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 Swim
Comments: This was my first river swim for a tri, so I wasn't sure what to expect with the current and all, would have been nice to warm up but no dice. It really wasn't that bad anyway. Water was very warm so no wetsuit for this one :(. I got in the water about 1 min. before the start and treaded water until the horn went off. Swam fairly straight and strong for the 500 m upstream, it was awesome having PNC Park to sight off of. Hit the turn around and felt my pace pick up headed downstream. I kind of zoned out during the rest of the swim, it felt pretty easy, but that's probably why my navigation was so poor. This could easily have been a 25 min. swim if I had just swam straight. Made it down to Heinz Field and got out of the water feeling pretty strong. What would you do differently?: Swim in a freakin' straight line...  Transition 1
Comments: Nothing eventful here, large transition area, so this wasn't a bad effort, certainly helped by not having to remove a wetsuit. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Bike
Comments: This was a pretty hard course, the first mile or so was mostly flat, piddling around on roads near the stadiums with lots of turns. Then the climbing started, and didn't stop, for 6 miles. This was fairly steep for me, being a flatlander now that I'm in Iowa, but it wasn't unbearable. I stayed aero for the first lap and just grinded up the hill at 15-17 mph. Passed a good number of people and finally made it to the top. The ride back down was lots of fun, I was 40+mph for a good bit of it. The crosswind and the sheer number of people from the Oly and Sprint on the course made the decent a little sketchy at times. At the start of the second lap, my legs felt pretty good from not working exceptionally hard on the downhill section. I was not able to stay aero for the entire clib the second time around, but did not get out of my saddle at all. Passed a lot more people on this climb, then flew back down the hill again. This was a fun bike course and it was over pretty quick, it was a nice mix of a toughish climb and fast decent. What would you do differently?: Drink more, I only had about half of my aerobottle, and it was getting hot... Transition 2
Comments: Quick transition, in and out with no fooling around. Racking bike cost a few seconds, wish the bike racks at races were just a little taller. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: I have been dealing with a left quad injury since a HIM a few weeks ago, it pretty much hurts every time I run, and this was no exception. Not sure how I was able to hold sub 7 pace, all guts given how I felt physically. The first mile was on paved trail, came to a turn, no sign telling which way to go and the people ahead went the wrong way, so I had to turn around and run back, probably a 30 sec. penalty. The rest of the out portion was on sand trail (crappy, poor traction) and rock trail (even worse, painful on the feet). I just kept pushing as hard as I could, and passed a few before the turnaround. The way back was tough, I really didn't feel well, the quad was really hurting, but I managed to finish strong. This was a hardcore effort physically, thank God it was flat. What would you do differently?: Not race on an injured quad Post race
Warm down: Found my mom and sister, took a few pictures, drank some water, stetched very well, had some free Chipotle, and waited around for awards to start. What limited your ability to perform faster: General fatigue from ironman training and a very sore quad. Event comments: I had a good time, it's always fun to do a hometown race. Also managed a 30 sec. PR for Oly distance on guts alone. Profile Album Last updated: 2010-05-25 12:00 AM
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United States
Piranha Sports, LLC
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 24/307
Age Group = M 25-29
Age Group Rank = 3/39
Howdy! Another race for me, 2 weeks after Ironman 70.3 Racine and during my peak weeks of ironman training. To say I was less than 100% physically would be a massive understatement, this week is probably the worst I have felt physically training in a very long time. But I was heading back to my hometown, getting to see family and friends I don't see very often, so my spirits were pretty good. I left Iowa Firday morning, it was a long but uneventful 12 hr. drive to the 'Burgh. My legs and back were pretty tight, but Saturday's long bike and short run worked out those issues. Did the packet pickup Saturday afternoon and checked out the expo, which was actually pretty big. I spent the rest of Saturday helping my mom out with some stuff around the house that needed fixing, and unfortunately didn't get dinner until about 8 PM. After dinner, myself, mom, and my sister decided to take the dog for a short walk. Instead of bringing keys, we relied on the garage door opener keypad to get back in the house. Big mistake, of course it doesn't work at 10 the night before a race. So I try to break in one of the windows and eventually we have to call the police to get in my sister's car to get the opener, which thankfully worked. We are so Polish it's not even funny! Finally got to sleep around midnight for a 4:30 wakeup. Drove down to the race site, picked up my chip, set up transition, and waited around for the start.
Nothing, we weren't allowed to get in the river to swim to warmup.