we reached the turn around at mile 3.5, they were a touch ahead of me and I was sure to look stone cold as we passed each other. My mental conversations were: "That pace isn't sustainable for the entire run. Run your own race and let them put pressure on each other. One or both of them will crack at some point and you can sweep up the mess in a few hours as the run is closing out." I wasn't exactly sure if I believed that or not but it was all I could hold onto for the time being. I saw Matt within a half mile of the turn around and he looked happy to see that I had let those guys go. It was the best decision I could make at the time. The miles ticked by and at each turn around I could see these guys putting a hurt on each other and more distance on me. I was starting to seriously doubt my decision by about mile 15. They were still looking good and the distance was still creeping up.
One of the nice features of the three loop course, was the fact that we ran by spectators often. There was another QT2 athlete spectating who I had not met before but he was a major contributor in lifting my spirits for the entire run. Each time I ran by him, he was amped up. He kept telling me to run my own race, let these guys destroy each other. The next time I saw him it was "You're looking great, they're starting to crack, keep running steady." After that, "The front of the race has blown, it's up to you how many of them you are going to run through. You look great man!" Huge props to Andy Salmon for keeping my head in the game!
I saw my buddy Mongan around mile 17 of the run, just after I had turned around to start my final loop of the course. He was looking great and as we crossed paths, I used the lift he had given me to start to really dig. I told him how great he was looking and that I was chasing down 5th place as we spoke. One of the two guys in my AG had overreached and was coming back to me quick! I went by him at about mile 18 and crossed my fingers that there were two slots. My gameplan suddenly changed. I had been running on the edge most of the day, at higher heart rates than I have ever held through an Ironman. I was feeling smooth, and fleet-footed. It was time to let it go. As I passed this guy, I made sure to run by looking easy, at a pace a bit faster than his. I didn't want to overreach and mess up my race in the last hour of running so I started walking a very fine line. I ran hard enough to start dropping the pace a bit and made sure to slow down through aid stations to get the nutrition I needed. I'd start to lift again and if I became unsure about my pace, I'd back off just a touch. It was like I was walking to the edge of a cliff and backing up over and over.
Out of nowhere, around mile 19 or 20, I saw the 3rd place mountain bike sitting on the edge of the road. As I ran by, he started following me and asked if I was on my final lap. I was really confused as I hadn't passed any of the guys ahead of me. Turns out, they were taking care of business in the port-a-potty when I came through so I had run myself into 3rd overall without even knowing it. I took a moment to reflect on my patience. I had made a good call early in the race and I was reaping the benefits. I was one proud dude. I ran behind the bike for about 20-25 minutes and it was an entirely different experience. I had tons of athletes and spectators commenting and cheering me on, telling me to go catch 2nd and to keep running strong. I thought to myself, "Man, I'm drawing a lot of energy from this at a time when I really need it. I should just do this all the time ;)" My favorite comment was "Man, you're flying can I put my timing chip around your ankle?" That one even got a chuckle out of the too-tough-Terry I was embodying.
Around mile 22, a dude came flying by me and took the cyclist with him. From there to the finish, he put about 4-5 minutes on me. It was obvious when he went by that he was just having an entirely different day than I was and I needed to let him go.
I was still sitting 4th overall and 2nd in my AG so I went on damage control. The miles were still ticking by consistently despite the monumental effort I was laying down. To finish the race, you run past the transition zone, another 1-1.5 miles through town and then complete an out and back that is approximately 0.75-1.25 miles in total. Heading away from the finishing chute was tough mentally but I didn't have a lot of time to think about how I'd rather be done. A mile that was my slowest by about 20 seconds allowed a lot of the gap I had developed to vanish. I could almost feel a group of guys breathing down my back.
I so badly wanted to take in the day and enjoy the last mile but that was not an option. This was going to be a battle right to the end. I reached the end of the out and back and figured I had a good 20-30 seconds on the group. All I had to do was hold it together for another half mile and all would be well. I started to dig and dig, finding a whole new level of hurt as the chute seemed to ignore my efforts to reach it. I'd work hard for a minute, and look back to check the gap which was still closing. I had 2-3 guys behind me that simply would not give up. Turns out there were all duking it out for their AG slots. Regardless, I had to run HARD all the way through the chute and you can see just how close things got toward the end in the finish line photos. To put it all in perspective, 47 seconds slower would have dropped me form 4th to 7th; that's how tight of a race it was on the run. That could have been walking an aid station, poor nutrition leading to GI issues, overreaching early on the run, the wrong helmet or wheel selection. It's insane to think that over the course of a 9.5 hour race, such minute things can lead to such a substantial difference.

