Harvest Moon Race Report

The morning started off with an amazing cinnamon apple streusel bagel topped with caramel apple cream cheese...yes, someone really made that, and yes, it was as delicious as it sounds.  How could I not have a good race after a breakfast like that?

O yeah, and a HUGE shout out to my sherpa, coach, photographer, all of the above and more!  I couldn't have done this without you baby!

Anyway, on to the big event!  The swim course took place in beautiful Aurora Reservoir, and the water, while not mirror-flat calm, was definitely on the calm side.   The course itself was basically an out and back, exiting the water about 50 yards to the left of where we entered.  The swim was a wave start, 4 waves at 5 min intervals, and of course I was in wave 4. 

Finally it's our turn.  The air horn sounded, and in we went!  I started at the outside edge, just wanting to get a nice relaxed rhythm going and not get caught up in the frantic thrashing that swim starts can be.  After about 90 seconds I look around and realize, I'm in the lead group.  Not only that, I'm IN FRONT.  WTH??  Luckily at about this time, the train decides I'm going too slow, and 5-6 people pass me on the left.  I jump onto the last guy's feet and stay with them for another 2-3 minutes.  I'm not struggling with the pace, but I'm definitely not comfortable, so I decide to back off and let them go.  I swim on my own for a couple of minutes, then catch another pair of feet and stay with them until the turnaround.  Luckily the water is clear, and visibility is probably 6-8 feet, so its easy to see swimmers close by.  At the turnaround I doggie paddle for a few seconds, clear the water out of my goggles, and glance at my watch.  15:20!  I get back to it; unfortunately I can't find any friendly feet to follow, so I made the return journey on my own.  As the swim exit had a huge Red Bull archway, sighting wasn't too difficult.  I climb out of the water and check my time, 30:42!  I'm nothing but smiles all the way up the beach, up the hill and into transition!  (OK so the official time says 32:06, but I don't care about the 1:22 it took me to run up the beach, up the hill and across the mat outside transition--I swam a 30:42, dammit!!)

Next up, the bike.  After a slow transition (I still suck at these, but I'm getting better!), it's time to get to work.  I had asked my coach how to tackle the course, and she said, take the first 30 minutes EASY.  Being a good little boy, I did just that.  Of course several people passed me, mainly on the uphills, standing and mashing their pedals as hard as they could, while I slowly spun my way up.  This used to freak me out, but today I just calmly watched them commit suicide, confident in my game plan.  At mile 14 the course began a long gradual descent to about mile 31,during which I had either a tail wind or tail/cross wind.  I flew through this part, turned south at 31 into a cross wind, and started the long gradual climb back up.  My legs were still feeling great at this point, and I started to catch some people.  At mile 40 we turned west--into a straight on head wind.  Constant 15-20mph with 25mph gusts.  Not crazy winds but not inconsequential either.  As I had about half of my total climbing still to do in the last 16 miles, I knew it would be tough.  But my legs felt great and I continued to plug along.  I also began picking off some of those pedal mashers from the first 30 minutes.  Talk about an energy boost!  I cruised into T2 hurting just a bit, but still smiling.  2:48!!  Just a few minutes slower than my Gulf Coast bike, but on a tougher course.

After another ssllloooww transition, it was time to get the party started.  This was the point in my previous two half-IM's where the wheels came off.  I smiled for a couple of action shots,

then got to work.  I immediately found my stride, and settled into a comfortable pace.  Mile 1, 8:11.  Too fast, too fast!  WAY faster than I meant to start out, but I didn't feel like I was working at all!  I did dial it back though and ran mile 2 in 8:38. 

After that the miles seemed to fly by, I walked at each aid station and still kept my pace in the 8:30 range.  And I passed SOO many people on the run!  You have to understand, that is something new for me.  I'm a SLLLOOWW runner.  And as I've only done mostly sprints and olympic distance races, I'm used to GETTING passed on the run.  And while my 8:30ish pace is not blistering, its great for me!  I did start to falter a tad after mile 10, and even threw in a 10:00 mile (mile 13), but still finished with a 1:55!  My previous two half IM runs--2:45 ish, and 2:15. 

The race finished with, what else, but an adult slip and slide!  Here I am getting out of the pool at the end, a little wobbly but OK.

Overall I couldn't be happier about my race!  PR by 25 minutes, and I felt GREAT all day!  HUGE confidence booster for IM Arizona.  I feel good with the swim, my bike is progressing nicely; now to focus a little bit more on the run... only 10 short weeks until the big day!