Ironman Syracuse 70.3 Race Update

I now know what it feels like to be on "death row" the night before your "execution". I felt that way the night before this race. I wasn't looking forward to it and wanted time to slowly countdown until race start.

Believe it or not, John, Davis and I were in our beds by 8:00 pm. Our race wake up call was at 5:00 am. For the first two hours, I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. All I heard was heavy breathing sleep from Davis and John. I was jealous.

Eventually, I fell into a light sleep and was woke up every hour or so and looked at the clock. I woke up once and it was 11 pm and I was so happy to see I still had 6 more hours to sleep.

At one point I woke up and I was sweating "big time", my pillow was soaking wet. I had to turn it over to use the dry side. I think it was from my body purging that one beer I had a dinner. For the rest of the night I woke up another 2 or 3 times and every time was so glad to see I had another 3 hours or 2 hours or 1 hours left to sleep until we had to get up.

The alarm finally went off and the three of us got ready. Our plan was to take the bus from the host hotel to the race start, which is about 20 miles away. Yes, you heard correct. The host hotel, registration and expo was about 20 miles away from the swim start.

Before we got on the bus, we all got in the truck, including Rich and picked up some water at a Pharmacy and Coffee and bagels at Dunkin Donuts. On the drive to Dunkin, it started to spit rain, just like the weatherman ordered, along with a high of 66 F.

We got back to the hotel and got on the near empty large shuttle bus. Most of the people drove their cars to the start. The driver was from Florida and wasn't sure on how to get to the start line, we had to help her with her directions. It definitely added to the pre-race drama.

The traffic to the swim start was horrendous. It was not a well thought out access route and we didn't pull into the race site until 5 minutes before the transition closed. I didn't mind the extra time it took in gridlocked traffic, the more time I could spend on a warm bus was fine by me. It was cool and lightly raining at this point.

I've never been so "unmotivated" to do a race. I slumbered off the bus to set up my bike gear. I was glad I was on the official bus so that when one of the volunteers came to get me out of the transition area, I'd tell them "no, I'm not leaving, I just got here on one of the buses that was late because of the poor judgement of race location and the amount of traffic time it took to get here. Tell the race director I'm staying in here until I'm ready".

I guess others had the same idea, because the next announcement I heard was the race was starting 15 minutes later to allow people to get the gear in the transition zone ready. I took my time getting everything ready and moved at the speed of a snail. I couldn't find my good race belt and I emptied my bag and went through everything with a fine tooth comb like it was a Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do.

It was a good thing I had a back up belt, my good one disappeared. I probably left it at home or it fell out of my bag. I took up the full 15 minute extension they gave us and "slothed" out of the transition zone.

The swim start was waves. There was over 2000 athletes and my wave was one of the last, going off at 8:14 am. I stayed in my warm up clothes as late as I could, it was "nippy" out. I found Davis and John, they had their wetsuits on already and I had mine over my shoulder, I didn't want to put it on too early and overhead or sweat.

Eventually, I sat on a picnic table bench seat and put it on. It took at least 15 minutes and I had "no energy". I had John zip it up and not until I got out of the water and tried to open the back, did I realize he zipped it up and put some of my shirt in there. It was stuck, I couldn't pull it down.

Thank goodness for the two wetsuit strippers that helped me. I wouldn't have been able to get it down otherwise. Mental note for next time, "get someone else to zip up the back of wetsuit and someone who may not want to slow you down". Not that John did, it's just going to be a precautionary measure.

At the swim start there was a special moment created and I'm going to lead it next time if someone else doesn't. A guy in the front turned to the group and yelled out, "okay guys lets all have a good race", he started clapping and everyone joined in and started clapping and cheering loudly. It was REALLY cool and awesome energy.

The gun when off and I took off from the front. I had new goggles and they worked great, no leaking. It was a bit of a risk because I didn't even test them in the water before the gun went off. I didn't even get wet or swim a couple of strokes before the gun went off, I was too lazy, tired and unmotivated.

This swim had no washing machine effect at all. I think I've bumped into more people at the YMCA than I did during this swim. I swam steady, controlled and for the first half my shoulders were a little sore and for the first 300-400 meters my sighting was off. It was a moderately paced swim and all I wanted to do was get out of the water and get on the bike so I was closer to this race ending.

I was surprised how slow my swim was at 36 minutes. I felt like I went faster and figured maybe the course was long. Just before the swim I decided that I was going to put on an extra sleeveless bike jersey and arm warmers. It was cool out and I was even cold just standing at the beach in my wetsuit. I was able to warm myself up with about 4 in-wetsuit-pees before hand.