Overall (9:12:05 2 M25-29/ 4 OA)
All day, I felt like I was fighting for a 9:20ish time considering the slow swim and all. When the clock came in sight and read 9:11, I was sure that something was wrong and maybe there was another out and back somewhere that I was unaware of. This was not the case. I was able to reach the line seconds after it flipped over to 9:12, giving me a 16 minute PR over Florida last year. I couldn't believe it! QT2 never fails to set me up!
My buddy's girlfriend Steph had carried all our stuff around all day and proved to be an incredible help even though it was her first time on sherpa duty. She had my phone waiting for me so I could call my mom and my sister right away and get in touch with some of my friends and family that were following the race.
The amount of support was purely overwhelming. It took me about an hour to catch up on facebook posts, messages, and texts after the race was over. Even after that, things kept flooding in. I wanted to call everybody that was on my mind all day but I also wanted to watch the race and enjoy the aftermath. I cannot thank everybody enough and you have no idea how much your support means to me. When I race, I feel as if I'm racing for so much more than what this sport means to me. It feels as though I'm racing to represent the group of people that I train with, coach with, and share stories with. I feel like I'm carriyng everybody that has helped me get to this point with me through the course. When things get dark, I think of coach and other people who have believed in me. I was stoked to have broke 9:30 last year. I never thought I'd be a stones throw away from the 9 hour mark. The fact that so many of my people suppoort me, encourage me, and send me kind words along the way is what allows me to accomplish so much more than I ever believed I could. Usually a solid race like this leaves me thinking, "Dang, how am I ever going to go faster than that." That's not the case with this one. I feel like this race opened my eyes to my true potential. Thanks for keeping my mind and body in check out on the course X2Performance! I know my buddy used it as a key part of his killer race as well! Time to close out the season with a few more efforts and then put the feet up and get fat. Thank you Maryland for allowing me to start my redemption of IMLP. If that course thinks I'm done with it, it has a big surprise in store. Until next time, let's get after it!

Ironman Lake Placid 2014 Race Report

This race has been on my mind for along time. I raced in 2012 and had a bad day due to nutrition. That race forced me to change my entire game plan. I worked for two years to change who I was as an athlete and prepare to tackle this beast the right way. 2014 rolled around and it was time to take another shot at the course...here goes:

Pre-Race:
This was the first Ironman distance race where I was not nervous whatsoever, that is until I almost missed the swim start, but we will get to that later. I have been working with QT2 Systems for two season and I believe in their protocols utterly. If you take a look at their athletes in any race, you'll see that they have their game figured out. I knew that if I didn't reach my goals, it wasn't because I didn't prepare. All that was left to do was execute the game plan.
My lack of nerves was great as I was helping three friends get ready for their first attempt at the distance and it was nice to be able to focus on them for a while, knowing my plan was set and ready to rock. I even had my gear bags packed three days before traveling to placid anticipating that others would need my help.

Friday Morning Underwear Run post-swim

Warm up swim with great friends.

Race Morning:
The alarm sounded at 4:00 and I got out of bed to throw down my staple breakfast. Rice pancakes, covered in almond butter with bananas. I also drank a serving of Infinit Mudd which I think I'm addicted to. If you haven't tried the stuff, you're missing out. My dad dropped me off in front of transition then went back to get ready for the day. It was great walking into transition and seeing friendly faces. I am used to racing down south where I know very few people. Having my BTC family around at all times put my mind at ease and helped me have fun. After my bike was set I met up with my buddy Danny Royce and started to head out of transition. Once I got to bike special needs drop off I realized I had foolishly put my extra bike bottles in my bike gear bag and had to fight the crowd to get back into transition and retrieve them. I slipped the bottles in the correct bag and dropped both of my bags off at the special needs locations, which is actually a little bit of a walk. I decided it was tie to use the restroom which was timed perfectly with every other athlete in existence and ended up standing in line for about 20 minutes. This set me back quite a bit and before I knew it, I was running around during the national anthem, feeling like a moron, looking for my parents to drop off my clothes bag. I didn't spend a lot of time looking before I dropped my bag with a complete stranger, gave her my mom's phone number and wished for the best. Thank you Ms. Wattie Ink lady! You saved my morning.

