Patriot HIM RR
OK the Patriot HIM has been my goal A race for the year. I have been focused on this race since July but have had some challenges in my training with an unexpected trip to IL 4 weeks before the race and then the juggling of my training and my kids' and wife's games and practices and not to mention that pesky work thing! Overall felt strong going into race week just a bit heavier (2lbs) then I had planned.
Day before the race. Slightly hectic day that kept me at the hospital an hour or so later then I had planned (I had only scheduled a half day). Went home for a PB&J then off to packet pickup. Made it to the packet pickup by around 5:30pm walked the transition area and noted I had a long run with my bike both coming and going not to mention the .3 mile run from the beach to T1. I have done the race a couple times before and they had changed the flow through transition and the start of the run. So I stayed to hear the prerace meeting. Then off to my Mom's. She lives about 2 miles from the transition so that could crash close to the site. I had my prerace dinner of pancakes and a beer then off to bed.
Race day-
Up at 4:45. Coffee and some homemade rolls (My Mom makes the best rolls!!!) Got to transition at 0530 and set up. Decided to not put my shoes on the bike despite the long run because of the bad pavement past the mount line. Pre checked my bike for correct gear and that my power tap was on the bike (forgot that at the Beach to battleship last year). Short swim warmup then the start.
Swim went out just concentrating on my form and felt pretty good on the way out to the first marker. Stayed to the right due to the current but strayed a little to far. Wondered were the hell everybody went when I realized I was by myself since I dont swim off the front. Met the group at the marker and headed down current and into the sun. Sighting for the next couple markers and into shore was a crap shoot and new I coupld of been faster. The last 200 meters was knee deep. Ran up to Transition and got on the bike. SWIM 37:22 (11/63 AG) T1 3:06 (4/63 AG) T1 was over .3 miles long!
The bike started out a bit scarey as there was a wreck that an ambulance was responding to right after we got on the main road from transition. The cops and the ambulance crew left a narrow gap and I could see they were holding Cspine on the racer. Not sure what happend figured he may have gone in the ditch trying to get his shoes on or getting his computer set or something. Started with the plan of riding about T2 for 30 mintes and then going to a T3 zone for the rest of theride. Had ridden the route a couple weeks ago so knew to expect some rollers and false flats. Felt like they may have swept the road in some areas as it was in better shape then I thought. I did do a Shleck on the one time I changed into my small ring and dropped my chain! Took me 2 trys to get restarted and figured I must of lost a few hours as I got passed by a huge group. Tried to stay in my box but pretty sure I rode a bit harder then I should for a few miles after that. The rest of the ride was good. Kept close to my numbers but did drift here and there. At about mile 50 got passed by a guy in my age group who was drafting off another racer. Crazy he was right on the wheel and staying there. Pissed me off. I followed them into T2 by about 20-30 seconds determined to pass them in T2. BIKE 2:41:18 14/63 AG. NP 206 (FTP 244) VI 1.04 TSS 192 CA 80 SP 21.03MPH.
T2 Racked my bike and as I was changing into my shoes saw the drafter run out of transition wearing his helmet!!! Can anyone say KARMA!! T2 1:09 9/63.
Run- I always have an issue with pace control. I was determined to have a good run. My paces were suppose to be about 8 minute miles for the first 3 then 7:24s for the next 6 then whatever I had left. Knew I could not run that so I planned to go 7:40s then 7:24s. Started off pretty well kept having to bring myself back to the 7:40s and then about miles 8-10 had to keep pushing myself to get to 7:24. At mile 10 checked my time and figured I was going to just miss my race goal of sub 5 hours. Decided to keep pushing it although my legs were getting a bit heavy. (I have not checked my run splits yet. 
Finished the run strong at 1:38:56 4/63.
Total race 5:01:42 4th out of 63 in my age group (I think I have more 4th place finished then anyone) . Missed my goal by dropping my chain and probably could of run a bit faster with better discipline. Overall an improvement by about 13minutes from last year.
Overall a good day: Ran into a couple other EN guys and saw some other folks I havent seen for years. Looking forward to a few weeks off then the OS. Gotta go sub 5 next season!!
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