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 Swim
Comments: 1st things first. This swim course was long. I am not a 1:20/hundred swimmer on race day. I'd say it's close to 200+ yards long in fact. If anyone remembers back to 2008 and before the swim was the reverse direction. Not to mention that we started in the water almost all the way out to the last yellow marker from this year. Plus the turn bouys were all the way down to Sail Winds park. I don't ever remember going that far out. That seemed to be 50-7 yards long in each direction. It is what it is.... Took the inside line and was with only 1-2 other guys. I lost the AG leader as he was way far left and I didn't even see him break away. I wound up with one guy and we were swimming very evenly. He was just a touch ahead and we swam an identical line. I was happy with the line and pace he was setting so I just hung on and let me do all the nav work. We must have caught 3-4 of the waves in front of us by the back end of the course. I never had a lot of traffic which was nice, thanks to the guy leading the way. The water was warm but my breathing was perfect and I felt good I never felt overheated. I had a pretty solid pace back into T1. At one point I pulled my cap off after the 2nd turn home. It was starting to bubble up a bit and my head was getting hot. It was a welcome change to get it off. I cooled down right away. Glad I put the cap on over my goggles. I NEVER do this. I was thinking about pulling it off right before the start but waited. Glad I did. Made it to the beach and was feeling great. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Transition 1
Comments: Had my Tri top neatly folded and tucked into my tri shorts. A great tip from TJ Fry on this one. I had my entire tri top on and situated before I even got into the Trans area. That was great. I got to my bike which was in the third row dead center and put my glasses on, helmet and grabbed the bike and was off. Very fast. Jumped on the bike and was rolling. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Bike
Comments: This was not my fastest 70.3 bike split, but this was my best ride to date. There was not one moment where I went through a tough spot or was tired of being on the bike. A few spots I was aggravated with the bumpy crap roads but in all, I was focused and really rode well. I noticed a head cross wind over the first 40K and was a little unhappy about that. Usually, we get it on the way back in. But this time it was blowing out of the south west. I think anyway. Through the first 40K I was avg about 310 Watts and at about 26 MPH avg. I felt good and was picking the right gears when I needed it. Then I settled in and had a lot of great stretches with some tail winds and my watts really dropped but I held the speed and cadence right where I wanted it. I didn't get passed at all on the course only had one guy latch onto me for about 5-9 miles in the middle section of the course. He was over 50 years old and a strong cyclist. He stayed legal but would not come up and pull at all. We were clearly very evenly matched over those miles. I think he just tagged along and got a free pull. At one of the small bridges I stood up and really put a huge effort in for about 30 seconds. I looked back and he was gone. Glad to get rid of him. Only saw a few packs in the last 10 miles. If I can recall from previous years it always seems to pack up a little there. But nothing bad. I rode right through them and made my way back to the Trans area. I can clearly say that even with 10, 5, etc... miles to go I felt strong and really focused. A good feeling. I wanted to feel that way as I knew the run was going to be a tough one with the heat and humidity. What would you do differently?: Nothing Transition 2
Comments: Quick here. Helmet off while I was running. Racked the bike, socks on, shoes on and off to the run. I stopped at the water station just before the timing mats. I grabbed some water and gatorade and got it in me before the first mile. Hence the slower time in T2. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: I knew it was going to be a tough one. I made my way past the spot where I had a nuclear meltdown in 2008 and was happy to be through there. Got to the first mile and was running 6:20s. I was hoping for this kind of pace for the entire run. At that point the effort seemed just about right, breathing was good and my body felt like it was about to come around. Through the first 4-5 miles I held it in the 6:20-6:40 range and then started to slip a bit as we got out to the long out and back section. The heat just started to have an impact on me. Just before the mile 6 marker I had a strange feeling and I looked over my right shoulder. Mark was there. Great. I knew at that point he was going to go by me like a train. He was running 6:06 pace for the first 10K. Nothing I could do. We gave each other an exchange and he let me know how close the 3rd place guy was. I got to the turn around and as I passed through the 3rd place guy was about 2 tenths behind me. He was a big guy as well but looked to be running about a similar pace as I was. The next few miles were good. I latched onto Mark and kept a visual on him. He was pulling away but pulling me along as well. At that point I ran into Fred, he was in a tough spot and having a tough time with nutrition. I tried to get him motivated and wished him well. I kept moving along and at every aid station it was water on the head. Water in the mouth. Ice down the tri shorts, snow cone in the tri shorts, more water on the head and then carry a cup of ice with me for about half a mile trying to chomp on ice and cool down with out choking on it. That only happened once. Damage control. Even though I lost 25+ lbs since January the heat and heat management is tough at my size. I did the best I could though. Kept moving along and only grabbed coke at 2-3 aid stations. Mostly, I did the run on water and ice. Which was totally