Diary and ramblings of a first time winner – Rev3 Florida
This isn’t a “race report”… This is more of a lifestyle / season report… Each race is merely a reflection of ourselves, our preparation, and our lifestyle. By writing this report, I hope to put some context behind the performance.
A little about me.
High school runner, grew up in Maine. 18:00 5K, 2:00 800, a little cycleing with buddies
First triathlon - on a road bike and speedo in 1995 @ 15 years old… I back stroked the swim without a wetsuit
College at Furman University – Dabbled in cycling and tri final two years. At the time I would say I was a “triathlete” At the time I didn’t know what I know now!!!. 4:45 HIM, 39:00 10K, a couple of cat 5 crit wins
4 years in the army w/ a little running on the side
6 years of civilian “start my career and family” life in Florida.
2011- Bought the wifey (aka Renee) a road bike and said “lets get back in shape”… Re-entered the tri scene in September 2011… And I was ALL IN…
2013- Bought matching Computrainers and decided FOP was were all the cool kids hung out!
This year – What a year this has been!!
2014 Started off on a high for me. I placed 4th at Bone Island Triathlon. I had a great run and figured it was going to be the season of my life! I had big plans.
Training through the early spring went really well. My early season goal was to finish top 3 at Gulf Coast Triathlon. I thought I was ready to drop an awesome race… Then the swim was cancelled. I had an epic bike battle with my good buddy Chris Borden. We got off the bikes together, he ran through the field… I crashed and burned. My first A race of the year was a fail…
A few weeks after GCT I headed up to Rev3 rush with my wife, her sister, and fiancé. We had a blast, but when I was showing off, I cracked my coccyx.
This injury set me backs a few weeks. Running went stagnant, and I could not put any power to the pedals. I showed up to a race In sebring Florida and got hammered. The bike was decent, but the swim and run weren’t!
In Mid June Renee (aka Wifey) and I made the final decision to sell out and downsize. We bought a 3000 SF custom home with a 7 car garage about 7 years ago. It is a beautiful home. Everything that any couple could ever want. At the time we figured we would have a couple of kids and live there happily ever after. The kids never came, and we have decided we don’t want to whole kid thing anyway… So here we are, living in this huge home with a huge mortgage payment.
We have been investing in residential rental properties for 5 years. We found a cute little investment home near our place… 900 SF A frame out in the middle of the woods… On 5 acres of Florida swamp. We hashed out the numbers and decided the house in the woods felt like home!! We bought it!. Lots of fix ups were needed, we attacked with vigor. We put the big house on the market and moved into the little house. I have written about it in the Lavender room. It was a big move. But I don’t have anyone to impress with the size of a house. Renee and I seek fulfillment in a whole bunch of ways, and none of them include living in a big home and paying big bills.
My mid summer A goal was Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee. I knew the race would be fast. I knew it would be competitive. I hoped that I was ready. I showed up and thought that I would be able to tickle 2:00. And was hoping for a bottom step on the top 10 podium.
I yo yo’ed back and forth from 15-25th all day. I loved the competition. And was honored to finish 21st in my age group. I got my spot in Chicago next year… But I wasn’t thrilled with my times. It was all I had that day, there is no doubt I left it all on the course… But I left Milwaukee unsatisified with myself.
Mid season scorecard: two good results in races that weren’t important to me… And two ho hum results in races that were important to me.
We moved into our little home the day we got back from Milwaukee. I had a lot of commitments in the new home, so I limited my after work workouts to 1 hour. I upped the intensity. This is also about the time I joined a new pool. I joined the NTC in Clermont (3 miles from work), and started swimming much better lunch sets with more focus…
Some people buy a new home and fill it with new furniture or art… We filled up our land with chickens and turkeys! I have always wanted to raise my own food. So here we are, just your average DINK couple with two full time jobs, 14 rental homes, and living in the woods in a house we paid cash for raising 70 chickens and turkeys.
As we got more comfortable in the new home I got into a more normal routine, and my workouts started to get a little longer and more consistant. I even started to get up early two days a week for some triples!
