Rocketman Triathlon Race Report

Aug 20 - Aug 26
S:  12,313 yds - 2hr 51min
B:  89.09 mi - 4hr 46min
R:  38.71 mi - 4hr 53min
Total:  12hr 30min

This week was the last “normal” hard week of the season.  And by normal I mean Monday short/hard intervals, Tuesday group ride hammer session, Wednesday track, Thursday VO2 intervals on the bike, a couple swims, and a Sunday race.  It was a tough week, but having the end of season light at the end of the tunnel in sight, motivation was nice and high…and…I finished Thursday’s bike workout with a spectacular view on top of Shades Mountain near sunset; it’s probably my favorite place to be on a bike in Birmingham.

view from the bluff of Shades Mountain

After a quick swim/bike/run earlier that morning, local tri superstar Hallie Blunck and I loaded up my 4Runner to head up to Huntsville for the Rocketman Triathlon.  Packet pickup was the first item on the agenda, and then it was on to Mellow Mushroom (a pre-race favorite of mine) where we proceeded to split an entire large pizza before heading to our superb home-stay at the residence of Stephen Baker.  Much to our surprise, we were both afforded our own bedrooms as opposed to the couches that I thought we would be sleeping on!  After fixing the bikes and a quick chat on when to wake up and who was making coffee, it was time for bed.  4:15am came early the next morning, and with it came the enjoyment of French pressed coffee and my standard pre-race breakfast of a bagel w/PB and honey and a banana…and then it was off to the race.  The course was to be a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and a 10k run...here’s how it unfolded:

Swim - 17:48 (16th)
Firstly and obviously, the swim was not 1500 meters.  I have been swimming a good bit this year, but I'm not that fast!  Of all the races that I've done so far this year though, this swim probably felt the smoothest.  It seems like I sometimes have a habit of going out too hard for the first couple hundred meters and then "surviving" the rest of the swim, so this time I decided to ease into it a bit more and it seemed to work out well.  I was the 16th racer to start and quickly settled into a rhythm.  At the first buoy, I was still around a handful of people and as we turned I tried to start picking it up a notch.  With a couple hundred meters to go I found some nice feet to sit on...and then, I realized it was Hallie towing me back into shore!  That pace was all that I wanted, so I was content to cruise on back into T1.

T1 - 0:41 (11th)
No mistakes here, just a quick in-and-out.  

Bike - 59:51 (2nd)
This was likely one of my strongest rides in a race to date.  I didn't feel great for the first couple of minutes, but the longer the ride went on, the better I felt.  My power keep creeping up and it felt amazing.  I passed a handful of people in the first half of the race.  In the back half, I got a good glimpse of who was in front of me: Craig Evans was out front, followed by Bruce Gennari and Jonathan Krichev.  Craig was obviously way out front, but Bruce and Krichev were withing striking distance.  They both started the race a minute in front of me, so I felt good about my position.  With 4 miles to go I could see Krichev off in the distance, so I really focused on reeling him in knowing that he is a superb runner.  Sure enough, I literally passed him while hanging off the side of my bike ready to dismount.  Bruce was not too far ahead.

T2 - 0:48 (3rd)
Flawless work here and out on the run course in 3rd position.

Run - 40:11 (10th)
Almost exactly like Mountain Lakes, Krichev pulled up beside me about 20 seconds into the run.  As he went by I let him pull me for a little bit but he was just running too fast.  The first 2 miles were a mix of dirt trail through a wooded area and then a dirt/gravel road with a few nice rollers.  I was keeping Krichev in my sights, but I knew I had to push harder if I wanted to beat him.  After 2.5 miles or so, I finally started to feel some legs.  6:40 pace turned into 6:20, and I really started to try to make it hurt.  At the one out-and-back portion of the run, I could see Craig still way out front but Bruce and Krichev were still not too far ahead.  The last miles of the run were solid and I was pleased with the effort, crossing the line with nothing left in the tank.

Total - 1:59:18 (3rd overall) 
As it turned out, I ended up nabbing Bruce by ~30 seconds for 3rd place overall, with Krichev ~35 seconds ahead of me in 2nd place.  I didn't make any mistakes and after a hard week of training, everything seemed to be firing quite nicely.  Now it's time to road trip to De Moines, IA for Hy-Vee!