In this sport it is easy to work hard. Its easy to work
too hard in many cases. The difficult part is accepting the fact that most everyone else you race with has probably worked just as hard as you. Sometimes I find myself cursing other athletes inside my head during a race. I get mad that the really fast swimmers have a 5 to 9 minute lead on me out of the water. I feel like swimming is just the "easy" part of the race for them, and I am left in their wake, getting kicked, punched and swallowing water with my heart rate at 190 beats per minute...hurting, exhausted! These "swimmers" then can go on to maybe bike just as fast as me, but can run 4-8 minutes slower than me in a half ironman and still finish in front of me. But when I stop (not a complete stop) to think about it, these guys have worked just as hard. Actually, most of these guys were swimming countless hours staring at the bottom of a swimming pool, day after day, week after week, year after year in middle school, high school and even college! I really respect the "swimmers" when I look at it this way. They put in their "hard work" years ago, and they deserve to reap the benefits. The same goes for those that ran and even cycled when they were younger. However, I can no longer call myself a "newcomer" to this sport. Silverman 2010 capped off my final race of my fifth season racing Triathlons......time flies when you are having fun!
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| Me and Big Aaron pre race |
Silverman is a tough ass race! I was pumped to be able to race the course this year and get a preview for what the Ironman 70.3 World Championships course is going to be like starting in 2011 (and hopefully for many years to come). The hills on the bike and run are relentless. They never, never NEVER stop. This race really puts your body and mind to the test, and I was ready for it on Nov. 7th
Before I go any further, I want to really thank everyone who supported me this year. My girlfriend, Ashley, has been so supportive and enthusiastic about my goals and drive to succeed it really makes everthing just seem so easy at times.
Pops, Mom, Uncle Terry, Grandparents, ALL my family and friends- THANK YOU for cheering me on.
Athletes Lounge- You guys have done so much for me this year, thank you!
GU Energy- You've stuck with me for 3 years now and I'll always be spreading the GU love.
Coach Ciaverella- I got all my faith in you man. Thanks for teaching me so much and helping me realize my potential.
SWIM- 33:54 (66th place out of the water): Yeah swim was rough and it hurt and I kept swimming of course. The start of the race was really cool, as we started under the pedestrian bridge in a fresh 65 degree Lake Las Vegas. Hundreds of spectators were up above our heads cheering us on before the horn sounded and then I began the usual routine of swimming over and getting swam over by people. I started out really REALLY hard like I usually do, and when I felt the oxygen debt kick in I fought the normal regrets and doubts that go through my mind as I tried to muscle through the water. But, as always, 5-10 minutes goes by, the field thins out and I'm able to get into a rhythm. I had a little trouble sighting and never really found anyone that I could trust drafting off of. I knew my swim fitness was not exactly where it would normally be in a big race like this, but I worked with what I had and was ready to get down to business as I pulled myself up onto the dock and out of Lake Las Vegas, 1.2 miles later.
- Wetsuit strippers at this race. Sweet! Pointed at strippers, laid on my back and let them rip away. Passed maybe 10 or 15 guys in the transition tent and headed out and grabbed my bike. This transition area had a little 150meter hill you had to run up with your bike before mounting which made it interesting.
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| Going up one of the "3 Sisters" |
BIKE-2:39:58 (21.0 mph) 9th fastest split- I passed maybe 25 athletes in the first 5 miles as I settled into the long hilly ride. I remember my shoulders and neck being really sore and stiff and I was not comfortable in the aero position for the first 20 minutes of the ride. But that went away, and I started getting my nutrition in and sticking to my goal watts. At about 12 miles in I got caught and passed on the bike by a sharp looking athlete. He didnt pass me very fast however and we ended up playing the pass and repass game every 15 minutes for the next 30 miles. This occupied my mind and made time go by much quicker. I was patient on all the uphills, riding up them in low Z5 watts at 65 rpms, and I would fly down the hills but also make sure to coast a little towards the end of each downhill. This is NOT a technical course. There are no trees and the downhills are pretty straight, so that helped me since I suck at downhills. I saw big Aaron on the two out and backs and timed myself about 4-5 minutes behind him both times. Still in striking distance, I thought to myself. At mile 38 we hit the "3 Sisters" (3 consecutive climbs, about 1minute in length and averaging a 15% grade) and I pulled ahead of the guy I had been riding with, for good. On the 3rd Sister there were about 25 rowdy fans yelling and cheering me up the top of the hill. It was sooo exciting having them there! I looked at my power meter and it read 550 watts....Ooops, just burned a match there, but it was worth it :-) The hardest part of the whole day was the 5mile false flat immediately following the 3 Sisters, directly into the wind, on a lonely bike path with NOBODY in sight. The last 16 miles of a half ironman bike course is where I really start to lay the hammer down on the bike. While my power meter was showing the effort, the MPH reading was like 14mph! This is where one can really benefit from a power meter. If I had not been able to get that feedback, I might have killed my legs trying to go 16 or 18mph on that section. Regardless, that 5 miles took forever. Towards the end of the bike there was a nice section of about 2miles downhill at 40+mph (the wind made it a little sketchy at times with the disk and deep dish front rim at that speed) but I went for it anyways. The last half mile I saw big Aaron on the run already. Crap, I thought, he must have put some big time on me at the end of the bike. I caught and passed one more guy, Michael Ingardia (last years overall winner), right before the end of the 56mile ride.
