The 2012 Leon’s World’s Fastest Triathlon took place on
Sunday, June 3rd this year which just happened to be my 19th
birthday. I went to Hammond, Indiana
with the intention to give myself a deserving birthday present and that is
exactly what I did! Enjoy the recap from the weekend of racing and birthday
festivities.
Hammond is only about 45 minutes away from my house so I did
not have to worry about travel, crappy smoke-filled hotel rooms and unusual
foods the days leading up to the race. I
woke up early on Saturday morning after a good nights sleep to some steel cut
oats and a nice cup of coffee. I met up with my friend Chase at the Park Center
parking lot at 7:30am to do a little pre race warm up workout. We started off practicing a few flying mounts
and then went out for two loops on the Glenview Park District Triathlon bike
course. We got in about 10 miles with a few building efforts on the flat
sections. After rolling back to the cars, I put the run shoes on and went for a
run around the lake again, with a few building efforts to tune up for the next
day. After a light stretch, we were off to
Hammond to pick up packets and swim the course.
We got there around 10:30am, checked out the swim course,
got our packets and hung out with some friends for a little bit. We then went
down to the swim course and swam about 1000m.
The water was a nice temperature and there was a little chop but nothing
to worry about. Then again, it is Gary,
Indiana and the water quality was not the best. I heard that they pulled a dead
guy out of the lake after the race last year….
Around 12pm we got back in the car and hit up Whole Foods on
the way home for some lunch. I got home,
finished packing for the race and then put the feet up and relaxed. I had my
usual pre race meal of salad, grilled chicken and sweet potatoes. I was in bed
and asleep by 9:30pm before the 4:00am wake up call the next morning.
The alarm went off (way to freaking early) and I laid there
for a minute wondering who’s idea it was to make races start at 8:00am instead
of a much preferable 10:00 or 11:00. I
eventually hopped out of bed and got downstairs to make some breakfast. After
getting my stuff together I headed off to Chase’s where we were meeting up to
drive out to the race.
We got there at 6:00am, right when transition opened. They
had designated wave rows in the transition area but where you slotted your bike
was done on a first come first serve basis. I got a PRIME spot right next to
the bike in/out and then went straight to take down the port-o-potty conundrum
(10 port-o-johns for 1000 people does not work out well). After waiting in
line, even at 6:15am, I got back to transition and set up my gear. I took the
bike out for a little spin to make sure everything was good to go and then got
in a little run warm up. I had a little
stretch and then went down to the waterfront to put the wetsuit on and get
ready to go.
 |
| The sweet bike racks made my super-high saddle a non issue when racking (6'2''& up friends, back me up on this). |
I was racing in the Elite wave at this race (formally known
as “Amateur All Stars” which made me feel like less of an elite for
the ridiculous name) and there was actually some serious competition at this
race. Pro racers Reevan Nathan and Jared Milam.
Extremely fast amateurs Adam Zucco, Ryan Frederickson, Dave Fix and
Chase Baraczek. Not to mention the 40 other elite men who I did not know
personally but I had seen around racing very well this season. I was not intimidated, I was actually excited
to get out there and race these guys.
 |
| Me getting owned in the face by elbows, fists and feet at the start. |
The swim is a diamond shape and you go out with the current
into your face, hang a left and then swim back to shore with the current at
your back. The start of the swim was a free-for-all and I was
pretty much pummeled by every guy in the wave. The swim stringed out and once
again, I had just missed the front pack of about 5 elite swimmers. I was out
there on my own, trying to bridge the gap but I just could not reel them
in. I swam the entire 1500m on my own
with some guy on my toes. I eventually caught one of the guys from the group
(not wearing a wetsuit?) right at the end.
I stumbled out of the water, disoriented as always, and looked down to
see a new swim PR, 19:17.
 |
| Almost went down coming out, may have swallowed too much dead-guy water. |
I ran over to T1 with my head spinning from the chop in the
water and made my way over to my bike. I
struggled a bit with my chinstrap but made it out onto the bike with a sweet
flying mount in 1:24.
 |
| 2-3 curse words may have been uttered here. |
The bike is actually pretty interesting. Two loops, mostly on a closed down highway
that is filled with bumps and potholes. The race is known as the “Fastest in
the World” and I think it gets its name from the literal zero feet of
elevation. It was flat as a pancake. I
took a similar plan to Kansas City in that I was going to go conservative on
the bike, possibly loose 1-2 minutes from what I could probably ride and in
turn, save my legs for a fast run. I was
not passed at all on the first loop and I was taking it relatively “easy.” I
just settled into a pace that I though was right below my threshold and kept it
there. It was not until the second loop
where I was passed by a number of guys towards the end. They looked like they were hurting pretty
hard to stay together and I felt like I was biking hard but never out of
control. Their effort to pass me maybe
gave them :15-:30 seconds over me, a loss I was willing to take before the run
that was soon approaching. I got off the
bike in 1:02:56. Not blazing fast but my legs felt pretty fresh for the run.
