race

This was a solid race for me and the results confirmed what I had been feeling the last two weeks; that I was in pretty good race shape. This bodes well for nationals this upcoming weekend. The swim felt smooth and I had good feel for the water so I was a bit disappointed when I saw my split of 18:23, about a minute off what I usually swim at San Jose. The bike also felt quite solid and I felt AWESOME climbing up the sole hill on the course. Only one person passed me on ride but I managed to pass him back up on the hill but he used his tree-trunk like legs to pass me back up on the flats leading to the finish. However, my bike split was equal to my PR on the course and put me in good position to break two hours on the course. The first two miles of the run felt great and I set my goal to run 36 low and break two hours. However, at mile three, I felt my heartrate drop from like 170 to 130 and my legs completely die on me. I knew dehydration was setting in so I spent the next two miles drinking as much as I could and told myself to just maintain. At mile 5, I looked at my watch and saw 1:53 and change. I was hurting pretty bad and made the decision to maintain rather than push it to break two hours and risk a disastrous bonk. I met both my performance goal (feeling strong and mentally tough) and result goal (top 2 in age-group) and more importantly, I had fun. I was relaxed during my race prep, opting to spend some time catching up with friends rather than being totally neurotic about pre-race rituals. I was calm at the swim start having time to dedicate the race to both my mom and Jill. Being a home town race, I saw so many familiar faces out on the course. My brother, sister, brother in-law, and my four nieces and nephews came out to cheer me on. Also, my friend Mark Cosgrove did his first triathlon in 5 years or so (since starting a family) and finished 8th in our age-group. My friend Jenna did her first tri and led out of the water and off the bike but got passed on the run to finish 4th in her age-group. Still, a solid first time effort. My only regret is that I didn't take any pictures and that I did not grab my niece Avery or my nephew Colin to carry across the finish line with me. The thought of carrying Colin actually crossed my mind, but I quickly came to my senses when I recalled my sister telling me the doctor may be putting Colin on diet because he's just too big. Knowing how tired I was, carrying Colin definitely risked my ability to cross the finish line. Next race, nationals in Portland and then a break from racing until August.