Photo Op with the Rawk

Swim 26:00? but really...52:43 (3 AG/15 OA):
I made it to the beach with 10 minutes to spare, just after the pro wave had started. I spotted Danny and he helped me get my wetsuit zipped up and situated just right, thanks dude! The final ten minutes passed in what felt like seconds and we were off. I started about three people back in the 0:50-1:00 group and knew that I would do whatever it took to make the first swim group. Things spread out pretty quickly at the front with a few guys booking it and the rest of us choosing not to follow suit. After about 500 yards of pretty aggressive shuffling, we settled into a nice grove and people were satisfied with the feet they found. In Mont-Tremblant 2013, I had no trouble making the first swim group but it thinned out around the corner and I lost contact as I was near the back. I kept this in mind and made sure I was tucked safely in the middle of the group. That way, if anybody decided to make a move, I could easily cover without having to bridge. The first lap was pretty uneventful. The pace was somewhat sporadic but any gaps that opened up were easy to close down. I took comfort in seeing Danny swimming right with me but for some reason the pace felt slow. Looking at the speed the cable was passing by told another story and I entertained the idea of making a break for the few swimmers who were leading the swim. I decided that energy would be much better spent in the marathon and chilled right where I was until we saw the swim split. I knew I could always ask Danny, on the beach, if he wanted to work with me on lap two if lap one was as slow as it felt. The first glimpse I got of the clock looked like we swam a 28 for the first lap. Turns out, that was a 25 and we clicked off lap 1 in exactly 26:00, perfectly fine by me! Lap two was the most effortless swimming I have ever done inside of a race. I was taking long, slow, catch-up strokes and only sighting to keep track of where everybody was in the group. We never ran into the back of the pack until the end of the backstretch which is not what I expected. I thought the entire second loop would be a mess. The main group split, some people swimming really far left, around the athletes, and the other group swimming through them. We seemed to be making better progress so I stayed left. As we rounded the last turn buoy, a lone swimmer in an All-World cap crept past and I decided it was a good time to sneak away from our group and join him. We swam alone (I think) the rest of the way in and lost the original group. Either way, I wasn't doing anything but swimming easy and following feet. I was happy to exit the water with my best 2.4 mile swim time yet. First time under 53:00.

Spotted  the world's best wetsuit strippers, Jen and Greg, after a solid first loop.

T1 3:44:
Nothing major happened in T1. I knew I was off to a great start so I made sure I was taking enough time to grab everything I needed before I got out to my bike. I knew it was raining so I was unsure how the visor on my helmet was going to go but it was happening so off I went. I made sure to scream my number as I ran around the oval and I kept hearing it echo down the rack. Sure enough, there was GrAce, waiting for me at the end of the rack and I ran right by as I grabbed her and shouted "There's my baby, let's rock." I think I got a few laughs from volunteers, but really it was for me and I liked it :) In 2012, I made it onto the bike course 0:58 into the race and this year I was well ahead of schedule at 56 and change. Time to execute a smart bike ride...oops