T2- In and out, and ready to go hunting!
Out onto the Run, Pops, Ash, Uncle Terry and Aunt Marilyn cheered me on. Pops informed me that I was in the Top 10 overall (I was 9th overall and 6th amateur) and six minutes behind Aaron. Big Aaron is my training buddy, but we are fierce competitors. So, of course, Pops made sure to give me those splits heading out onto the run. I love to see my good friend do well, and there is nobody else that I would want to do kick everyone's butt when I am having an off day.....but I was running for him, HARD!
The first mile of the run is all downhill, ran it in 5:20 and my body just felt great. Second two miles are all gradually uphill, and I was holding a steady 6:40ish pace that did not hurt too much. Towards the end of mile 3 I got the (oh "so familiar") cramps in my inner thighs. I've had them in EVERY SINGLE Half Ironman that I have done and I always get them when going uphill or shortly after a hill. As always, I just slowed to an easy 9 minute pace for about 30 seconds and patiently allowed the knots to disappear. As soon as they did, I had caught my breath a little and was ready to turn the burners back on. However I was a little concerned is that I was running so well but had not caught anyone on the run yet.... Mile 4 was mostly down hill. Ash and the fam were waiting for me there, encouraging me while giving me a split of only 3 minutes to Aaron. Good, I thought, I've gained 3 minutes on him in 4 miles so I must be gaining on others too. At Mile 5 I passed a strong looking guy, who just looked like he was going through a bad patch. I was too focused to say anything to him, just ran on. A half mile later I saw a tall guy up the road as we started another long uphill stretch. As I got closer to him I realized it was my boy. It was obvious by the way he was running, he wasnt having his best run. He seemed to be cramping a little, so I pulled out my pouch with salt pills as I had planned to offer him one when I caught up to him. Right before I caught him Macca ran the other way by us (in first place of course), smiled and shouted "Good job guys"! Man, that was so inspiring seeing him out there!! As I passed Aaron I ran with him for 15 seconds or so, offered him salt (which he kindly declined), asked him how many in front of us and he told me maybe six guys. I took off on the hunt. It turns out at this point, halfway through the run, I was in 7th place overall and was the 4th overall amateur. I could see 3rd place up the road in the distance and he seemed to be running really well. I just kept my eyes on him, up to the challenge of catching and stayed locked in the zone. It is such a great feeling when running really well in a race. It hurts, but its a good hurt because you are making progress. Mile 8 came and it was time to really pick it up as this guy still had 30 seconds on me. My body responded. Still, I did not catch 3rd place until Mile 10. Right before we crested a small hill, I surged passed him...fast....and then on the downhill I just let it rip and turned my legs over as fast as I could. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful. I was gaining time on 2nd place but could not see him and still would end up 3 minutes back at the end. The last mile hurt bad. It was all uphill, and it was feeling hot outside, but I knew the finish of my season was right up the road and that I was about to cap it off with a great result!!...
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| They held the tape up for EVERY finisher at this race, COOL! |
Final run split- 1:25:44 (only 2minutes slower than Macca and the second place Pro).
Finish time 4:43:44, 1minute under the old amateur course record, 3rd place overall amateur, 6th Overall, 1st place M25-29.
For anyone racing 70.3 worlds next year, expect a finish time at least 20minutes slower than your PR, OR about 30-40minutes slower than your Clearwater PR, hahaha!
The race director puts on a great race at Silverman. All the Iron distance and half Iron distance athletes were treated like stars all weekend!
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| A little tired |
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| Three days in Vegas prior to race, had me ready to drink immediately after the finish! Free beers by the way, LOL |
To me, the hard part about this sport, is no matter how well you train, how dedicated you are to the sport, on any given day it could be the day you've trained for OR things may just not go the way you have visioned it--You just never quite know until you put yourself out there. But, the thing I love about racing Triathlons, is when you have that day where everything clicks and you hold it together throughout the race. When you overcome the obstacles and adversity that is thrown your way throughout the day.... and you cross that finish line knowing damn well you left it all out on the course and there is nothing else you could have done, under your control, to go any faster. This is how I ended my season
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| Ashley being a good sport about all the sweat I'm dripping on her |
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| Top 3 M25-29 finishers, and Top F25-29 |
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| Aaron and I both finished with AG Victories! |
Next to come:
Holidays with Ashley, Gain 10 pounds, and look forward to starting 2011 with my new team
Pace Multisport! Oh and for a recap of the rest of our Vegas trip go to our blog
here
