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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Moose was Loose!


Ok, so I am writing this post as I am a full two days removed from Mooseman 70.3 half Ironman.  This way I can an honest evaluation and not an emotional one.  After completing the race and eating, I made the 7 hour ride home to Philadelphia without much trouble.  No leg cramping, just some minor right shoulder pain in my old dislocated area.
RACE REPORT:  Total Time was 6:09:33, 40 minutes off my goal of 5:30!
The race was awesomely terrible!  That is my honest answer.  When people have asked me “how was your race?”, my answer has been “terrible, but in a good way that made it awesome!”  I went up to New Hampshire on Friday with a member from my gym, Barbara Holbert.  I was staying in her son’s house, right on the bike course.  Ed Holbert and his family could not have been nicer to me.  They treated me great, like one of their own.  When we arrived Friday afternoon, he offered me a beer right away, my kind of “host” family.  They had a great house to stay in, it sure as hell beat staying at the camp site, which is what I was going to do.  I had my own room set up, but I felt bad I displaced his daughter from her room, but they assured me it was no big deal.
Saturday was a complete wash out.  I was going to ride part of the course and do a run, but Mother Nature had other plans. It rained like hell most of the day.  I felt bad for the people doing the international distance that day, because it was cold and wet.  Instead, Ed took me on a car ride of the run course followed by a ride through the big loop of the bike course.  When we made that drive, I knew it would be a tough day on Sunday.  The hills were steep, long, and winding.  I knew I would get the speed on the flats and downhills, but the uphills would be an energy sapper.  It was also Ed’s birthday on Saturday, so he was planning on a nice meal for all of us.  I also attended the Athlete’s Meeting just to make sure there were no last minute changes, and there weren’t.  After Ed’s meal it was light out by 9pm.


Sunday was race day.  I got up early, 4:45am, and headed to the race site only 15 minutes away.  I was in transition by 5:30am and realized just how much it rained on Saturday.  Half the transition was in water.  The race director had warned us this may happen, so they set up some bike racks outside the normal are with some tables as well.  I was lucky my area was just wet and not under water.  This was my first Tri of the year so I checked and rechecked everything 10 times.  Next thing I knew it was time to head to the water.
Swim course
We made the short walk to the water in full wet suit before the pro athletes even took off.  It was only 54 degrees, but the water was 64, so it was better in the water than one the land.  My wave was 7:24am, so I waited on shore until I was up.  Right on time my age group went in and they started us.  I always say, I am not the fastest swimmer nor the slowest, but I keep moving and try not to get caught up in the wash.  I swam about 40 yards off the line, just like at Lake Placid last year.  No events in the water and I felt pretty good, slow, but good....time was 39:17.
Off to T1 and did ok.  It was real muddy and soupy by the time I got in there.  Uneventful other than I should have used the wetsuit strippers....time was 3:54
On to the monster.  The bike course was crazy.  The first 6 miles were nice rollers.  The you headed out of town on into Groton.  That is were the climbs began.  I won't do all the details but I popped my chain 2x's which lead to two falls off the bike.  Since I was climbing when that happened both times, I was only going 6-8MPH, so over I went when I could not get my shoe un-clipped in time.  The climb is a 4 mile long energy depleter.  Just when you think it is over, there is a 16% grade you need to go over.  After the tough climbs you decent fast and some rollers.  Then repeat this loop again.  This is the section the Holberts were, right down on the corner from their house.  I let out a big yell when I saw them.  
The second time is worse.  No popped chain, but slow going up and energy wasting.  I had actually thought of calling it a day after the bike.  I thought about having to still run 13.1 miles and was mentally fighting myself.  After the loop you head down the other side of Newfound Lake for a tough climb, and a few rollers, but nothing too crazy.  I was demoralized knowing how slow I was.  I was shooting for 5:30, and knew I had no chance of that after that bike ride.  I knew I was slow on the bike but 3:27:28 was crazy slow.  I usually do 56 miles in 2:50, so 3:27 was killing me.
T2 was ok again, just muddy...time was 3:15.
Onto the run.  I was aiming for 1:40 on the run, but knew I was not going to do that after the bike ride.  I started off strong--3.3. mile split had me at 7:49 pace, right on goal.  Then the demons came in.  My Garmin battery died, so I had no speed, pace, or heart rate monitoring.  When the mental demons came, it was tough to shake them.  I considered again stopping and calling it a day after the 6.6 mile mark.  I would just DNF and tell everyone it was because I was "hurt" or the bike was too hard, or make some other shitty excuse.  Then I thought about Training Payne and SUCKING IT UP!  No matter what just keep moving forward.  Screw the pain from the bike, smile and be glad to be out there.  Drink some coke, have an orange, just don't stop.  
coming towards the turn around
heading down another hill
As I came up another hill on the run, there was my team support, the Holberts.  They cheered for me and that felt good to have some support out there.  Ed took some photo's of my pain.  I got through the run.  I heard many comments from the volunteers about my shirt.  My kids picked it out for this race, so they like the pictures of me with it on.







I did not have the best run, but I fought the demons and beat them back.  It was the only race or competition that I was ever in where I thought stopping was better then moving forward...what a mistake that would have been.  When I finished the run I knew that on that day, I gave the race all I could...run time was 1:55:39.
coming up from a small dirt road turn around
Now all my focus is on Ironman Lake Placid!