Race Report

Well this weekend definitely provided all I anticipated... and a little more. Big thanks go out to Sean & Trish for a great trip with awesome company! We had some good times, rides (falls) and laughs, as usual, and I have them to thank for it. Casa De Ryan proved to be quite the luxurious "home stay" and Jim and Judy were fantastic hosts and supporters. I gotta admit, when Judy reverted to her past Ironman form and paced me down the beach on the run, I could barely keep up!! A huge thank you goes out to them as well.

One of the reasons I chose to go race this last weekend was to knock off any "race rust" that may have built up in the last few months. Maybe I jinxed it, cause I certainly felt rusty!

WATER:
The swim actually went pretty well. It was my first swim in my new Zoot Zenieth suit and I will attest, that thing is AWESOME. If making you look like Batman wasn't enough, the cut of the Zenith makes it fit like a glove while remaining extremely flexible. But the buoyancy is RIDICULOUS!!! I felt like I was hydroplaning. I actually had (I think) a pretty decent T1 aside from the fact that I lost a gel out of my jersey pocket when taking off my suit while running in.

ROAD:
The bike is when my race slowly started to deteriorate. I got cold. I DO NOT do well in cold. God, or whoever / whatever built me apparently left out, or didn't think I would need, whatever it is that provides good blood flow to my extremities. So, as usual in a cold race, my feet were replaced with concrete bricks by mile 2 of the bike. Literally, NO FEELING the rest of the ride. This however, was not the only problem. As is also par for the course for me when it gets cold, my legs seem to launch their own mutiny on the bike. For some reason they just won't "turn on" for a while. But on the second lap they started to come around and by the end of the bike they felt "OK". Coming into T2 however, I began to worry that my nutrition plan (or lack thereof) was going to come back to haunt me. When I woke up I had a Powerbar at about 5am (really 4am with the time change), and chased it and my vitamins with a glass of FRS. After driving to the venue, waiting in line, walking the 1.5mi to T1, going through (uh-hmm) T-Zero, and helping my tri-rookie friend set up, I forgot to eat or drink anything else before the start. Then losing that gel in T1, left me with only 1 gel & my aero drink of Powerbar mix for the race. I wasn't sure that was going to be enough. T2 went pretty well despite the fact that I ran through on concrete bricks and had to shove them into my shoes without really being able to feel my shoes (a weird sensation!).

Unbeknownst to Ian = Sand, rocks, beach, trails, and a wee bit-o-pavement:
That about says it. The run took off into the sandy & rocky trail with me in 7th. My run is usually my strongest leg, and I can normally pick up some spots pretty quick. So out I went and immediately passed 2 guys who came out of T2 right before me. Unfortunately, the numb feet and sand had my run really out of sync. I just could not find a rhythm, and I could not hold the pass on one of the guys. On I struggled and was able to pick up two more spots, but just could not reel in the one guy who had un-done my previous pass. Long story short, after coming off the marathon I was expecting the run to be fast and EASY. I don't think it was the former and it certainly WAS NOT the latter!

FINISH:
4th Overall; 1st in Age Group. I am happy with my result, I am just not too happy with how I felt. Like I told D this morning, I just would have liked to have felt better and and the had the effort felt easier. I am not making any excuses, I am sure I went as fast as I could have. I take nothing away from my competitors that beat me. They beat me cause they are faster than me... fair and square. Even if I had felt better I doubt I would have had a better result. Its just as I told my sister, I would have been happier with the same result, or even worse, had it felt better and easier. But nothing comes easy in this sport right? A big bonus to the weekend was getting to meet Charisa & her husband Steven, who were awesome. She smashed it herself, and despite some issues of her own, still took 2nd Elite (at least thats what I saw Charisa!). Below is a pic Steven took after the race. He got some great pics of her during the race check em out. All in all. I am very content with the weekend.

And my tri-rookie friend Bill, he took 3rd in his AG at his first ever tri!! Ridiculous!!