Bike 5:37:03 (5 AG/69 OA):
As soon as the ride started, the rain really started coming down. Leaving town, it let up for the time being and we climbed our way up to the top of Keene just in time for the sky to open up and absolutely dump water on us. I am pretty sure I was not as wet during the swim as I was during the ride. Very likely the heaviest rain I have ever been out in and it was time to go down Keene, a famed descent, great...
I decided that going down would cost more time than riding the breaks down the hill so I never broke 40 the whole way down, quite a feat with soaking wet carbon brake pads. Kept the rubber side down and continued on with the course going in and out of bursts of rain. I was having a really hard time getting my HR under 165 which is WAY above goal HR but the descent helped a bit so I tried to keep it lower for a while with no success. Riding felt easy, the miles were ticking by, I was holding group way in the lead of the race. At the out and back I was able to count myself in 30th position. Take away the 10 minute lead that the professional men had and the 8 minute lead that the professional women had and I figured I was in about 25th place at the turn around. The fact that I know this shows that I was paying attention to the wrong elements of the race. I preach and preach to the athletes I work with to stay in your box, ignore the other athletes, ride what the training metrics tell you, and what do I do? Completely ignore my own rules and ride like an idiot for the first hour of the race. I was pushing far too many watts, driving my HR way too high, and setting myself up for a disaster of a race. I had a rude reality check at mile 31.5 of the bike. I stopped the quickest I have ever went from 22.2 mph to 0 mph by taking a ride on the pavement. I don't know what was happening before my crash, I was either checking my metrics, trying to see through the monsoon, or looking for my buddy Danny on the out and back because I was expecting him to have ridden past me by this point in the race. Either way, I remember seeing orange paint on the ground, feeling my wheels slip out from under me, and everything went crashing down, drive-side of course! I hit my knee first, then hip, then elbow before I was separated from my bike and went skidding across the pavement for about 15 feet on my back. Jersey torn, bike pieces on the ground and a sudden awareness that I had less skin attached to my body, an athlete asked if I was ok as he went by and I said "yes" even though I was still running through a mental inventory and thinking This can't really be happening, can it? What happened?" I grabbed my bottles, picked up the bike, threw the chain back on and off I went. As I started moving I checked out my injuries and realized that things could have been a lot worse, I wasn't in that bad of shape. I realized that I was lucky there was a massive layer of water on the road to help cushion my fall and allow me to skid across the surface of the road instead of having the road dig into me to slow me down. I guess they are right, "If you ride a bike, it's not about if you will crash, but rather when" and what better than the early stages of the ride in a race I have been focusing on since January. As the race carried on, my hip started to swell pretty bad and after an hour my knee went from chunky white flesh to running blood. I kept telling myself that it was just a minor setback and that it wasn't that bad. To be honest, climbing was very challenging and I was pretty uncomfortable the rest of the ride. I have a whole new respect for cyclists who repeatedly hit the deck and continue racing. My injuries weren't that bad and my body still became very stiff and fought me the whole way. The rest of my ride consisted of two scenarios. 1: athletes rode by me asking if I went down because they saw the back of me first. 2: Spectators telling me I looked great then gasping when they saw the back of my jersey and my knee which was covered in blood The run couldn't come soon enough.

Before the carnage.

T2 2:31:
I got off my bike and it was a struggle to bend over and pick up my cleats. This was my first indication that I was in for a long marathon. I tried to overpower that with positive thoguhts "You've come off the bike with trash legs plenty of times before, you know the run will be there once you get rolling." Got a quick change in the tent, went to leave and realized how sunny it was and that I forgot my hat and glasses. It was well worth it to go back, it just wouldn't be right to run without showing some love for the Buffalo Triathlon Club!

Run 3:46:52 (I'm not sure on place as the second swim was dropped let's go with 12 AG/100OA):
I started running and the sight of friendly faces took the pain off of my hip as I rolled out of town. People were finally noticing that I hit the deck and my coach told me "Never happened, just run, you're in a great spot." I repeated those words over and over and they lasted through the first 12-14 miles. I had a nice, decently fast, somewhat easy first loop before my hip started locking up right around mile 13. I saw some friends and family on the way back out of town and remember telling them that I was unbelievably stiff from the fall and that things were about to head south on me. As it rarely is, River Rd. was not pretty.

Still storming on lap one. River Rd out.

