I arrived in Racine on Thursday afternoon again after some very close calls with flights! Picked up my vehicle which was bright orange rice rocket and took off into town. Ended up at my home stay 30 minutes late because my darn GPS unit failed on me three times and I was not in the greatest of moods.
My home stay family, Jeff and Mary Pellegrom, had a great place within walking distance of the race site! Jeff put in a PR by 14 minutes on race day! I had a little area familiarization before putting together the bike and settling in for the night. Slept for about 10 hours and woke to a beautiful Friday morning in Racine. I joined Jeff in the afternoon to go swim the course and see the best lines to swim on race day. The moment I stepped in the water I knew I was in trouble. It was so cold that I could barely tolerate the pain my feet were in due to the temperature. It takes me long enough to jump into my warm outdoor pool here in Austin, so you can imagine how long it took my to fully submerge myself in the lake. Once I did, it felt like I was being stabbed over and over with knifes. I could only swim 200 yards before having to stand up. I left a little worried and wanting to be in a neoprene swim cap.
Race morning came and I was excited! I sorted out all my stuff and then headed back to my home stay. The lake was not in good condition with visibility about 100 yards. Everyone sat and waited as the swim start was delayed but 60 minutes. Once we received the permission to start we had three minutes to get ready. The swim was very slow and nobody was pushing the pace. I went hoping Luke Bell would follow and he did not. We came out of the water with athletes we can normal put 2 minutes on! I did come out of the water first but was not first over the timing pad :)
Came out of T1 with the pack and was feeling pretty flat but we were all together and I was not too worried. All the sudden the gap started to open and I did not chase! I'm still furious I did not go with Bell and Gambles at the time. I came around at about mile 15 and just decided to go for it. I rode strong until about mile 35 and then was joined by Aussies, Gavin Scott and Daniel. I just hung on back (legally) as best as i could until we reached T2.
Once I laced up the K-Swiss in T2 I was ready to go! I quickly established a lead over Gavin and Daniel and felt really good. I took out a minute on Joe Gambles and actually thought I would run my way into the podium at mile 5! At the turn around I noticed that fifth and sixth were a little too close so I pushed for about a mile and settled back into a nice rhythm. We ran by my home stays place and the encouragement was awesome! I looked back and saw that my lead was back to the same on one corner as it had been the first. At mile 9 I was starting to hurt some but knew I could push hard the last four miles. Next thing I know I was passed and put into fifth place! I tried to go as I knew i had a strong kick, but my body shutdown fast. My back, quads, and calves all started cramping. Mile 12 came and I was again passed and put into sixth. I was freaking out and only just managed to cross in sixth place.
Finished in 3:58 making the past 2 weeks back to back sub 4 hour Half Ironmans. Was not too pleased that body was not firing at times I wanted it to! I do think it was a great trip though in getting my mind and body stronger. The process is coming along very well now and I can't wait to see how thing go for the rest of the season. Really can't wait to see how the consistency will pay off next year.
After the race I was able to tour a very popular Frank Lyod building in Racine. SC Johnson is based out of Racine and the building was very impressive. Jeff and Mary (home stay) both work there and I received the "better" tour. When Frank designed the building, he also was contracted to make everything else. The chairs he designed had a flaw to them. They had three legs plus the two feet of the person occupying the seat. What was happening was the women kept of falling from the chair if they bend down to pick an object off the floor. Mr. Johnson called Frank up and his ego did not give way, and told Mr. Johnson nobody knew how to sit. Mr. Johnson then invited Frank to a meeting a few weeks down the road and stuck it to Frank. During the meeting Mr. Johnson droppped a pen and Frank went to pick it up :) he fell flat on his face. Not a word was mentioned. A week later a truck arrived, took all the chairs away and replaced them with new ones that were build with four legs!
Next up is Chicago triathlon on August 24th.
Thanks again to support who makes this all happen.
Source Endurance
K-Swiss
Hammer Nutrition
CATZ
Phase One
Oakley
4 comments:
Thanks for the mention in the blog. Remember, if you're looking for a good read, try "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. The site of the World's Fair in 1893, which is the setting for the book, is now McCormick Place, which is on the run route of the Chicago tri next month.
Good luck!!
The Pellegroms
Who's your travel sponsor/buddy pass provider?
You keep mentioning almost missing flights and flying standby (last report)?
Maybe start buying tickets and get rid of some of the pre-race stress.
Just a thought.
Two sub-four halfs two weeks in a row is still pretty good by any standards. It is quite normal in my mind at least to feel "flat" the second time round. I hope at least at one of these upcoming races you can get it all together.
Cold water SUCKS. I think all races should be done in 68 or above..
Nice back to back sub-4s.. that's crazy!
Chicago is a great race, I loved it last year. Give me a shout if you haven't done it before and want the scoop on the course :) And oh yea, the swim had that stabbing knife thing going on last year, unfortunately.
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