With the goal of staying in the Wisconsin Dells for the least amount of time as possible, Dad and I took off around 11am Saturday morning. We got to the race site around 2pm and went right to the expo to pick up my packet. After catching up with some friends, we got back into the car to do some much needed course re-con. I had a feeling that I would be out in front at some point during the race and did not want to ride off course simply because we did not preview it the day before. The bike course was similar to what I had expected, nice back country roads and only 4 or 5 turns throughout the entire 40k. What I did not expect were the hills! It had a lot more elevation that what I was expecting with a good mix of long, rolling hills and short, steeper climbs. After fishing up the bike course, we drove the run course (which also had some really good climbs), we hit up the athletes meeting, racked my bike and then got back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the night. I made due with bringing all of my own food and taking advantage of the microwave in the hotel room. I got to bed early and slept great the night before.
My wave did not go off until 7:45am so that made for a nice 4:30am wake up call (that is practically sleeping in after some of this seasons early mornings). I had some peanut butter/ jelly/ banana/ rice cake goodness with some microwaved coffee on the side and was feeling good as we rolled out around 5:30am. The transition area was actually really cool at this race, normally, the pro's and the age groupers are separated into two sections to avoid pro/age-group congestion. On Sunday, they actually put the pro's and the collegiate wave in the separate transition area, making me feel pretty much as pro as possible. I got my things organized next to the likes of Richie Cunningham, James Hadley and Matthew Pellow. I grabbed my wetsuit and then went down to the swim start to watch the pro's take off.
The half-distance race went off at 6:50am and all of the half-racers were sent off before the Olympic distance race. I made sure I knew the swim course and then went back up to the transition area to start my warm up. I jogged around for 15:00, added a few faster efforts, put the wetsuit on and then got ready to go.
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| Pre-race zone in my new Blueseventy Helix wetsuit. |
The swim follows a simple rectangle shape and the collegiate racers go off in a time trial start every :03 seconds. The time trial was self seeded and I put myself first on the block. I was in the mindset to race hard from gun to tape and I planned to do it out in front. I hit the first buoy and immediately got into a groove. Another racer came up beside me and we battled for position for most of the way. The waters were calm and I was just hammering along right at my threshold swim level. I had not had a swim with a wetsuit in quite a while and it was the first race in my new Helix, so I was feeling extremely fast. I let that guy who I was battling with pull ahead for the last 300m or so, grabbed onto his feet and recovered before the swim exit. I came out in second position in 20:44 and was off to T1.
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| Straight up the hill out of the water. Don't fall dude. |
The run up to the transition area has a large hill that starts right at the bottom of the swim exit. The hill-swim-exit combo had me dizzier than normal but somehow I managed to have a smooth first transition and was onto the bike in 1:56.
I started the ride in first place, passing the guy that was ahead of me in the run up to the transition area. I had talked about my strategy with my coach the night before and simply stuck to my game plan. I worked on spinning up the hills, powering over the top and then destroying the downhills. We thought this plan would set me up to have a solid bike split but would also save my legs enough to run well off a tough course. I followed the plan perfectly while also pulling away from the rest of the Olympic-distance field. I knew I was in the lead the entire bike course and I was very focused on keeping it that way. I came into the second transition with a 1:04:18 bike split, slower than normal for a 40k but pretty solid for the course difficulty.
The announcer was calling my name and my family was yelling at me as I flew into the dismount area. My Dad reminded me to keep up my form and work a fast cadence to start, while also confirming I was in first place. I made my way out onto the course and as I hit the first turn about a half mile away from transition, I saw the second place racer biking into T2. I had a substantial lead and this put some fire into my step. I was flying out on the course and just clicked off the miles.
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| Heading out onto the run with a substantial lead off the bike. |
Coming around the 5k turn around I had what I calculated to be roughly a 2:00 lead over second place. I pushed forward, gutting myself for a faster run split. I made my way up to the final turn, saw my family cheering me on and flew through the finish shoot. I took a moment to give the crowd high-fives and then lifted the tape, high over my head to capture my first overall win with a 37:05 run split. Crossing the line in first, winning a race.... there is literally no better feeling in the entire world. Validation that my hours of hard training and commitment to every aspect of the sport, payed off.
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| Finish line, lifting the tape photo to come later! |
Rev3 put on a great event and gave out some pretty good booty for the big W! A case of Powerbar gel blasts, a case of muscle milk, a pair of Compresport compression socks, a fuel belt, a $25 gift card, a free race entry and a winners medal. Best of all, I left the Wisconsin Dells with a confidence booster going into the 5150 National Championship HyVee Triathlon a mere 3 weeks away. I will put in one more push to cap off my fitness and then taper down for the most important race of the year. I line up in the Elite Wave on 09/02 as the Rev3 Wisconsin Dells Olympic-distance Champion and I will be hungry to capitalize on what has been a breakout year.
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| I MUST have these. Crazy awesome. |
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| Collecting da booty. |
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