"The knee felt pretty great DURING the race, but afterwards, hurt like crazy. I iced all day sunday and yesterday, and today it's actually feeling alright. I'm excited to train again tonight.
As for the race:
I couldnt get to sleep until around 2am, and then had my alarm set for 4:45 in order to get ready, load up, and drive the hour and a half to the race site. On the way there, of course it started to rain... so THEN i was anxious about the bike because i planned on hammering the entire time, and with not being familiar with the course and the roads being wet, i was scared to wreck and damage my bike / chances at ironman.
Got there, had to check in and set up... and then had to wait a couple hours to actually start. My wave started at 9:45, but it started late so it was more like 10 when we actually set off.
Warmed up a bit before the swim and felt really good and fast in the water. I was able to get out in front at the swim and got clean water after about a minute. I have to work on my sighting a bit because i definitely had to slow down and almost stop mid stroke to lift my head and see if i was on line. Came out of the water 3rd or 4th in a time just around 6 minutes for .25 miles. Towards the end i definitely felt stronger as is the case with my workouts too since it takes me about that long to get acclimated and properly warmed up at race speed.
The run from the beach to the T1 area was up a long hill and seemed like forever. My T1 time was the fastest of the day and managed to get out on the bike first despite coming out of the water behind others. Opted to go shirtless, already had my shoes on my bike, and got into them as i was coasting after mounting the bike. Luckily the skies cleared and the roads dried up!
The first part of the bike was all uphill. I stayed in the saddle for all of the ride except one particularly steep section that i had to stand and pump for. No body passed me on the bike and i stayed aero the entire time i was pedaling (minus the one uphill.) My legs were feeling pretty tore up from the session on saturday and i knew my run wouldnt be as good as possible, so i just tried to get as big of a lead as i could on the bike and then hold it through the run. My max speed was 47mph and my average i believe was around 21 which was good enough for one of the top 3 best times of the day... and i ended up coming into T2 first off the bike.
The organizers werent ready for me to come in, so i had to dodge pedestrians and cars on the way into transition which lost me a little time. When i threw my bike on the rack and started out of T2, i forgot to put my bib belt on... so i had to turn around after i had left transition, put it on, and head out again... i lost at least 1:30 and a lot of energy here.
The run was mostly wooded and trail running... felt pretty good after a mile and i was running defensively. I didnt know what it was like to be the hunted until then, so because my legs werent as strong as they have been in the past, i made it my goal not to let anyone get to close or pass me. I ended up coming in with a 5k time just over 20 minutes, broke the tape, and beat the 2nd place winner by about 30 seconds... his 5k time was 17 minutes, so with my slow time and the mistake, i nearly lost the lead i built on the bike.
It was amazing. Breaking the tape, the applause, the announcer, the newspaper interviews... until they realized a wave started 5 minutes behind me. When a racer from that wave finished 3 minutes later and complained that he won, my first place turned into a 2nd Overall.
I guess i can't be too upset considering i've been dealing with a knee problem, i was pretty beat from the intervals on saturday, not rested at all, i made a big mistake and dogged the run. I know that rested and healthy (and if i knew there was another wave after me,) i could have lopped off 3 minutes and taken the race in under an hour. Next year!
So thats the race recap. There are some pictures on my facebook page i posted, and on www.thedamtri.com along with the results if you're interested.
As for training this weekend, I'm heading back to new york on thursday and wont have access to a pool, BUT i WILL have access to a glorious lake and i plan on giving the wetsuit a whirl for the first time. is there any way i could do constant swimming for an hour or so this weekend (if you have it planned) rather than specific yardage and drills since i wont be able to do those in a lake?
If i decide to go out and do a couple extra workouts since the area where my parents live is perfect for cycling, swimming, and running, can i just go out and do them (as long as im not too crazy?)"
It was a great experience, i met a lot of cool guys, and i can't wait to do it again next year!