 Things went from bad to worse there. I noticed that my thighs were starting to bruise and I must have hit my basebar and aerobars as I came down on top of the bike earlier. That is evidenced by the fact that 1/3 of my left thigh is bruised as I write this 4 days later and it takes A LOT for me to bruise. My right thigh was a few smaller, spots to match. I really need to keep the rubber side down from now on. I was reduced to a walk through a few aid stations and the pace was deteriorating. I was my buddy Daly as I was nearing the end of River Rd. I said a few quick words to him then realized the turn around was really close. If I picked it up a lot, I might be able to run with him for a bit. I dropped the pace quite a bit but it was taking a really long time to catch him. Way to run well buddy! Eventually, we met up at an aid station and chatted for a little while before he told me to close it out. I was set on cruising it in with him but when he said that, it made me think. "If you can just run anywhere around 9s all the way in, this can still be a pretty good race." I set off down the road and started making mental calculations. I knew I was staring 10:20 right in the face. Couldn't run quite as well as I wanted to as I closed out but it was all I had. Mirror Lake Rd took an eternity as it always does on the final loop but eventually, I was at the special needs bags and could hear the music at the finish line. I put on a brave face and carried on into the oval. Running the oval and crossing that line is always special and allows me to reflect on the path I've taken to get here, all the workouts I've suffered through to get me ready, and all the sacrifices the people around me make to make this possible for me. That's a lot to think about for a 200m run and it always makes that section of the race go by entirely too fast. This year, I crossed the line let down that my goals were not reached, proud that I overcame my injuries and fought on for 8 hours after crashing, and confident that the next time I cross that line, things are going to go my way. The training was there, and it will be better next year. I made some mistakes on the course, and they won't happen next year, I realized some weaknesses, and I have a year to turn them into strengths. Once again, this course was angry, claimed a lot of athletes, and got the better of me on July 27th, 2014. You better believe that on July 26th, 2015 I'll be a tougher, smarter, stronger athlete and I will try to race in harmony with this course, giving it the respect it deserves. Until next year, 10:22:53 will have to suffice as a temporary 29 minute PR on this beast. Don't expect that to last very long!

Challenged, but not defeated. We will be back!

Additional Comments:

Thanks for everybody for the support. I did not have a great day out there and you still make me feel like I did something worthwhile on the course. I cannot thank my parents enough for all their help. It was great to spend some time with them.

I loved racing this course, having the BTC on every corner. Stay tuned as I have something up my sleeve for you!

Thanks to my sponsors QT2 for getting me prepared, Blue Seventy for the speedy Helix wetsuit, X2Performance for the best race supplement on the market, Powerbar for keeping my nutritional needs on lock, and pearl izumi for the comfy bottoms.

Congrats to my boys Clint and Day for having a great showing in tough conditions in their first Ironman!

Rocked it!

The best part of my weekend was seeing a really good friend absolutley rock out on the course. He has been a student of the sport for a year and completely changed his game. Hands down, the best finish line dance I've seen in a long time. Congrats Joe Rosati!

Crushing the course

Ironman Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

Since moving south in August 2013, it has been exciting to check out new races and venues. Ironman Raleigh 70.3 was a race that looked interesting to me in its 2013 debut and I was excited to have an opportunity to race in 2014. I have not taken a good run at a 70.3 in a while considering my mishap at Musselman last year tainted the lone attempt in 2013. I was hungry for a PR and was willing to go to a dark place to find it.

I made the short drive to Raleigh Friday night after throwing a few things together and making sure my bike was ready to roll. Fortunately, a neighbor I grew up with lives in Raleigh and I was able to crash with her. She made my stay stress free and extremely convenient. Thanks Chris!

Pre-Race staple with Peluso Open Water coaches, family and friends

Saturday morning I got myself out of bed and went for a quick tune up brick. I quickly realized, in the daylight, that I was on mile 50 of the bike course and I was able to get a glimpse at Lake wheeler hill on my ride. I also went for a short jog on the road so I was comfortable with one of the more challenging sections of the course.

I grabbed my packet, visited the expo, and by that time I was hungry. Here is where we found a little gem, Big Ed's City Market...man oh man was that a good breakfast! I will be sure to return if/when I race Raleigh again.

Great southern cooking

The split transition made things a little difficult to get ready for the race but it was worth the 40 minute drive west of the city. The venue was absolutely breathtaking on Lake Jordan. We weren't able to get in and swim Saturday afternoon like I had planned but I just pushed my swim back to Sunday morning. I knew I was going to be sitting around a whole bunch waiting for my wave to start so I figured I would take care of it then.

Checking out the swim course and T2 with Danny

Race morning the alarm went off at 3:45. I was up and stuffing my face with pancakes, peanut butter, nutella, a banana, and a protein shake. I finished packing and it was time to head over to T2, set up my run stuff, and fight for a shuttle. The morning was far easier than I anticipated. I got right into T2, took a few minutes to lay my gear out, and was on a shuttle ten minutes later. I tried desperately to nap on the shuttle but it wasn't happening so I just tried to relax and work on a few breathing exercises on the way over.

