Williamsburg (Michael's Story)

I had two goals going into the Patriots Half Iron distance triathlon. They were to break three hours on the bike portion and enjoy a good race, which would continue to prepare me for Florida. A sub three hour bike leg would best my fastest ride in a race, longer than the Olympic distance. I have had a great group to train with on the bike this year and "Felt" like that was an area showing some improvement. With the hot summer that we have had, I had not felt good about any of my long training runs. Maybe I am just slipping on my run performance. At Friday's pre race meeting the race director announced that the bike course had been lengthened to accommodate a community bazaar. He said that they had added about 2 miles. My bike computer said 2.5. With the additional distance I felt like goal number One might be out the question. At packet pickup the volunteer said 'the recorded water temperature was 77.8 and would probably drop during the night" making the swim wet suit legal. That was great because I had only done a few open water non wetsuit swims, this season. Saturday morning, I showed up in transition with my wetsuit on my arm only to hear the bad news, 78.4 degrees!! Well I shouldn't have but I copped a bad attitude right then and there. There were a few challenges with the river current that probably helped me add a little distance to the swim course too. When I finally exited the water some 10 minutes after my forecasted time they had us run about 0.4 mile to transition. The night before we were advised to leave a pair of shoes at waters edge for this cross country run. I pushed pretty hard throughout the entire bike ride. At the last bottle exchange the volunteer stepped away, to get more bottles, just as I got to him, and I zipped right by. I couldn't pass up that last bottle because there was still 15 miles to go and the last thing I wanted was to start the run in hydration debt. As these thoughts are racing through my head, along come a car load of crazy screaming Team Whetstone members. Christi was hanging out the front window trying to get a good picture. I yell for her to give me a Gatorade and we do a tour-domestique-like exchange that would have made Team Radio Shack proud. Just then, a second carload of those screaming crazies passes by yelling "go Big Daddy". The girl that I just passed on the bike says "not another car full?" Their enthusiasm lifted me right out of that 1 inch wide seat and I pushed it all the way back. I returned to transition after 2:59:12. That was a 19.5 mph ride!! Now we are cooking!. There's nothing like the satisfaction of goal number one, to get your attitude back on track. Hot dog, just let me knock out an easy 13.1 miles and we are done here. Well, two whole miles into the run and my legs were feeling like I just rode my best bike ride ever. It is now peaking out at about 85 degrees and I am sweating like that ole fat preverbal pig. I never skipped a water stop, I took in at least two cups of Heed (which I detest), I downed 2 or 3 electrolyte pills, and I took my time walking through the aid stations. I walked with my right arm stretched over my head trying to rid myself of my first side stitch in probably 10 years. I went through the whole run portion stopping nearly every half mile. Yeah, that's probably 20 to 25 walk breaks. I became so disgusted with myself when I couldn't keep going. With about a mile or so remaining I met up with Kenny and Hunter and they provided the lift that I needed. They were prepared to run to the finish with me but I convinced them that one more walk break was mandatory. With their help and the additional Team Whetstone support, along that last stretch, I pushed it on in. My total time was 6:25:53 which ranks 6/11 at the half Iron distance. I have always considered myself to have a successful race when I finish in the top half of my age group. Today I finished 9/15. Not a good day. Wait a minute look at those results again!! If, I had pushed myself to delete just 2 of those stinking 20 second walk breaks I would have finished in the top half. Now that I have cooled off a little, I have learned a valuable lesson to help with the Ironman. I need to remember that Chuck and Wray may be right behind, just waiting for me to make another break so they can claim a spot in the top half of our age group.