Adding the extra clothes cost me transition time, but it was worth it. I was even glad I put toe warmers on my shoes beforehand. I felt I had a strong bike session, even though it wasn't my best time. It was definitely one of my best speed work sessions. At some points on the bike I had my heart rate at 162 pm and for most of the ride it as 155 bpm.

My heart rate is rarely that high on the bike and I attributed it to Thursday's night debauchery and lack of good sleep. The course was tough, much tougher than I anticipated. Lots of challenging hills for the first 12 miles and it's the type of course that's hard to get into a rhythm on, lots of gear switching and turns.

I didn't mail the bike in, even though I was unmotivated, it didn't stop me from giving my best. At no point did I come close to bonking or tiredness and I only had two water bottles of Powerbar drinking and one power bar, along with my ensure at the swim to bike, and bike to run transitions.

With 2 miles left on the bike, I pulled up and started talking to a guy I'd been playing cat and mouse with for the previous 15 miles. It was a nice chat and the only one I've even done in a race. He was from Texas, it was cold for him, he was going to wear arm warmers on the run, and he was doing Ironman Florida this year, his first ever Ironman.

Transition two was much faster. The only problem was I think one of the anti-inflammatory pills I had set up to take, fell in my shoe and I was running on it. I still can't be sure. For most races I take some sort of anti-inflammatory before hand. This race I forgot.

My goal on the run was to finish averaging a 7:00 minute per mile pace. I came close at 7:13. It was a point to point run with some hills at the beginning and then downhill with a slight wind in our faces the entire way. Davis and John felt there were more hills than they expected based on the grade view of the map. I run in hills all the time so they didn't bother me at all and I enjoy running into the wind, both rarely slow me down.

On the bike, I passed a decent amount of guys in my age group and also on the run. I felt good on the run. I was relaxed and focused solely on leg turnover. I find doing so makes you run lighter.

I ran with my trademark Captain's hat and passed a lot of people. I loved it when I'd go past guys in my age group with authority. I knew each time I passed someone they were "feeling sick", like I have in the past when you know you're in the top percentile of your age group and want to be as high in the rankings as possible.

The first 10 km I did at a 44:17 (7:08 / 4:26 pace)and the second was a 45:33 (7:21 / 4:34 pace) and the last .73 was a 6:35/4:05 pace. Not until the last 5 km's did I realize I had a shot at breaking 5 hours, which is my standard goal for any half Ironman. I had 24 minutes to do it and to muster the mental optimism that I could do it. I realized "I run around a 24 minute 5 km for the House of Payne Beer run and that includes drinking 6 beers. I should be able to do this.

I also wanted to run the last two miles hard. As Mark Allen says, "for those last miles, open it up". With two miles to go, I caught up to another guy in my age group. Just before I did, I told myself, "if I catch up to a guy in my age group, even if he takes off, I'm staying with him, no surrender".

This guy was at least 6'4" and lean and "fit looking". No fat and he even wore one of the tri-tops that is high cut so you can see the mid-section. You only wear that if you have the stomach for it and he did.

I ran passed him and tried to do it with authority and thought I broke his spirit. Nope. With a mile to go, he came "barrelling" down and caught me and tried to blow by. It was the moment of truth, I was sore and it would hurt and at that moment I committed to go with him regardless of the pain. I've never won one of these battles before and I didn't want to lose again.

I surged to catch him and we started running side by side. Looking back, this last mile is one of the most special moments I've ever had in a triathlon. I was semi-pretending it was the epic Dave Scott and Mark Allen Ironman finish.

With 500 meters to go, I was debating to go and if it was too early or not. I was worried I could "gas out". I decided I was going to go and before I did I put my hand out to him and said, "let's go for it".

He low fived me and I took off as fast as my little 5' 10.5" legs could go against "amazon man's legs". I didn't look back until 40 meters to the finishing chute and realized he was about 20 meters behind me. It was just enough distance behind us that I ran to the sides and still high fived people at about a 6 minute per mile pace. It was like the hands were "white picket fence posts flying by me". I still wanted to show some "fun spirit".

I crossed the finish line out of breath and he finished worse. We both had to do the bend over with hands on knees to catch our breath. He congratulated me and he said "that was one hell of a run, I couldn't keep up". He was a good dude and seemed relieved when I told him, "don't worry, if you were going for a Clearwater spot, I have no plans showing up at the roll down or taking one.

