39 and under was the first wave and I was standing near the front with just one row of guys in front of me. Oh shit. What am I thinking?

Jack shot off the air horn and we were off. The rabbits jumped out immediately and they formed a group of 4 or 5. The chase pack wasn't far behind and within a quarter mile there were two dozen of us stretched out. Jacob was near the front, I was bringing up the back.

By the 1 mile mark the pack had split and I was running with two other guys at a nice clip. We were holding steady and slowly starting to reel people in. The 40+ group started 4 minutes after us so we were passing people left and right, but just a few were actually ahead of us.

As I made the turn for transition I started to take off my gloves. One less thing to do in transition.

Nothing. Fastest run pace I've ever thrown down.

Shoes off as I put on my glasses and helmet. Grabbed my bike and ran. Nothing else necessary; 4th fastest T1 overall.

Nothing.

Got up to speed before climbing into my shoes. Rode through the tunnel and got out onto the road. Passed three people in quick order and started to settle in to an appropriate race pace. Then I realized just how cold it was. OMG, it's freezing!

Down a small hill and picked off two more riders. Came around the Speedway shop and noticed the flags were perfectly still. So the freezing cold wind was just from the speed I was riding and the lack of warm cycling clothes.

Rode up the short hilly section and around the bend was the downhill stretch. Damn this was fast. Must have averaged 28MPH on this section, picked off two more riders along the way.

Came around the last corner and moved over to avoid the slower riders just getting onto the course. Two more laps to go. Now the course was more crowded and I was spending a lot more time passing people. No real good way to tell which ones were behind me and I was lapping and who was ahead of me and I was passing.

Tried to keep up a steady pace, but the cold was really starting to get to me. I just wanted this to end already. At least when I was running I was keeping warm. My HR was below my race zone and no matter how hard I tried I just keep it on target.

Mid-way through the 2nd lap two guys managed to pass me. One I had passed earlier and one I hadn't seen until now. Must have been the 40+ leader.

Came around for the start of the last lap and downed a Hammer gel from my flask. Took a bit of extra work becuase of the cold, but I was able to get to it.

This time around the flags were just starting to blow. Looks like I avoided the majority of the wind. Up the last hill and passing people left and right. I'm gonna kill in the overall standings today.

Final downhill and pushed the pace but didn't want to hammer too hard. Hit the last corner and headed back into the Speedway. Came down the straight away and climbed out of my shoes. Slowed and jumped off my bike before the dismount line. Ran full speed into T2.

Warmer clothing. I was miserable and it really hurt my time.

Didn't quite get my bike racked as cleanly as I could have. My hands were freezing and it took me a second or two to unclip my helmet. Stumbled again getting my hat on. This transition was ugly. Got my shoes on and grabbed my flag as I ran.

Dropped the bottom half of the flag pole just before the timing mat. 15th fastest T2, but it was ugly and could have been a lot better.

Gloves would have kept my hands warm and I would have been much faster.

Felt good to be running again. There was one guy not far ahead of me so I used him as my rabbit and did what I could to hold a steady pace. My HR was slowly climbing and now I was back into my race zone.

The wind was picking up in the Speedway and the back side of the straight away was into the head wind. The winner was coming down the final stretch as I finished my first lap. Grabbed a glass of water and started to really push for the last mile.

There were only 10 people on the run when I started so 25 or so now seemed really crowded. I managed to pass 3 of the guys on their first lap. Great mental booster that late in the race. Around the final bend and across the finish line. Gasping for air and doing my best not to puke. Totally worth it for 2nd in my AG and 14th overall.

Nothing. Great run.

Caught my breath, put my warm-ups back on and headed to the Jeep to step on the scale again. Lost almost a pound and a half. Went back to get my Endurox and find out how everyone else did.

Stayed around for the awards. Team Ironhead took home 10 pieces of hardware and 9 of us were in the top 20. Just about as dominant as a team can be.


Poor clothing choices. The cold killed my bike split.


Awesome race. The run course on the inner TMS track was awesome. Advertised as 2 miles, Jack said it was 1.95, my Garmin said 1.8 on both counts. My times agree with 1.8 so that's what I'm calling it. Bike course was also longer than 15 but Jack never claimed he knew the exact distance.

There will more than likely be two TMS races next year and I'll probably be on board for both.