2013 Rev3 Venice 70.3

This season of racing has been a rather successful one to say the least! 13 races, nearly 1000 hours of training, countless podium finishes and even a few overall W's. It would have been nice to tie a pretty little bow on the 2013 festivities after a great performance at Lifetime Oceanside a few weeks ago, but I had my eyes on a late season prize- a half ironman distance triathlon in Venice, Florida. Below is the recap of what ended up being a spectacular event and a great way to end the best season of my career.

I love going to Florida, especially the Sarasota area, because I have great family friends who live down there and they graciously extend the "mi casa es su casa" offer whenever I am in the Sunshine State. I flew out of O'hare on Thursday afternoon and getting to Venice was pretty much a piece of cake with just 1 minor snafu along the way. Initially, my good pro-triathlete buddy, Alex Libin, had planned to also do the race but after some kick-ass ITU racing late in the season, the trip quickly turned into a vacation/ race spectating event for him and his girlfriend. I got to the gate, texted Alex to ask where he was and I got the message back, "What??" Long story short, this doofus thought the flight was on Friday! Unfortunately, the missed flight meant I wasn't going to get to spend the weekend with a couple of great friends but I kept it calm and munched on this beast. 

Eating hamster-sized sweet potatoes whole on the plane. No fork, no problem for this champ. 

Getting into town early meant that I had all of Friday to build my bike, organize my gear, get in some good food and rest. Although it was beautiful outside (compared to the quickly turning Chicago conditions), I spent most of the day building my bike and camping out on the couch watching movies and munching on veggies. 

 Hammock-bike stand! So clutch. 

AND guess who showed up on Friday night? You guessed it... the man you've all been waiting for.... 

STEVE couldn't resist hopping on a cheap Allegiant flight out of Moline to catch the last race of the year. Video commentary to follow. He does not disappoint my friends. 

Saturday was a pretty casual pre-race day that included swimming with the dolphins, cruising on the Florida flatlands and jogging around the run course. We ate some cooler car lunch, I racked my bike and we hit up the "mandatory" pre race meeting. Oh yeah, and somehow I got a flat tire which led to some elevated cortisol levels for a short bit! Thankfully, the problem was diagnosed and resolved quickly. 

Car lunch essentials. Fitting this load in the cooler was challenge #1.

The rest of Saturday evening went by quickly as I laid out my nutrition (a critical step that is not as crucial for shorter distance races), had a quality meal, foam rolled for a bit and then got to bed early. A warm bowl of quinoa greeted me at 4am on race day and I woke up feeling a little bit nervous for my competitive 70.3 debut but even more excited for the long day at the office that awaited.

Can't you see the adrenaline flowing? 

I set up my transition area right when we got to the race site and then headed out for a warm up run. I came back and included some dynamic stretching, gave one last glance over the transition area and then started to get the wetsuit on before heading down to the water to get in a warm up swim. 

Water temp 74 degrees? Try again. I bet 75 this go around. 

I stayed in the warm up area as long as possible in order to remain loose and then got over to the front of the wave lined up on the beach. They gave us a :10 sec warning and then the gun went off! Into the Gulf we go... 

My goal for the swim was to essentially go just as hard as I would for an Olympic distance event (0.9 miles) and hold it for the remaining 0.3 mile that comprises the half ironman distance (1.2 miles). I entered the water towards the front, quickly found myself to the front of the race and worked well with another athlete to maneuver around the 40+ males who started 5 minutes before us. Steve even had time to run up the pier and give some mid-swim commentary. 

I made the final turn to shore and quickly realized that I was having a great swim. I exited the water in 2nd position overall and felt very comfortable running up the beach and into the first transition. 

I took my time in T1, making sure I got my nutrition on board and power meter turned on correctly. Thankfully, I was able to coordinate with a friend who let me borrow his powertap race wheel with a disc cover attached. This not only was aero and fast, but it allowed me to dial in the effort that I have trained so hard to feel comfortable producing.

Now, we all can admit; my Dad is a rockstar spectator, photographer and videographer on the race course. But you can't win them all. Sorry Stevie. You'll get 'em next time! 

