by Steven Ford

    Arriving on Friday I had plenty of time to clean and inspect my bike for Saturday’s race. Needless to say I would have to give it a better cleaning on Sunday after the race. I went to the race site on Friday to pick up my packet and check out the area, Of course it started to pour when I got there and this was to be our race day conditions. I saw a few teammates and help getting our tent set up. After we were done playing in the rain I headed over to the pasta dinner to fill up my belly, little disappointed that there were no cookies to be had.

  Went back to the house and checked the gear again then off to bed, I woke to up at the grand old time of 4am, to the sound of rain, oh well as I learned later there could be no pansy asses allowed. I arrived at the race site (I believe I was the first one there at 5:20am) I went over the race in my head and hand some more food. Setting up the transition area was fun trying to avoid the huge puddle to one side of me, wrapped all the gear in plastic bags and went over to the tent to talk to my fellow teammates. It is days like this that makes it really good to be part of team. I had my temporary tattoos put on and then put on the wetsuit.

  Time to head to the start and get ready, as always standing there in the water I wonder why exactly I do this. Then the gun goes off and that quickly disappears, Okay lets see if I can remember this 1,2,3 breath 1,2,3, breath ahh I have it now. Tried to get into a nice rhythm and was pretty much successful, the water was not as cold as I thought and I was not being trampled so far so good. Around the turn buoy and heading for home, 1, 2, 3 breath 1, 2, 3 breath. Then 1,2,3, cough gag cough gag and there goes pre race nutrition, that was a first for me, lets get going again then I hear HEY HEY HEY I look up and there is a kayak coming at me, I guess I was a little disoriented and was now going the wrong way. They promptly got me headed in the right direction and before long I was washed ashore. Legs are a little wobbly so I walk through most of the T1 with my teammates yelling at me to run.  Swim time 31 minutes (not bad faster than last years Olympic)

Okay trying to put a coat and gloves on while soaking wet is not easy but I manage, run through the mud to the mounting area and do a great flying mount WOO HOO, I then make sure I spin for a few minutes as I do not want to burn out my legs before the huge hill at mile 7, promptly named Devil’s Hill. I am glad I took my road bike as the conditions were less than ideal. I quickly realize that this is going to be hard because my legs are not warming up at all and no matter if I spin or mash I cannot really feel them. I was tempted to go back to T1 to see if I maybe left them in my wetsuit. I get to Devils hill and put it in the granny gear and climb past people who are walking, I see the lady dressed up as the Devil and call her out to give her a high five. Once over the hill it was all rolling hills after that. I was doing fairly well and then I got to mile 22 of the bike and it was a big downhill, Last year at my half iron I hit about 57 mph going down a hill in the aero bars and did not even flinch, this time with the conditions I was feathering the brakes the whole way down and I could kind of feel the wheels going out as I went around the corner at the end. I get to the end of the bike course and my legs are still no where to be found. Ohhh well I will check the wetsuit when I get there.

Get my running shoes on, put on visor, fuel belt and off we go, I am trying to go but now I cannot feel my feet. I make sure I take it easy on the way out and try to find a groove but it is hard coming as I cannot get comfortable. I am cold and my legs just do not want to turn over.  As I come through some aid stations I grab some Gatorade and high five the pit crew. I see my teammates out there and yell to them and they are doing well, Get to the half way point and I chug down a GU and some water and realize that after the next hill it is basically flat to the end. At about mile 5 I start to try to pick it up and the legs are moving a little better, I see the finish line turn coming up but I cannot go any faster, Start to run down the chute and hear everyone cheering and as I cross the line the band is playing my wedding song, nice way to end a hard race.

Overall I finished a lot better than I thought I was doing, other than the mishap in the water I stuck to my nutrition plan and I had lots of energy. Really learning to spin on the bike also is very nice, able to climb hills a lot easier.  

Close Window