OCY

OCY Tri-9/20/2015
1:09:04, 2nd
Results

The OCY Tri would serve as my final TRI of the season and important race to me.  I was hoping to finish on a strong note and was interested to see how I would fare on a quick hometown course.  As far a pre-race expectations, I was hoping for a Top 5 finish.  I knew previous race runner and friend Jeff Duda would be competing and figured he should have the top spot locked down.  I also knew that Shara would have a really good chance at taking the women's race and knew she had recovered well from Firmman.  I was also interested to see how Jeff Walker would do in the Duathlon and figured he'd have a strong day out there.

With an 8:30 am start, it felt like I was sleeping in compared to most TRIs.  We arrived to the Town Beach shortly before 7:30 am, picked up our numbers and chops, and set up in transition.  Shara and I went for a mile warmup and joined up with Duda.  While warming up, we all talked about how slow we felt.  I kind of laughed at this thought to myself thinking about what the two of them might do to their respective competitors.  After arriving back from the warmup, I put my wetsuit on and took a look at the surf with Shara.  We hung out for the national anthem, which was led by a Coast Guard guard, and then made the trek down to the start.

Swim- 1/2 mile: 10:33
I lined up for the swim with Duda.  We chatted a little about the tide and then it was go time.  I tried to get a clean start in the water and reminded myself to swim my own race.  Like run races, many swimmers fly out at the beginning of a race and quickly drop off.  If I over exerted early, I figured oxygen debt would quickly set in and my form would fall apart.  I rounded the first buoy and spotted 3-5 swimmers ahead of me.  Based off positioning, I knew Duda was way out there.  Swimming along, I felt an up and down sensation from the current.  I tried to keep a watch on the other competitors and was starting to feel taxed as I moved towards the final buoy.  Still having Duda and another swimmer in my sights ahead of me, I tried to swim really hard into the shore and make up as much time as I could.  I ran out of the water and headed towards T1.

T1: 1:14
Always struggle with the transition, not just getting wetsuit off, but getting bike shoes on and out of transition.  Oh well.

Bike-14 miles: 39:28
After mounting my bike on Atlantic Ave, I was feeling spent from the swim.  I tried to get into a groove and slowly found it.  Riding out onto Atlantic Avenue, it felt nice to ride on such familiar roads.  Unfortunately, I felt like I was in no man's land for most of the ride.  I just reminded myself to keep trying to ride hard and see where I end up towards the end of the ride.  A couple of miles into the second lap of the bike course I was passed by a guy.  When he passed me, I told myself to keep him in contact or at least in sight.  Throughout the rest of the second lap, I tried to keep this guy in my sights as we passed other triathletes who were on their first lap.  The remainder of my ride was uneventful and I met my goal of keeping near the guy.

T2: :54 seconds..had trouble slipping into my run shoes and getting my TRI belt on.

Run-3 miles: 16:59
Heading into the final leg, a spectator or course official let me know that I was in 4th place.  I knew that 1st place was not within my reach with Duda's super swim and awesome biking ability.  But 2nd or 3rd?  It was possible.  Leaving transition, I was running mad.  The next two guys were a little up the road from me and I wanted to get them both.  I knew if I ran too aggressively, that I could end up paying dearly.  Within a very short period of time, I was able to pass both guys at once.  After passing them, I tried to widen the gap and before I knew it, I saw Duda approaching the 2 mile mark of the course.  We exchanged greetings (he claims I gave him a grunt) and tried to hammer on.  Duda looked really comfortable and I was happy for him.  As for me, I still wanted to widen the gap and ran it home fairly hard.  I crossed the finish line in 2nd place overall and felt really strong.

After finishing up, I met up with my parents to see Shara finish and hammer home a strong 2nd place after competing in the Firmman Half Iron last weekend.  It was also cool to find out that Gazelle won the duathlon.  OCY was a hometown sweep.  This race marks the official end of my TRI season. Despite some knee issues that impacted my running, it was a fun, successful TRI season.  I'm looking forward to the 2016 TRI Season and already have some goals for next year.

Happy with 2016 TRI Season