So I realize that I've become a fitness freak when I have racing traditions. This is my new one: a longer run to kick off the season and get me going. Last year it was a half mary pacing Mark, this year, a fun run with Mike at the 10-miler.
The other reason I know I'm a fitness freak is that I look at a race as training for something else. Seriously. I got to Lousville friday afternoon and was more excited about riding over to the stadium on the bike with Mike for packet pickup than I was for the race. I felt a little bad (and took a lot of crap) for pushing him a bit on the bike. There were some good hills and Mike was pretty exhausted by the time we got done with our ~23 miles. Sorry bud. We'll do it again next year and you'll be in shape.
It was a cold morning. High 30's. There was record attendance yet again for this event. Around 7500 people.
My plan was to go out along with mike pretty easy the first 3 miles until we got to Iriquois park. This is where the race begins. There were some solid hills out there. Nice long hills are really becoming something I enjoy more. But I especially enjoy it on the bike. The run, it's good, but not my favorite thing. However, I was killing it in the hills this day. I was able to have just a solid cadence, and I was passing people like gangbusters. After the first hill, I decided it was time to start pouring it on and let Mike run his own race and me mine. The last hill in Iriquois was pretty rough, but it felt good to have it over with and the downhill was a glorious break. I took in a gel before getting to the water station and then it was back to the stadium. Mostly a slight up grade and into the wind just a smidge. I was able to keep the cadence pretty high and at mile 9, just before the last hill ( a bridge over the RR), I started planning the finish. Halfway up the hill, some tall young dude caught me and went by me. He looked like a basketball player. I decided that with current conditions, I would use his apparent strength to my advantage. I slowed down a step and hopped in behind him. I'm so happy drafting is legal in running, because it just isn't fair that I used this poor sap the way I did. I was right on his heels and I'm sure he heard me, so he just kept pushing harder. I enjoyed it back there, just matching him step for step experiencing no wind. as we turned into the stadium at about a 1/4 mile to go, I pulled out around him and poured it on. I'm not sure how close he was, but I definitely wasn't letting him catch me.
It was a good finish. I went and got my chip taken off, grabbed a water and a powerade and went back to get Amber. I had done training runs with her, and we figured it would be fun to run in together. My knee and calves were hurting heading back. I saw mike coming in as I was going back out. Mike beat his time from two years ago by like 8 minutes. I found Amber around mile 8.5 (so I got in a half mary all told). She was running really well and ended up going sub 10-min miles for the whole thing. She had done the half mary last spring in over 11-min miles, so we were both pretty stoked; especially considering the amount of training she'd been doing. We've been pretty busy with weddings and moving and such lately.
Steve should have his first Tri race report up soon. Maybe we can get Mike on to do it too?
2 comments:
Sounds like a lot of fun for the three of you....and impressive results! Mike must be thrilled with shaving that much time off his last race, and Amber - wow! - that IS impressive with all you've had on your plate - good job, all!
Sam, does race etiquette require that you thank the dude who helped you so much at the end? I'd like to read his blog post about the race :-)
haha! I don't know what race etiquette is, but I told him "Good finish man." and he said "Thanks, you too." He might have been pissed, but that's how racing works. I know there was a guy keying on me about mile 7, but I put a surge in on a hill to get him off me because I was tired of it.
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