Early Season Race Reports

I've done quite a bit of racing recently, so here's a recap of the highlights from my racing in Oklahoma.

4/21 Spring Fever Sprint Triathlon: 5th OA, 1st AG

Swam well with a 6:10 for a 400m snake swim, didn't have it on the bike, but ran my first sub 12 minute 2 mile off the bike. Not a bad showing for what is typically the most competitive sprint race in Oklahoma. Though local pro Jessica Meyers smoked me...

5/20 Texasman X-50 Triathlon: 28th OA, 3rd AG

First open water swim race of the year and it went terribly wrong. Went out too fast I think. Started hyperventilating and had to slow down for a bit to get things under control. From there, I had lost the front pack by a large margin, so I swam in relaxed at the front of the chase pack. Felt very strong on the bike, and was possibly putting a great race together (this is the one I had tapered for), but got a flat at mile 30. After waiting 15-20 minutes for the SAG car, I finally got my flat fixed and rode like a madman back in, where I paced my buddy, 51 year old Lee Walther in for the overall win and then jogged the second lap to a very surprising 3rd in AG finish.

5/26 Will Rogers Sprint Triathlon: 2nd OA, 1st AG

After finishing only 36 seconds down to my good friend and training partner from Tulsa, Eric McCrary, at Spring Fever a month before I decided to make this race interesting and talk up as much trash as I could stand to him about how I was going to finally beat him for the first time. This race was an almost exact copy of the previous race, except this time I was going to be tapered and ready to rock. I've finished second to him more times than I care to remember, so this was finally going to be the race where I beat him.

I didn't. He did. Got my a$$ beat by around three and a half minutes. He really showed up.

6/02-6/03 Route 66 Festivus: Sprint, 7th OA, 2nd AG; Oly, 5th OA, 2nd AG

This is the weekend where my run fitness really exploded. On the sprint the first day, I had a very good relaxed swim in the front pack, with only a couple of the faster swimmers getting away. I came into transition fresh, and was rocking the bike hard early on. At one point a guy rode up next to me on a hill and was slowing down as I was speeding up. As soon as his wheel got a centimeter past mine, he started yelling at me that I've been passed and have to drop back. Whatever man, I'm riding my own race, I'll see you later. Eventually I caught up with my buddy, Sean Stevens, who was leading the AG race, as local pro Daniel Tigert was way off the front, even out of shape. When I passed him, he made the mistake of only dropping two bike lengths back before repassing me. When I attempted to repass him, he took off in a mad sprint up the hill when I had just entered his draft zone. I couldn't pass. There was a ref sitting behind us. We both got "busted". Ridiculous? I thought so, but those are the rules. No worries, I ran my best 5k ever off the bike and almost broke 19! The penalty busted us back from 1st and 2nd to 5th and 6th, but that just made the race for the overall for both days way more interesting!

To start the second day of racing, there were now three people in front of me, and a couple right on my heels, gunning for the overall combined. I was going to need a very good, very fast day. Thing is, I already knew I had it won. Historically, I've always swam the same speed and then biked and ran faster when racing an Olympic the day after a Sprint. When I woke up, I knew this day would be no different. Good luck catching me.

And I did exactly that. As the regional championship, there were some much faster people at this race than the previous day, and they soon got away from me on the swim, leaving me pretty much all alone for most of it. I got even got an odd case of vertigo on the second lap swimming in their wake, but I got it under control and came in, once again, fresh and ready to hammer the bike.

On the bike, I once again was making power immediately and started working as hard as I could. Oddly, a couple guys came flying past me, one right on the heals of the other. I thought about legally pacing off them for a second, but knowing how strict the ref was calling it, I didn't want to accidentally wander an inch into their draft zone without passing and get busted again. So I kept them in sight, but well out of range. And, sure enough, the ref came around eventually and sat on their tail for several minutes while I watched. The one guy who was drafting ended up with a 6 minute penalty, and, of course, complained like crazy about it afterwards.

After biking about as hard as I could, I was a bit concerned about how I would be able to run. I shouldn't have been worried. My run legs have never felt fresher. I paced off one of the faster bikers that passed me for the first lap as we ran around 6:10's or so, and then decided to go for it and took off for the second lap. Unbelievably, I was able to keep it up and ran my first 37 minute 10k! Off the bike no less!

With an overall time of 2:06, this was easily fast enough to win the overall title for both days by several minutes!

Though my good friend and training partner, Eric, was the next person in front of me in the race. He had swam 4 minutes into me. And beat me by that amount overall. Someday, Eric, someday!