Good but not Great...BSLT 70.3 Race Report

Good but not great. Roughly speaking, the first 1/2 of the season has ended, and on a good note I might add. A good note, not a great one. I can say one thing for sure, and that is, that I've been consistent so far...with one exception. 6th in New Orleans. 7th in Florida. 6th in Kansas. 4th in Lubbock. Each race gave me a little something to work on. 4x70.3 between April 3 and Jun 28 seems like a lot, especially when Champions, The Rookie, and CapTex are added in there! On to the race report.

Swim: I didn't warm-up. It was cool and windy and w/o a wetsuit, I didn't want to get cold. I lined up next to Hackett. I had a good start. I got a little boxed in after about 150 meters, but I got out of it about the time someone in the front turned on the jets. I didn't have what it took to respond and with the small field, there was no hiding...I missed the feet in front of me. Honestly, I was already looking 70 miles down the road when I'd be done and could relax for 7-10 days! But, I got back into it around the first turn buoys and got into a good rhythm. I moved to the front of the few guys I was swimming with and came out of the water 4th. I was behind Matthews, Hackett, and Thompson...but with Cam Brown who I figured would ride hard, Brent Poulson who had a good swim, and another guy I didn't know. We were about 2' down from the leaders...the same guys I swam with pretty easily in KS.

Bike: I was ready and willing to take a risk or two here. Cam Brown, Leon Griffin, and 'the other guy' passed me pretty early. Leon gapped us. I dug deep and lost a little ground to Cam and 'the other guy' (TOG from now on). I minimized the damage on the first tailwind section and when we turned into the headwind, I kind of knew it was now or never b/c there would definitely be strength in riding legally in numbers. I pushed hard. TOG went to the front and turned out to be the strongest cyclist of the day. I continued to push hard, but wasn't really gaining...it was as if my legs just didn't want to go. The gap seemed to be stuck at 20 meters or so. We caught Thompson and Gavin Scott rode up to me. I surged and dropped both of them and was still stuck at 20 meters back from Cam Brown. I lost a bit of time over the next 15 or so miles. Cam Brown had a flat, and I was now sitting in 5th behind TOG, Matthews, Griffin, and Hackett. I continued to push trying to make sure my powermeter didn't lose any average watts. I succeeded, but wondered how the run was going to go. For the 2nd year in a row it rained in Lubbock on race day. This year though, the wind blew a pretty constant probably 15 mph. I got of the bike in 5th place with the fleet footed Thompson behind me as well as Ben Hoffman and a few others.

Run: I was hitting sub-6 for the first few miles, and then you hit the first hill. And it's a hill. I passed TOG about mile 3 and was in 4th behind Matthews, Griffin, and Hackett. At mile 4 I lost my sub-6 clocking and to make it worse, I had a quick stop to make. Back on the road in a minute or less, still in 4th it was up the next hill. Out on 'Energy Lab II' road I got a glimpse of those in front and those behind. Matthews seemed out of reach. Griffin seemed out of reach. Hackett seemed out of reach. Thomspon was moving up quickly. But, never say die. I made the turn around in about 41 minutes or so. I felt pretty good. Right at mile 10 Simon passed me. I was 5th now...same as last year. It looked like I was gaining on Hackett. I dug deep...bound and determined to give what I had and not let it happen like Florida and Kansas where 10-20 seconds cost me $500 or more. With about 600 to go I passed Hackett. My legs were on the verge of cramping, and I was ready for a break. 4th overall in basically the same time as last year.

4:06 something. Swim was slower this year since we didn't have the running schenanigans of last year. Bike was actually 2-3 minutes faster on a tough day. Run was basically a dead even split w/ last year w/ a stop...so that was good. A good way to end the first 1/2 of the season. A great way to end was to see Amy put together a good race and get the win for the women.

Shout outs to those that have really helped us out this year. ATC has been great for all things bike related. TYR and Xterra have been great for all things apparel and swimming. Performance Wellness has kept us moving forward without injuries. PureSport recovery fuels us after races and during training. It's been a good year so far, and we are looking forward to the 2nd half of the season where we'll toe the line at IM Wisconsin in September.