Take No Prisoners: Pirate Tri 2012

Pirate Triathlon
Point Sebago Resort

Race
1/3 mile swim
14 mile bike
3 mile run

Results
Swim - 6:50 (1st)
T1 - :42
Bike - 37:43 (22.3mph, 3rd)
T2 - :32
Run - 18:46 (6:16/mi, 4th)
TOTAL - 1:04:29
PLACE - 1st Overall

The most logical place to begin the story of today's win at the Pirate Sprint would be last winter. To give you a full view of why today played out as it did, I should tell you about how hard I've been training, how much faster I've been swimming, cycling, and running, and drone on about details that really only interest me and my coach. In order to keep you reading, I'll skip it and get on with the good stuff.

Race morning went exactly like every other race morning does (except the awesome parking spot right next to transition, that was rare). The nerves I feel in the days leading up to an event subside completely by the time I step out of the car on race morning. Racing is the easy part of this journey; waiting to compete is by far the most difficult aspect of any race.

This morning, the Novice waves went off first with a small break before the standard age group start. As it turns out, this actually served as an advantage in my quest for the top step of the podium by the time we got on the bike. When my wave was sent off, I instantly went to the front and broke away. I had no interest in swimming with anyone today. My race strategy was simple: get to the front immediately and stay there until the finish. I swam incredibly well, though my time was slower than last year. I'll blame a slightly longer course for that! I'm swimming significantly faster this year than last and was nothing but pleased with the work I did in the water today. At the final turn, I was able to sneak a look back at my competition and see that I had about 50 yards on anyone else with 250 yards to go. I opened up the throttle a little just to extend my advantage, but I was in control didn't do anything to risk the overall win.

As I exited the water I noticed my timing chip was dangling by its velcro strap. No problem, I can fix it on the bike. Wrong. As I stripped my wetsuit off, the chip came with it, requiring me to fasten it to my leg before heading out on the bike. Still, I managed to get out in 42 seconds which is a solid transition.

The bike course at Pirate is challenging as a few big climbs make your legs suffer. If not ridden properly, they'll blow your legs up before you even get on the run. My instinct is always to hammer hills such as these, but I asked myself if Stephen would approve and, of course, the answer was a resounding "NO!". So I backed off, rode strong and stayed within my limits. On the second major climb I passed the last of the Novice wave competitors and now had the lead motorcycle at my disposal. The major advantage of this being that I knew I was at the front of the race, but the people behind me didn't. As far as they knew, they were leading and only people from earlier waves remained up the road. All of this, though, almost came crashing down when I dropped my chain on a major descent. I have spend an incredible amount of time making sure I know how to set up my bike for my race wheels versus my training wheels. It's been such a concern that I went on two training rides with my race wheels this week and refused to take them off until the race was over. Still, something went wrong. My chain hopped off the smallest cog in the back toward the outside of the frame and, momentarily, got stuck between the cog and the frame. This was the same thing that had happened on the stand earlier this week. My first reaction was to brace for another high-speed crash. When that didn't happen (or was delayed for a moment), I decided to give it 15 seconds to try to fix before stopping to correct things by hand. Attempt 1, failed. Attempt 2, failed. Attempt 3, now things are entirely locked up and I'm trying to pick a soft spot to land at 35 mph! And then, miraculously, I got the chain back on by stomping the pedals and trowing the shifter in the direction of the largest cogs. It was a scary moment, both for my safety and for my chances at a win. It was a moment that is surely going to send me back to Fit Werx 2 to see if things can be adjusted with some spacers in the gears so this doesn't happen again.

Leading a race is fun. It's much more enjoyable than chasing, but not necessarily just because you are in a position to win. That's great and provides motivation, but when you're leading people cheer loudly for you. When you're chasing, you often get a golf clap! As I returned to the second transition, I was greeted by hundreds of screaming spectators and it was a welcomed sound. I got a few nice shout-outs from the race announcer Andy Schachat (who also tried to high-five me as I headed out of T2, but all I could manage was a head nod as I fastened my race belt in full stride). Thirty-two seconds later, I left all of them for the quiet roads of the resort. I have been working incredibly hard on my run for two full years. This year in particular has brought me great success in my run training. I'm running faster than ever. Much faster. I set out with the intent to run 6 minutes per mile or under. How close I actually came to that is debatable. The official timers list the course as 3 miles, making my overall pace 6:16, but I've mapped the run and it's 3.1, meaning I ran 6:02s. I'll split the difference and call it 6:10s (which is exactly what I ran for miles 1 and 2, so it's probably pretty accurate). The course takes the runners through a circle, but it's impossible to tell how close people are given the layout. As I returned to the main road, I yelled to a volunteer for information, and she just shook her head and said "nobody's close, just keep running!" So I did. I put one foot in front of the other as fast as I could. At 13 minutes it started to hurt badly. My legs were running out of gas and my lungs were on fire. However, I convinced myself that 5 minutes, the time it would take me to finish, wasn't that long. Anything, really, is tolerable for 5 minutes. So I moved forward, now being greeted by oncoming runners headed out on the course. I appreciate all the cheers and truly did my best to respond to each one, but I was making myself hurt and a "thank you" wasn't always possible. As I neared transition, the cheers from the crowd grew louder. I took one look over my shoulder, the only of the entire run, in fact, put my head down and surged toward the finish. As I rounded the final corner and ran onto the beach, I knew I'd won. I did my best not to slow my pace, but I also wanted to enjoy the moment. A high-five from Will, the RD, at the top of the finishing chute drew more cheers from the crowed. As I made my way to the line, I picked Eileen out in the crowd and decided she needed some acknowledgment, too. I swerved to the side and got a high-five from her as well before stepping over the line for my first win of 2012.

Post race, much like pre race, was fairly standard. I cooled down, caught up with a handful of people, and enjoyed the feeling that comes with executing well. I watched my dad finish in a significantly faster time than last year. Then, at the awards ceremony, I got a sweet pirate boat as part of my prize (the other part being a comp'ed race entry for next year). It now sits atop our fire place, placed in a position that it looks like it is chasing an ornamental sailboat, despite Eileen's eye-rolling.

In all seriousness, I expect more hardware this year. I am expecting big things from myself this year and today was the perfect start to the season. I will certainly be faster later in the year, but today showed that things are lining up nicely for some exciting finishes later on.

Thank you to Tri-Maine and all the volunteers that made today possible. Also, thank you to Eileen and my parents for the support today (and every day). Stephen, my coach, keeps me healthy and makes me fast. Without his help I wouldn't be in this position. And thank you to my sponsor, Rudy Project, for the fantastic gear. And, lastly, thank you to the guys of Fit Werx 2 for all their help and support with my bike this year! Boys, I was significantly faster on the bike this year than last! Thanks!