Once onto the bike, I almost immediately settled into the average wattage number that I had designated for myself to hold (you can check out the Strava file of the whole bike ride HERE). It was an aggressive pace, but I was flying in terms of my average speed and knew that if I was able to sustain the effort, I was going to have a really fast bike split. Even though the course was a little mundane, the ride went by quickly and I hit the final miles feeling fresh, confident and in control. Although, I have to admit, it was demoralizing to see the group of 14 professional men all riding together in a "legal" pack formation while I was out there battling the wind all by myself. The fact that I rode only 4 minutes slower than that group does not only show the hard work I put in to my cycling training but also the brilliance of the P5. 

Yep, it's a fast bicycle. 

I got into T2, quickly transitioned and was out on the run in no time. Although I was doing my best up until that point to not worry about time, I glanced down at my Garmin and noticed a total time of 2 hours and 39 minutes. Now you see, this put me in a bit of a pickle. On a strong run day, without biking and swimming before hand, I had done a lot of training at 1hr 20min half marathon pace (just over a 6:00 min/mi average). But, running a straight half marathon is very different from running a half marathon on the back end of a 70.3 triathlon! So, for all of you non-mathamatecally-inclined folks out there, I needed to run a 1hr 20min half marathon off the bike in order to break 4 hours total time, which would be a pretty incredible feat. I weighed the options in my head- either be conservative early and finish strong (but probably not break the 4hr mark) or go for it early and see what happens... 

Being the spry and energetic 20-year old that I am, combined with the fact that I really had no idea what to expect at the end of this type of race, I went for it.

Cruising early on, right on 6:00 pace. 

I felt spectacular on the first few miles and constantly had to tell myself to slow down. Miles 3-6 still felt good but I began to settle into the pace a bit, getting in as much water and fuel as possible as the temperature and humidity continued to rise. 

Ice in the pants= best feeling ever. 

I began to feel the 3.5 hours of racing, the heat and the tough first 10k around the 7 mile mark, but remained in control until around mile 10. I wasn't in 4th at any point in this race, (reference the HyVee video), in fact, I was in 1st. By a lot. So Dad had to come up with a new que word. 

And then, a large piano decided to attach itself onto my back and I was forced to drag that mother the final 5k. I didn't end up breaking four hours, but my final finish time was an incredibly fast 4:02:29 crushing my A-goal of 4:05:00 that I had initially planned before the race. Overall, I had put together one incredible performance in my first competitive 70.3 attempt. It was a strong all around effort and I can say with 100% certainty I left everything on the race course. 

Med-tent followed suit quickly after  

And did I mention that I won the race? Yeah, by 18 minutes. And I was only 3 minutes off the 10th place professional time who took home prize money for his finish. I like to think I'm a pretty humble dude, but I was stoked about this race. 70.3 is an awesome distance and I always had an inkling that I would be good at it but it is great to actually go out there and display the hard work and sacrifice that I put into this sport. 

So I got to treat myself to some vegan ice cream.... Offseason. Enough said. 

After picking up my award and packing up my bike, we got to tour a 6 million dollar mansion and watch the sunset from the grado/ pond/ private beach overlook. 

Not a bad way to cap off a pretty solid day in my book. 

As always I want to primarily thank Steve for being the best Dad to walk to face of the earth. I also want to thank the less popular but even more valuable parent, Mom, for chopping my veggies, making my breakfast quinoa and being straight up so amazing. I know you guys don't need me to write it on my blog for everyone to see but I know it's true and you know it's true and now they know it's true!

I also couldn't have biked how I biked without the help from the guys over at Sammy's and Alex Arman for letting me borrow his power tap. Thanks guys, you're support is awesome! 

Also a big thanks to Xterra wetsuits for hooking me up with the stealthy Vendetta and Vishal at Nuun for getting me set up with some Nuun goodies for training and racing. 

And finally a quick thanks to the man behind the scenes, Craig Strong at Precision Multisport, who is the mastermind behind the training program. He's an evil genius when it comes to all types multisport training. 

That's it for my 2013 season! I still am very undecided in terms of where, when and what level I will be racing at in 2014. But you can be certain that I will be out there, giving this sport everything I have.  

Thanks for tuning in, 

Justin