Lake Jordan on race morning

Swim (0:26:00 (27 OA/2 M25-29): 

I was in wave 17 and I was expecting to have a mess of people to swim through. We started over an hour after the professional wave was let loose. I feared the day would heat up so the plan was to get off the bike as fast as possible and limit the time I was on the run course in the heat. The swim did not hold me back form that plan one bit. I saw a guy open up the swim from the siren and I latched onto his heals. I was having trouble holding his feet and I never like to crush myself in the water so I had a decision to make. We were about 300m into the swim and I took a glance behind me to see not a single purple cap in sight. I let the guy work away from me and I focused on swimming smooth and comfortable the whole way through. For the first time in a long time, I was able to breath bilaterally and it felt great. Helped me keep my rhythm and maintain a smooth stroke. I rode out the rest of the course and cruised in loosened up and ready to rock the bike.

T1 00:02:01: 

Transition was long and narrow. It probably took me about a minute to reach my GrAce once I was inside the fencing. I was all the way at the end of T1 so I was able to grab my bike and get right out. Highly preferential to running with my bike the whole way down. Turns out I paid for that later in the day but we will get there. If you have never done a split transition race, we had a swim bag where we shoved in wetsuits, goggles etc and it was transported to T2 once everybody was out on the bike course. Once we rolled out on our bikes, we were never to return

Bike 2:31:35 (34 OA/6 M25-29): 

Seeing that I don't often race 70.3 races, I didn't have a lot of good data to access to create a POA (plan of attack) for the ride. I knew I wanted to push my comfort zone on the bike and get to the run course as early in the day as possible to escape the heat. Based on my power numbers from IMMT, IMFL, Musselman and training metrics, I determined that 250 watts was a somewhat conservative goal, allowing me to run off the bike while riding a decent bike split. Regardless, I followed QT2 protocals and built my riding strategy around a variable. That variable being my power output 20 minutes into the race after allowing my HR to settle into mid/top Z3. It just so happened that this number was 249 so pretty much exactly what I expected. I rode hills and tailwinds about 10-15% higher and allowed the power to drop 10-15% on downhills and headwinds. On flats, I tried to settle into 250ish. The first 1:20 rolled by no problem and I was stoked to see a projected finish time of around 2:25.
Things got interesting in the last ten miles. Apparently there was a headwind that I didn't particularly feel at the time. Many people were complaining about it and now that I think back on it, things weren't rolling along as smooth as they should have. I knew the hills were a little more aggressive on the back portion of the course and that's all I chalked it up to. It turns out that people were reporting bike times of about 6-10 minutes slower than last year. That's all speculation so I guess I'll just have to return another year and ride faster! This was the first 70.3 ride that I was able to push the entire way. I was on the gas for the entirety of the ride and I am very pleased with my efforts. At times, like the last hour, where I was pushing 270-300 watts for extended periods of time, I began to question if I was hurting my run potential. I thought back to Florida and the hurt I put on my legs in that ride while still running well and decided to trust in my legs. Besides, I Ed Boyle has been giving me massages and making sure I am all tuned up so my legs were ready to handle some punishment. I really liked the bike course and highly suggest this race if you at all enjoy racing your bike. The swim was great and we'll talk about the run in a second but the bike course was great!

T2 00:01:24: 

This transition was a little bit difficult to navigate. There were essentially two sections set up which divided the athletes into two portions. I was in the second corral however I had to run through the first corral and navigate a strange maze along the right-hand-side in order to get into the second portion of transition. Odd, but it worked. Got down to business and spent as little time in there as necessary.