Chase had actually passed me in the last mile or so on the
bike and we practically came into T2 side by side. I had a great second transition and was out
of there in 0:42.
The run is a straight out and back on an uncovered section
that is primarily on parts of the bike course. A group of about 4 or 5 guys
(including myself) left T2 together and they all started gunning it out of
transition. I instantly channeled my
inner cheetah mode, picking it up to bridge the gap. I then felt a little twinge
in my adductor that reminded me to run my own race. I pulled it back, settled down and let them
burn it off into the distance. I remember saying to myself, “they are going out
way too hard, they are going to come back.” I came through the 2 mile around
12:30 (exact same 2 mile time as KC). I took these first two miles
conservatively, just focusing on my cadence and form. Miles 3-4 has a little separate out and back
that gave me the opportunity to pick it up a little bit and bridge the gap on
the other guys. I hit the 3-mile turn
around in 18:30. As I started to grit my
teeth and buckle down, I saw the group of guys coming back. I hit the 4-mile in 24:00, I was cruising and
felt pretty good. It was around this
point that this race started to HURT. I
saw the guys up ahead and I was putting the pressure on. I started to really get after it and came
through the 5 mile in 30:00 flat. I was not worried about splits at this point,
all I was thinking was “kick it in turbo mode and out sprint those guys at the
end.” I started to put in a few surges to try and bridge the gap even further
but every time I really opened it up, I got a few muscle twinges in my VMO. I
just kept to my hard pace and they started to come back. I got to the final dogleg turn and had caught
two of the guys. I put in a final kick
and passed them at the finish, collapsing at the finish line. Final run time was 36:25, 5:52 min/mi pace. A
new 10k PR.
 |
| This final sprint HURT!!!!!! |
I looked at my time, 2:00:45. Wow, a 3:58 Olympic distance personal record,
a 10th elite male finish and a 12th overall finish. I had
finally put the pieces of an entire race together and had my fourth consecutive
personal best time. This was the best
birthday present I could have ever asked for!
After letting my body recover for about an hour after the
race, cooling down in the nasty-ass lake and drinking about 4 bottles of water,
I finally got the energy back to put in a painfully slow 20:00 cool down jog
around the beautiful river trail of Hammond, Indiana (closest I have ever
personally been to getting shot, maybe short shorts where not the best
option?). I stretched out and got in the car with the fam and we went to get my
new post-race craving food, Einstein bagels. We got back home and Mom gave me
pretty much free range to do whatever I wanted on my birthday. Hmmmm, well I did need to do a 1hr recovery
ride later in the day and Dad had not worked out yet, so we headed out to Buffalo
creek to ride together, something we had not done in a very long time. It was
perfect weather and I was doing exactly what I would have ever wanted on my
birthday. After Dad ran a little bit (heck to the yeah after battling back from
a bad calf injury), we picked Mom up and went to Whole Foods to get some
goodies to make for dinner. I finally decided on this, yup it was freaking
amazing.
 |
| Bow tie pasta, sauteed vegetables, steamed brussel sprouts, marinara sauce, grilled talapia and mango salsa with a mixed green salad, cornbread and a real cola. Birthday meal = success. |
Overall it was a great day, I had a lot of fun and did what
I love to do. I actually feel pretty
good today (taking into account the usual post-race soreness). Hard training is
on tap for this upcoming week to put in another surge for the rest of the season. A big thanks to Precision Multisport and CycleOps Power. Please consider donating to the Eleonore Rocks Foundation at www.eleonorerocks.org. Next up is Lifetime Philadelphia on June 24th!
Official Results:
Clock Time
|
02:00:45
|
Overall Place
|
12 / 563
|
Gender Place
|
12 / 394
|
Division Place
|
10 / 40
|
Swim
|
00:19:17
|
Trans1
|
00:01:24
|
Bike
|
01:02:56
|
Trans2
|
00:00:42
|
Run
|
00:36:25
|
Swimrank
|
17
|
Bikerank
|
23
|
Mph
|
23.6
|
Runrank
|
13
|
Pace
|
00:05:52
|
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