fine for me. With 5K to go I was still back to about 2 tenths on the 3rd place guy and I would look over my shoulder and check at the aid stations. I was trying to sort out in my mind when I was going to make a move try to drop him but I could not figure it out based on the way I was feeling. I would try to pick up cadence and my legs would feel like they were going to lock up. Then I'd lengthen my stride out and I felt like I was going to overheat. There were good stretches and then bad ones over the last 5K. I got to about 1.5 to go and there is a false flat that leads up to the water and a right turn. I decided to pick it up there and get up that as fast as I could. I made the right turn and was seeing stars. Got to the 1 mile aid station and thought that if it was not there I would have passed out right there. I was actually running with my eyes closed at one point. I took two cups of something from every single person in that station. Had a guy hose me down and kept on moving. Looked back again and the separation seemed to be a bit more now. With 1 mile to go I started to try to lay it down. That was great until the last qtr mile. I almost bonked right there. I stopped, walked for about 10-20 steps to compose myself. I unfolded my tri top that looked more like a man-zeer for the entire run, zipped up and let my HR settle. Then put my head down and hauled it to the finish line. Was very glad to be done. I sat down for a bit and just let it all soak in. About 1 minute later the 3rd place guy made it in and passed out at the finish. They picked him up and carried him to the med tent. 2 IV's in both arms. I felt really bad for the guy. But met up with him after the race and exchanged some good stories. He was from Georgia and really trying hard for the Kona slot. I told him right there it was all his. Ideally my run was good. I'd planned to run closer to a 1:25-1:27 type run and I know my legs and training can support that. Just not when it's that hot after a ride as well. What would you do differently?: Heat management. I'm not sure there is much I can do wit this. Post race
Warm down: Massage tent, fluid, walked around a bit and then went to the roll down. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat Event comments: As always they put on a great race all weekend long. The roll down is always a mess and they skipped the awards which I was glad they did. I was able to pack up and get my kids in the car and head home early. A fun one for sure. Last updated: 2010-08-26 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
91F / 33C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 18/2500
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 2/433
We made this a family trip once again. The journey started on Friday morning with a ferry ride via the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. We decided that it would be a nice way to break up the day and let the kids have a little fun. After a relaxing ferry ride we landed in DE and drove right to the race site. We made it to packet pick up and I took my daughter in with me. She was excited to stand in line and see all the things that you needed to do to get ready for the race. The expo was pretty uneventful. I took a look at a few odds and ends, picked up a cool new TYR transition bag and a pair of lace locks. Other than that we didn't do much. Drove over to check out the parking situation at Great Marsh park and then met up with Dave over at the house he was staying at.
Depart again and off to Seaford, DE which is where we were staying. About a 30 minute drive through some farm roads in MD/DE.
Hit the hotel, unpacked the car and off to dinner. Would not be a complete trip without finding a Mexican joint. We hit one up right near the hotel and the food was good. Back to the hotel and let the kids swim in the pool. I decided to soak in the hot tub for a bit to let my body loosen up form the day of travel. We hit the bed early and had a great night sleep.
Back over to GMP on Saturday early and got a Run, Bike and Swim in. Felt pretty good but had a major issues with my 808 firecrest. I went to put the pump on it and could not get an accurate reading on the pressure. I started asking around and people said that they never heard of that and that the connection to the valve extender must be loose. So I rush back to the bike support guys, tear off the tire and get a new tube with a longer stem. Put some teflon tape on the threads, re-thread the valve and presto.....work's like a charm.
Back to the hotel for a light dinner and early sleep.
Terrible sleep. Was tossing and turning all night and was sweating like a mad man. Not very happy about that. Alarm goes off at 3:15 AM and right into the shower I went. The night before I rolled out a little and tweaked my lower back. I was a little worried about that all night and it was tight when I woke up. But it worked itself out as I moved around more throughout the morning. Got some food in me, the car packed, kids in the car and we were off to the race.
Parked about 1 block from GMP and took off over to the Trans area. Hit the bathroom on the way in and was glad to get that out of the way.
I made my way over to my bike, got set up in about 5-10 minutes and was ready to go. Stood around talking to some guys in my AG, met up with Fred and Dave and then helped a few guys pump tires up and set up bikes, etc... I was just trying to pass the time. At one point I decided I'd had enough and I took off over to the river to get a swim in. Jumped in and swam out to the first bouy marker at the swim finish end of the course. The tide seemed to be out and the water was really low but I'm not sure. It was really calm and a bit warm. I swam back in and chatted with David Morris another guy on my tri team.
It was about another 20 mins until it was time to go. I got situated and over to the swim start. Hung out with Mark Rochon and we chatted a bit before the start. They let us in and it was go time....