TriSports.com Halfmax Naitonal Championship - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

No swim due to e coli........

Kind of an odd T1---without the swim it was just run to T1 and go---of course we had heard two different versions of when timing started---an offical said it started when you left T1 but the RD announced there was a timing mat at the start of the run to T1......glad I went kinda quick since it clearly started with the run to T1!!!

Run a bit faster---of course the girl in front of me was in no rush and there wasn't much room at first---needed more then 3 sec gap with her walking...

This was an odd bike start---it was the start of the race! I had to get my mind into the race (I usually come to the realization at some point during the swim that I'M RACING!!!). I was passing a lot of people and saw a decent amount of drafting for the first 20 or so miles. The wind was definitely blowing and was never a true tailwind or headwind but was enough to mess with your mind. Just after getting on 31 I got with a fast female (she ended up 2nd OA female!) and guy and we were actually riding well together---staying draft legal but working around/through the small packs that had formed. We made the first turn around on 31 and were riding well (it was a lot of fun)---then I saw a marshall and he took a good look at the 3 of us and kept going/didn't write anything down BUT during the pre-race meeting they made such a big deal about if it's close you'll get a penalty. This started to mess with my mind because I was thinking great we're going to get a penalty when we had just come off a turn around and passed a GROUP of riders... I let this get to me and backed off too much. Then I some how missed seeing the aid station before the loop from the first to second lap of the course so I wasn't prepared for it and tried to grab a bottle of water (I raced with only ONE cage since I knew I could live off the course) but missed the water............I knew I better back off the power a little or I was going to be in trouble (up till this point I was spot on wattage wise!). The rest of the ride I just tried to keep it as steady as possible and get in liquids after the next aid station. The rest of the bike was pretty uneventful and my power was about 5 watts under my ideal target so not really that bad. This was a fast bike course and I knew I pushed my legs. And NO I didn't get a drafting penalty!!! That was the correct call since we were riding the legal distance---I was just paranoid since at the pre-race meeting it sounded like penalty blah blah penalty blah blah penalty!!

Not miss that first bottle at the aid station. Stay with the #2 female and that guy...

Well I knew that I had a LONG run through transition with my bike and it was a parking lot---I know my bike shoes slip on pavement so I actually made the decision to ride with my feet on top of my shoes coming to the dismount line so that I could run barefoot---I've only tried this a few times in training but did it well!!! The only real issue on this transition was getting my shoelace stuck in the shoe when I tried to rush too much...time seems slow for how it felt.....

pay attention to laces when getting my feet into my running shoes!!

So I was looking to keep my pace between 7:30 and 7:40---just wasn't very confident in my running and figured I'd stay there through the first lap (2 lap run) and if I felt strong try to negative split the run. Well as with everything this race I threw that out the window a short way into the first mile!! I thought I'd try to run comfortably but push it...first mile was sub-7...OK this feels good...second mile was sub-7 so I'm through 2 in 13:xx...hmmm this could get interesting. So I figured this is the national championship/world's qualifier let's see how long I can hold on. Well through the first lap I felt great!! I felt like I actually kinda knew how to run. It wasn't till mile 11 or so that I felt the beginning of some calf cramping from pushing the pace but I pushed through it---I knew if I could get to 12 that the crowd was in that area and I'd be able to push it till the end....well I was able to sprint down to the finish line!!! I left it all out there on that run course.

I drank water from all the aid stations (on the run!) and would grab a cup of ice if they had it and dump it down my trisuit---worked wonders to help keep the core cooler. Only took two small hits from my gel flask as I had consumed enough calories on the bike to feel good on the run---the calves starting to cramp was NOT a nutrition/hydration issue but an issue of pushing the pace to the brink of my training.

Nothing---this was the best run I had in me this day.

Let the volunteer take off my timing chip and leave the finish area. Joined my family and promptly used my finisher's towel to lay on the ground!!


My lack of consistent training/time for long stuff.


I usually get a race report up quickly but this race has been very tough for me. It all started over one year ago---I heard that USAT was going to hold the Halfmax Champ in Myrtle Beach. For the last couple summers we've gone to Myrtle for vacation so I thought it would be very cool to race there. USAT also announced that it would be the qualifying race for the world championship for 2011 to be held in Henderson, NY (Silverman course). This became a two year plan for me---train for Halfmax in Myrtle to qualify for world's so that I could go to world's in 2011. That was the plan. Well training for this race was difficult for me this year---my motivation wasn't as sharp as I thought it would be...after training for B2B full last year and then focusing so much on this race I felt like I was missing out on family stuff so I skipped training---this was the RIGHT choice but still made me feel bad because that wasn't the plan... I began to question my desire to race world's. Then I found out that world's is NOT a 70.3 but closer to a full---training load wise it would be like training for a full. I really struggled with this idea. The plan was to qualify and race---based on past results from Halfmax the qualifying wouldn't be an issue (address this later!). Then USAT announced VT as the host for sprint/Oly AG nationals for 2011. Well I grew up in New England and love it up there...I wanted to race Nationals in VT but don't like the idea of traveling/paying a lot for a race that's not an A race and if I was racing world's in November (late season race...long year of intense training...) that would mean hoping to get to VT for 2012. There was also the cost issue of world's---such a honor BUT all on YOUR dime---that's a lot of money that I really don't have (yeah I could find the overtime work to make it happen but again at an additional sacrifice to family time). It was at this point I FINALLY talked to my wife about it. I knew she wouldn't really care BUT it always helps to talk to her. I knew at that point that I wanted to race this race (Myrtle Halfmax) but pass on a world's slot. It still took my a bit to accept that this made since---why race a qualifying race if you are going to pass on the slot?! Well it IS the championship race for USAT and I wanted to race in Myrtle Beach! So I'm reasonably comfortable in my decision. Then I get to Myrtle Beach and WOW---the competition showed up for this race (lots of on-line posts about this very topic---people were suprised/impressed by the level of talent, speed, how close). I really didn't think that qualifing for world's would be an issue---I mean top 20 in the age group qualify!!! Even though I was going to pass on the spot I still wanted to qualify. I was really pleased with my race till I saw the results......18/71 in my AG!?!?!? I normally don't get wrapped up in placing but WOW that sucks! I mean with a "bad" swim for me I was looking at 4:35 at worst and sub 4:30 with a good swim/current and yet I almost wasn't even top 20!?!?!? This is motivation. USAT is still waiting the "final" results from Ultramax and will notify world's qualifiers in the next week or so and I THINK I qualified (yeah top 20 but age up, reviews, etc...). It would sure be nice to say I qualified..........and then focus on speed!!! After my first two seasons of tri's being about doing a full and this season only being able to race two HIM's---next year is about sprints and trying Oly's (yeah I've only evern raced 6x---2 sprints, 3 HIM's and a full----never a Oly!!!)