St. Anthony's Report

Just got back from Florida last night. I think I have had enough of driving to races already this year. Alabama and Florida were both 10 hour drives.

But anyways, the race. This was hands down the biggest race of my life. It was really something else. There I was, lining up with Greg Bennett to my left and Craig Alexander to my right. Other notable racers were Matt Reed (Beijing bound after last week), Andy Potts, Faris Al-Sultan, Stephen Hackett, Massimo Cignana, Richie Cunningham, and the list goes on.

The swim got off in a hurry, with Reed and Potts not wasting any time and gapping the field before I knew what was going on. I was feeling strong and in control throughout the whole swim, just hanging in the main pack. However, I tried to pick it up a bit to try and bridge up, but I was unable to pick up the pace. I eventually came out of the water with a chase pack of about 11 or 12 guys. Interesting enough, Bennett and I came out of the water side by side, the same as we had entered. I had a solid transition onto the bike and I was off and running. My new Kestrel Talon felt great. My positioning is far far better than my previous setup. I was also borrowing a Zipp disc and Zipp 808 front wheel (thanks Kate) for the race. The combination of the two was phenomenal. I don't think I droped below 25 mph the entire time except for turns. I ended up having hands down the best bike leg of my entire career, averaging 25.3 mph for the 40k. Again, I had a solid transition from bike to run. I took it out strong but conservative, slowly catching two guys by about mile 2. Unfortunately, I have been having some leg issues as of late. I have been stuck on elliptical machines for the past month and a half. I was still in some pain from last weekends effort going into Sunday. Consequently, the second half of the run was a bit rough. I could feel some straining in my lower right leg, and was afraid to over extend myself lest I do something really bad. I still managed to pull off a 35:55 ruin split, but was a little disappointed knowing that, had I been injury free the past month, I could have really busted some heads. Little did I know at the time, but one of the guys I was chasing down on the run was 2005 Ironman World Champion Faris Al-Sultan. Unfortunately I was unable to catch him, but I still feel good knowing I was right there with some of the best in the world. My final time was 1:56.26, a pr for the international distance and good enough for 17th in a VERY stacked pro division.

As I mentioned above, my leg is not exactly in tip-top shape. However, its nothing that I am to worried about. I just need to keep my mind on the big picture. Therefore, my race schedule might be slightly altered over the next month to ensure proper healing. This will gurantee that I am in peak physical condition for my first ITU races.