So today started out early (5:20AM) with the last race of the year... I have been racing from February to December. That, my friends, is better than butter. I love warm weather. Anyway...
The race start was an hour late per the Dominican custom of being completely indifferent to time... The gun went off and I started out smooth and fast. The water was crystal clear, perfect temp, and salty so my heavy under carriage popped right out of the water. I found myself in no man's land with a two man group about 15 seconds off the front and me leading out a pack of three... I have been working on breathing on both sides to even out my stroke and it has improved both my feel for the water and my rotation. When I started concentrating on my form, I bridged up to the two and came out in a pack with 2nd-4th. Who knows what time it ways and no one in this country cares. The distance was billed at 750m and probably was stretched into more of a 1200 or so which was great as it was a brilliant day to be a fish.
Moving along...the bike was flat and into the wind for 25k. I drafted (legal) with a guy who looked like a runner (bird bones) but was a weaker biker. We shelled the 4th place kid quickly. It felt super comfortable and I figured he would be gassed starting the run. I figured I would sit in and be ready to blitz the run. With every pull I put in a slight surge to take the punch out of his legs... I love ITU racing as I find that I think a lot more and I can eff with people which is, in my my mind, hilarious. We rolled up on first place slowly (big cow of a man who both of us knew was going to waddle the run).
I lost 20 seconds to him in transition as I took my sweet ass time tying my shoes and putting on my t-shirt. I don't have any race clothing here because I though triathlon would not be found in a third world country. Mistake.
Coming out I realized I had made a mistake by letting him sit on and not trying any attacks. He was moving well and was holding me at 10 seconds. I could not bridge. The leader (read waddler) was caught at about 1k and spit out the back. It was down to me and this caballero. We went around the 3 loop course with the lead fluctuating from 8-13 seconds. I wasn't taking it deep as I'm not used to the race discomfort anymore. (translation: Sally-ed it up big time.) Usually I am very good at coping with pain but I was allowing myself just to be uncomfortable and not really dipping into the well which is something I pride myself in, even in stupid races. Came second by 9 seconds... Moral of the story- I am Phil Michelson... can't come up with the W. good swim... lazy bike but comfortable... strong run but no speed in the legs due to this time of year.
This was the first race I have trained through and I liked it. I went just got back from a long run to cap the week. I am hitting pretty good frequency and decent volume and I'm pumped about the upcoming year.
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