Run 1:32:25 34 (OA/6 M25-29): 

I have been running well all season so I was excited to get onto the run course and try to track a few people down that had escaped me on the bike. The course was somewhat boring with a little winding out of transition then trending uphill for the first 1/4 of the course. It was a double out and back so downhill for 3.xx miles, twist around a bit at the bottom, and repeat. The temperatures were favorable and I was not having much trouble staying cool which was my biggest concern. In fact, the first section of the course was the best running I did all day. I was effortlessly running 6:45-7:00 miles all the way up to the turn around. The goal was to continue to take it easy, run the same speed at a lower HR on the way down, then really get to work on the back half of the course. That didn't really go to plan as pounding downhill for over 3 miles really put a beating on my quads. I have been dealing with a knee injury for the past month so I'm thinking I may have been running a bit to compensate for not trusting my knee but then again it could have just been the pounding all the way down the did me in. I actually ran a touch slower on the way down but my HR played nice and I mentally prepared for the second half. I did a little winding down near transition and began the climb to the turn-around again to find that my legs were having trouble getting into a rhythm. I was dropping to mid 7:00 miles and just kept trying to chug along up the hill. It was nice to consistently pass people the whole way but it was the second loop that really started to get congested. I found myself spending way too much energy fighting for what I needed at the aid stations and asking volunteers what it was they were holding out. I know the course was busy and I seldom am unhappy with volunteers but it was very difficult to get what I needed on the run course. There were a couple aid stations where athletes were standing and blocking coke stations or sponge stations and I didn't have the time to spare to stand around and wait so I went without. With about 2.5 miles to go, my stomach felt very empty but not upset. I tried to grab a few more cups of coke, water, etc but eating was not in the cards. I carried gummies around the second loop of the course and couldn't bring myself to choke them down. Lesson? Take better care of these things on the bike because they aren't gong to happen when I'm running that hard. Perhaps even a Boost or Slim fast in transition would have helped subside my hunger.
The finishing stretch was very exciting. We turned the corner and could see the finish from about 0.3-0.4 miles away. It was easy to see the day was almost over but it was agonizing to continually push all the way home. I am very happy to have one of my best 70.3 runs to date on top of it being less than my ideal running conditions. Historically, I have only run low 1:30s in the Buffalo fall season where it is 50-60 degrees, overcast, and sprinkling a bit. Hopefully I am acclimating to this southern heat a bit, which is sure to pay dividends in Ironman Lake Placid.

Opening up the run

Overall 4:33:25 47 (OA/9 M25-29): 

I was really hoping to find a result under 4:30. Given the fact that every course is different, transition is an unknown chunk of time, and there is no telling what type of wind conditions you will encounter, sub 4:30 was somewhat of an empty goal. I was fighting for it, but 4:30 really has no significance other than being a nice, round, benchmark. The same effort on a flat course would have been a significantly faster time. I am pleased with my efforts and I would not have done anything different in retrospect. I do see places where I can improve upon my 9 minute PR and I'm sure that will happen somewhere down the road. I'd like to take another shot at a hard 70.3 bike ride again but for now I am happy recovering and starting to get rolling into my IMLP build. The next few weeks are sure to bring endless hours on the bike, trails, and the river.

Finding friends after a tough effort

I would like to thank: QT2 for creating a killer plan to get me ready. I have learned so much under your guidance and I hope to learn more in the future. X2Performance for helping me train with some killer athletes, while using a stellar product. I would not be able to throw down all day without some rocket fuel in  my system. BlueSeventy for a fantastic new Helix wetsuit. Truly a remarkable piece of equipment. Coqui Cyclery for helping overhaul GrAce and allowing her to roll smooth and fast. Chrissy Battista for putting me up for the weekend and making me feel at home. nick Battista for  Ed Boyle for keeping my mussels tuned and ready to pounce. Lori Strobl for teaching me about my body and helping to get me and my knee race ready. Kayla Mueller for being an excellent race sherpa and dealing with my pre-race nonsense like a pro. My friends and family for all the support and words of encouragement. I am out there to make you proud and I can assure you that you're in my thoughts through every race. Coach for keeping me safe on the course. The Buffalo Triathlon Club for your support and your belief in me as an athlete. You are the reason I approach my races with confidence and am able to find results.

As you can see, I would be nowhere without a phenomenal support crew. I am truly grateful that training and racing has allowed me to meet and form relationships with such a great group of people.

On an aside, I have officially completed my MMRF Fundraising goal of $5,000 for IMLP. Thank you to everybody that contributed. It was a daunting task in its early stages and I am overwhelmed by the generosity of friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances, and even strangers. I will make all of you proud on July 27th in Lake Placid, NY!