Red Bank 2012 - First Loser

That said, I'm happy to be able to have a race to report on. This is the second year I've done this race (might only be its second year of existence) and was looking forward to testing out all the fitness I've attained since last year. My focus this year is the 70.3 distance and more specifically, Eagleman in June but I knew it would be fun to get out and see what sort of speed I had in my legs.

Red Bank is about an hour south of the city so it made for a super early morning since the gun was supposed to go off at 7 am. My "fan club" (my girlfriend and bestest bud Dustin) and I were in the car by 4:45. Having them there is always nice and I appreciate it immensely. We munched on breakfast which for me consisted of my normal bagel, ensure and a water bottle full of First Endurance EFS Drink. 

Turns out, the race got quite a bit bigger this year. Double the participants, added a sprint and a duathlon so race morning was full of lines. Needless to say, the gun did not go off at 7. While waiting in line to pick up my race packet (bib number, timing chip, etc) I was randomly messing around with my brake levers. Not for any particular reason. Just out of boredom while waiting in line. Good thing I did. I recently swapped my brake pads and apparently didnt get a bolt tightened down enough (even though I took it out on two test rides after making the swap and this didnt present itself) when reassembling my front brake. My bike has an integrated front end which is a blessing and a curse, though I rarely have any issues. Basically the cable came loose and the brake pads were rubbing. Thankfully someone in transition had a pair of pliers (you can always count on someone having a small tool chest in transition) since my multi tool doesnt have one. Got the brake re adjusted, transition set up and quickly made my way to the port o potty with my TP in hand. 

After a delayed start, the sprint waves got under way and shortly after the elite wave for the olympic distance athletes. I got my Xterra Vendetta wetsuit zipped up and jumped in. I knew that a guy named Matt Nunnaly was back this year and last year he swam a blazing 18:xx. My swim fitness has really seen some significant improvements and my plan was to try to find his feet early and see if I could hold on. Little did I know his swim fitness has also seen an improvement. I later learned that Mr. Nunnaly is a national competitive lifegaurd champion. The gun went off and, as always, it was pretty crazy from the start. I really pushed it trying to stay at the front but about 300-400 yards in realized I didn't have the speed to hold on to his pace and settled into mine. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful since the elite wave was pretty small and we were first to go off so there was no swimming through other waves. On our way back, we were swimming straight into the rising sun and a headwind. I took down a swim assisted gulp of salt water thanks to some healthy chop and thought for sure that would come back to haunt me. Exited the water in 4th and had no idea of my time since I dont wear a watch while swimming. Joelle (girlfriend) shouted out my placing as I ran into transition and I was a little upset about that because I felt I had a strong swim. Turns out, there was quite a bit more speed this year - not just on the swim but the bike and run as well which I'll detail in a bit. I had a terrible transition as I could not get my wetsuit off. About 45 seconds slower than it should have been. Oh well. On to the bike. My strongest sport. Right?

This is not a fast course. Unfortunately. It seemingly turns every few miles, hits quite a few rollers and just never allows one to quite settle into a rhythm. But I knew that, had a wattage target to hit and was ready to see what that would net me. From the very start I could tell my cycling legs just werent there and I'm almost 100% sure why. About three and a half weeks ago, I started experimenting with my diet - started cooking all of my own meals, packing my lunch, etc. It was great at first. I was saving money, felt good but also started losing weight. I was encouraged at the beginning. Less weight means faster body, right? I ended up losing ten pounds in a matter of three weeks and concurrently saw a drop in my power on the bike in training. Whoops. Not intentional, but I essentially was under fueling and eating WAY too clean. All good things for anyone not exercising for hours a day and expecting their body to perform at a high level. Reached a breaking point about five days before Red Bank and I scrapped the whole experiment and went back to my "regular" diet which consists of multiple personal chefs from all round my neighborhood (my favorite being Chipotle). Was able to put on about five pounds over the next five days to get me close to my previous weight level but still felt a bit "off". Back to the race. The first 30 minutes had me contemplating just bagging the race. I was frustrated. I could not get my power up to even a high Z3 level (about 30 watts off of goal pace...a pace that I can generally hold for about two hours on any given day). I started sucking down my EFS Drink and EFS PreRace cocktail I had in my bottle hoping that it might "wake me" up. At probably about the 35 minute mark things finally started to open up. Still wasnt quite hitting my target, but much closer than the first part of the ride. Rode strong into T2 thinking I was leading the race with second and third not too far behind me. Turns out I was second into T2 by about 45 seconds and had spent the entire bike chasing the super swimmer who laid down a 16:xx swim (yikes!). Was in and out quickly and knew I had someone right on my heels. 

The plan was to hit 6:30 for my first mile and settle in and then start kicking up the pace. (I think coach knows that when he outlines a plan I generally subtract some from the pace or add some to the power on the bike. Bad pupil. My first mile ended up being something like 6:12ish which was still a "settle in" sort of pace but not too crazy.) Right out of transition you're hit with a steep incline which makes getting your heart rate under control a little challenging. Shortly after cresting the hill, I was passed. Damn. Should I jump on to his heels? I chose not to but looking back, maybe should have. I'm now running in third but feeling strong. About a mile and a half in we caught the super swimmer. He was running well but I was feeling great and wasn't worried about being caught by anyone else. My concern was trying to bridge the gap to the leader. The course was an out and back that hit some rolling hills and had a section of off road trail running which didnt make for the fastest run but it was a nice change of pace. Kept it interesting. At the turn around the leader passed me on his way back in and was looking good, much to my dismay. I told myself with about two miles to go I'd try to put on a bit of a surge, lay down a solid negative split and see if I couldnt bridge up to him. Well, it appeared he had the same plan and also had a solid negative split. 

I crossed the finish second overall (but first loser!) and put together a decent race despite my lack luster bike. I'm not worried about that though. My bike has always been my strongest sport. What's encouraging is my swim and run speed. I've been logging a solid 40-50 miles/week for months now on the run and about 90% of that has been all at a very easy pace. No traditional speed work. Just lots of miles and a long run with some progression. This is exactly what coach and I had planned for after IMAZ. LOTS of run miles and thankfully my legs have held up. It seems to be paying off as I felt quite comfortable sitting in at a 6 minute pace throughout that 10k. This is promising since the goal has been to stretch that speed out to 13.1. My focus since January has been the Eagleman 70.3 in June. In three weeks I'll get to see how that focus translates on the race course.

Thanks to all of my amazing sponsors - Kiwami for the race kit, Xterra for my super fast Vendetta wetsuit, EFS for keeping me fueled and GI distress free and Jonathan Blyer at Acme Bicycles for keeping my bike fit in order!

I also want to give a shout to two of my friends who also raced on Sunday. Robin Powers in only her second triathlon ever placed FIRST in her age group in the Sprint race. Her boyfriend, Mike Stefanik,  in the olympic race shaved off almost ten minutes from his time on this course last year. Super proud of both of them!