Moments after finishing I saw Davis and Rich. Davis had finished strong with a 5:02. I could feel a little disappointment that he didn't beat "Uncle Bryan" I was just glad it was over. During the run I realized I need to get my Mojo back. I can't show up to Kona with the attitude "let's get this race over with", like I did for this race. My current attitude is a definite sign of over training, a two year season without a training break and my wanting the season to end so I can take a break.

John and Davis both had solid races. John set a PB with a 6:38, which is amazing considering he needs a hip replacement and doesn't run, he's just doing the elliptical. He ran a very respectable 2:08 half marathon. Davis beat me on the swim, the transitions, and the bike. Beating me on the bike (by 90 seconds) is a major accomplishment. The only thing he didn't beat me on was the run and the final time.

Against Davis I have a perfect 3 - 0 race record, I think it's now time to retire from competing hard or I'll lose my perfect record soon. Davis has made incredible gains this year on the Mark Allen Online program and at 22 years old qualified for Clearwater with a second place finish in Calgary.

For this race Davis finished 19th in his age group versus 2nd in Calgary. The difference is the huge population this race can draw from. In the North East U.S. and Canada there is a population of 130 million. It's fair to say "Syracuse" and "Lake Placid" are "big boy races" when it comes to quality of competition. The winner in Davis's age group did a blistering 4:11 and the winner in my age group did a 4:37.

The one thing about Davis is he has the perfect triathletes body. His running style is beautiful and his biking is really improving. If he can get faster in the swim and continue training hard, I think he'll be a real force to be reckoned within a couple of years.

Race and logistics wise, Syracuse is not a great race, especially for spectators. The swim start and finish are 13 miles apart and the race hotel, registration and expo is at least 20 miles from the swim start. I will say the volunteers were great and the post race "hot food" was awesome.

The race vibe was more of a "local" type of race, than an "official Ironman 70.3". I was a little disappointed that they didn't give finishers hats at the end of the race, they only handed out medals.

As far as the Captain Cheers, which is a great measure of town spirit, Syracuse had the least amount of cheering, other than China. But China doesn't count. The run course was not conducive to spectators as it was a point to point.

As opposed to John and Davis, I didn't mind the race and the logistical hang ups, although if it wasn't for Rich being our "driver", it would have probably been very stressful and a bit of a hassle. I'm curious to see what the turnout will be next year.

Personally, I liked the bike course. It was challenging and the roads were well paved and even with the roads not closed, the traffic wasn't too bad. On one of the downhills I was shocked to see I got up to 77 kph without my "customary speed wobble". I attribute this to one of two things, either my new Zipp wheels running smoother than my Blackwells, or my complete relaxation from lack of motivation. Before the race, a guy did tell me the key to reducing "speed wobble" is to relax and not tense the arms.

It was an uneventful ride home and time goes fast with all the post-race triathlon talk and race analysis. We did get hung up at the border because the older border guard was a cyclist and wanted to talk cycling and wouldn't stop talking.

The guys didn't think it was a good move when I started edging the truck up as he was talking. He didn't even seem to get the message that we were just being polite from his power of "making our life a living hell if he wanted to". Eventually he released us from his "verbal death grip".

John and Davis were pretty beat up and tapped out after our post-race "man cave" pizza, wings and beers. Jamie and Barb ended up coming by around 9:30, right after John left, and stayed for some beers and cigars.

I'm proud to say, I didn't ask anyone to stay when they wanted to leave or go to bed and I went to bed when Alice said, "let's go to bed" at 1 pm. Had I not, I knew it'd be another late "all by myself" celebratory night.

After the finish line sprint, my legs felt like they did an Ironman. By 9 pm, they felt back to normal. The race was a good confidence builder and now I'm going to start taking it easy training wise, even though I still have a tough schedule. I'm going to reduce the mileage and focus on mentally "getting myself to be excited and looking forward to Kona".

Overall, the race went according to plan, it was meant to be a high heart rate speed work. On the run, for the first time ever, I got the heart rate up to 172 bpm for a brief period. For most of the run it was around 155 - 162 bpm.

Swim - 36:27 / 1:55 / 100 meters

Bike - 2:40:30 / 20.93 mph avg

Run - 1:34:45 / 7:13 mile

T1 - 4:52

T2 - 1:37

Total - 4:58:11

9th place overall 45-49 age group out of 214

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