Patriot Half
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On Saturday June 15th I participated in my first ever 70.3 triathlon, the Patriot Half in East Freetown, MA. Karma kept telling me not to race, and I chose not to listen. Approximately three weeks before the race I broke the middle toe on my right foot. During my final race rehearsal my tubular blew 14 miles into my morning. The week before the race I got a stomach virus. Despite all that I was determined to race.
The day before the race I was still not feeling great however I was able to eat almost all of my Core Diet pre-race meals. I woke up the morning of the race, ate my race morning meal (that is a lot of applesauce) got ready for the race and headed out early so I could get my transition setup and relax.
It was a beautiful morning and I was setting up with the other members of my local Tri club when a USAT official in a red shirt came over to look at my helmet. I have a POC Tempor and he had never seen one before. He looked it over and told me it was illegal and he could not allow me to race with it. He said there was no CSPC sticker and that meant I could not race. I immediately began to panic until one of my teammates said he thought he had an extra helmet in his car. He asked his wife to check and she came back with a legal Gyro helmet. I could race.
I was in the 7:20 heat and the pond only had a moderate chop. The water temperature was 63, which was the same temperature I had been training in. So far, so good. My swim was pretty good, and only had a few minor sighting issues. I averaged 2:06 per 100 yards which was 1 second per 100 faster than my training and I finished in 48:38. I headed into T1, stripped, got my bike and gear on and headed out. T1 took 3:17, 17 seconds slower than goal.
Once on the bike I felt great. Unfortunately my power meter was not being picked up nor was my heart rate monitor. I was riding blind without power, cadence or heart rate. I rode by feel and was averaging almost 20 mph after the first loop. Shortly after loop two began I started to feel the effects of the stomach flu. I was working just as hard yet my mph was dropping steadily. My stomach was doing a lot of talking and I focused on just getting to T2. After what felt like the longest final 10 miles ever I got back to T2 and unsteadily got off my feet. I walked my bike back to the rack, got on my hands and knees, steadied myself then rolled over to get my running shoes on. I even remembered to throw on my number belt so I was happy with myself. I then began a very slow jog onto the run course. T2 5:50.
A quarter mile into the run I stopped due to stomach cramps, again caught my breath then started walking. I ended up walking the entire 13.1 miles. There were a number of times I stopped due to the pain then just kept on going. There was no way that I was not finishing this race. Mile after slow mile crawled by. At mile 10.5 I thought I could go no further, and then I took a step. Then another. Finally, after Three hours and 29 minutes of walking I crossed the finish line. The Paramedics checked me over and agreed that the stomach virus was most likely still with me. My vitals were good, which is what I was concerned with and I had friends help me pack up to head home.
When I got home I checked and my fever had returned, and it broke sometime on Sunday. I am hoping to be back to solid foods this evening. I have a Sprint this Sunday to get ready for. My final time for the race was 7:38:58.7. I now have a 70.3 pr, and one that I should be able to break at Rev3 Maine. So I have that going for me!
Today I received a call from Charlie Crawford who is the head official from USAT. He apologized to me on behalf of the official who deemed my helmet to be illegal. He said it was in fact a legal helmet. He will be sending out a notice to all USAT officials about the helmet, and he sent me an e-mail that I can show to a race official if they ever have questions about the helmet again. He was very nice and I had a great conversation with him. It is nice to see that every competitor is important to him.
Comments
I remain impressed by your resolve to race, Larry.
Great report, and I look forward to crossing paths in the future, possibly Patriot next year...
Did you solve your PM issue?