5430 Long Course

What a Sunday. I was up and at 'em at 4:15am - tried to get some food down, which usually never works, so I'm left to force feed myself. It's just as fun as it sounds! I got to the Res just before 5, got marked up and set up transition. I found myself, as usual, with a lot of time before the start. Usually I'll just putz with some stuff, stretch, walk around, tinker with my bike, whatever. This day, I just plugged in my iPod and sat there. It was great. So I got my swim gear together, went down to the beach and warmed up a bit in the water, watched the pros go out, and then just started pacing. I ate my gel, and had to run up and grab a sip of water, and on my way back, I hear "Eric!!". I look over, and Sarah and Aaron are standing there. It was great! I went and chatted with the two of them and heard a bit about Sarah's Leadville adventure. It was cool that they were there and were able to find me in the sea of wetsuit wearing triathletes at the Res. So with that I ran down to the beach to catch the start of my wave.

I made it to the front outside on the swim. I felt the slight tug of someone catching my draft, so I let them get comfortable for about 2 seconds, and then kicked it into another gear. He couldn't hang. I worked my way to the front of my wave, and started catching some of the other waves. I kept hitting buoys, going, "Oh, this is the turn..." only to sight and see another buoy a few hundred meters ahead. Finally came out of the water in 33:24, and hear "YOU'RE AN F'IN ROCKSTAR!!!". Thank you Sarah, I am a rockstar! My swim was good enough for 114th overall.

T1 was slower, but I don't care. I got my socks on, and had a bit of trouble getting on the bike. I heard Aaron yelling, "BREATHE ERIC!!" - oh yeah. I wasn't breathing, once I took a breathe, I got clipped in, and the wheels started turning. All I need to do is slow down and everything happens right. It's weird how that happens!

Off on the bike, and what a ride it was. The course is a rolling first half, and then just fast and flat for the second. The first is a slight incline for about 4 miles, and it's just a lot tougher than it looks. It really gets the legs burning. My wave was the 7th wave out, so there was a lot of jockeying for position for the first 28 miles, but by the time the 2nd lap started, the people you were surrounded with were really in the same league as you on the bike. I settled in, and really just tried to ride my own ride. I ate when I felt like I could/wanted to, I really monitored my Gatorade intake around gels, but I didn't have a specific plan. I just followed my gut, literally. There is a spot out on St. Vrain Road where you can just hammer, and I was holding over 30 miles an hour for a good 3 or 4 miles, it was just fast, clean pavement. Awesome awesome riding. On the second lap, I knew my Mom and Ellie were going to be out on the course, so I got pretty stoked to see them at about mile 51. Ellie missed me on my first pass, but Mom was there rocking the cow bell, screaming like crazy. They ended up catching me 2 more times as they were driving into the Res, and the cow bell was blaring. It's always good to have fans, they really make the race a lot easier. My bike split was a blistering 2:35:09, a 21.7mph avg over 56 miles. I've really worked hard on my bike this summer, and it showed yesterday. My legs, back, and shoulders are all in some pain today, but I'm good with that. It was a great ride, 239th overall (and I ride a beat up old Schwinn with clip on aero bars - how you like me now Cervelo P3C guy????).

T2 was quicker, and I was off on the looooong run.

The run in this race is always the biggest gut check of the summer. It starts out through a parking lot, and then hits 2 really steady climbs. They are not long, but they are just ruthless. They are there to make you suffer. And suffer I did. My first lap, my right quad basically locked up on me. I had a lot of electrolyte chews towards the end of the bike, so I knew that if it was a lack of electrolytes, they would hit my system soon. I took a minute to stretch the quad out, and then started running through the cramp. After about 1.5 miles, it went away, and off I went. From about mile 3 to 6, I was strong. Running an even pace, just feeling good. I told myself to back off a bit, save some for lap 2, which I tried to do. But then something weird happened at about mile 6. I stopped and walked. It wasn't pre-meditated, it just happened. I took the time to catch my breath, and off I went. I came through the finish area and saw Ellie and my mom again, and that brought the spirits up. I heard Sarah call me a Rockstar, and Aaron tell me to run faster (I'm trying!!!) and that really helped to hear the support. But the second lap was torture. I hit the first of the 2 hills and the wheels just came off. I walked some of that hill, but looked around and noticed a lot of people walking. It wasn't hot. I don't know what happened. My guess now is that the cloud cover and cooler weather encouraged a lot of people to go much harder on the bike, and the fact that they weren't hot or sweaty made them forget about hydration. I kept hydration on my mind, but think the hard ride definitely took it out of my legs. My mind was strong, my lungs were strong, my legs felt good, I just didn't have the get-up-and-go. I hit the second hill, and had to walk a bit again. I grabbed some ice water to shock my system, and that worked here and there. But the second lap was a big mix of walking/running. I hit mile 11, and the bikini aid station, and decided I had had enough. When the girls in bikinis look like sasquatch, it's time ot end this thing. I turned my hat around, folded the bill so I could only see about 3 feet in front of me, and just ran. I didn't look ahead, I just ran. I made it about 3/4 of a mile out from the finish, and both hammies cramped, and both calves started to cramp. They were sending up the white flag. I just gritted my teeth and kept going. I hit the crowd and the cheers really guided me in. I hit the finish at 5:04:30, nearly 11 minutes faster than my previous PR. My half-marathon left a lot to be desired at 1:53:23, 8:40/mile. I didn't train for the long run, and the long run was my undoing. I know that if I could have held a better run pace, I would have finished sub-5 hours. But still, 12th in my age group (out of 52), and 184th overall (out of about 1100) are fantastic results, and I'm really proud of my race.

I'm glad it's over. I need a break from the big distances, and the training. I've got a super-sprint in September and then next summer I'll probably pick some fun Oly distances and just try to enjoy them. It was a great summer, but I'm really ready for some recovery time.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep posting some training stuff here, as that's what it's all about. Thanks to Sarah and Aaron for coming out and cheering me on, especially on Sarah's birthday. Thanks to Ellie for being so awesome about my training, and being such a big fan. Thanks to everyone else for holding me to my training. It was a good summer.

E