I do most of my training alone or with my wife (we have matching Computrainers). I don’t have a coach, and I don’t want one. I wear my local bike shops kit, but I don’t do much of the sponsor thing. I am not a social person by nature. But I have a couple of good triathlon friends. Chris Borden is one of those guys. We met a few years ago and have pushed and challenged each other since. After his 18 second victory over me at AG Nationals, he evened the head to head battle at 2-2. Every triathlon we have raced the margin of victory has been under 30”.
Sept 28th was a big day for me! It was Ironman Chatt day! I was sitting on the couch watching the live coverage. I was keeping tabs on Borden and a few other buddies that were in the race. Little did I know that it would turn into such a watershed day for Chris, and therefore by proxy, me too. Borden dropped a 4:38 bike, took the Age Group lead and gutted out an inspiring marathon to hold off a couple of hard charging runners to win by 52”!! I was so proud of my buddy. He is an inspiration. But, I was jealous too! Here was a guy that I felt I could race with, and he just WON an OA AG Ironman!! Wow… This was a shot in the arm for me… It was a warning shot from my number one rival! He just put up a BIG result. I wanted some of THAT.
The training got more serious, the rides and runs more focused on Rev3 Florida. Two triples a week became the norm.
The chickens and turkeys kept getting bigger, and finally started laying some eggs.
I ran a couple of prep races before Rev3 Florida. I had a year long goal of setting PRs in the 10K… I raced one (untapered, just a train through) in mid October and was humbled with a dismal 39:05… Ugh… Slower than I ran off the bike in Milwaukee… Maybe my fitness wasn’t where I thought it would be.
I also trained through the Great Floridian. A local race down here in Clermont Florida… I showed up hoping for a nice little battle with Nina Kraft and Nat Glackin. I had a great swim, but cramped up within the first minute of the bike… I had to get OFF the bike and stretch??? I am a good athlete and a strong cyclist, and here I am laying on the side of the road stretching out a hip flexer that has NEVER bothered me before… “What the hell is wrong with me?”… I salvaged the ride, attacked Sugarloaf mountain for a prime, and ran a good split… Fred Sommers and crew screwed up the run course, lost the sugarloaf climb results, and made a mockery of the final standings. I left that race mad at myself, and mad at my local race director. Great Floridian goes down as another disappointment.
It was odd, throughout October I felt like my training was great. I got in 61.5 hours in the the first 28 days of the month. Averaged 40 miles per week of running, and was swimming well. Unfortunately the training tests and times weren’t suggesting that I was improving much. I was a little frustrated. But I kept my nose to the grind stone and kept pumping out the workouts and staying focused. I had a good training plan, and I was doing the work!
Race week!! Time to start winding it down and getting my body ready for the race. After lots of testing and logging I believe that a 5-6 day taper is best for me. I try to keep the workouts short, and frequent. On Tuesday I ran my last run with some tempo, I ran 2X2 miles… 11:50 as a medium hard effort, and a 12:20 that felt EASY… I was happy with those numbers… Then on Wednesday swam a 1000K in 13:00, it was a max effort, but I recovered faster than EVER before… Those two workouts put my mind at ease and gave me good thoughts going into the race.
Saturday – Pre race – Some people take the day before a race to chill, maybe watch a movie. Well, when you have a small hobby farm, and it 2 weeks before Thanksgiving it is Turkey Slaughter Day! We harvested 2 turkeys and 4 chickens before we set sail for Venice… Lunch was fresh turkey livers and fresh picked scrambled eggs. As I was eating I thought of Pedro Cerano in Major League… Joe Bou needs a chicken!!! Austin H needs a turkey sacrifice to race fast? Maybe!!
A fresh turkey…
A farm to fork pre race meal!
Well boy and girls… We are 1800 works into this little essay, and I haven’t even gotten to race site yet! I can’t believe you are still reading this junk!
RACE SITE – It was cold and rainy when we arrived. Rev 3 Is the best. We love their races, and wonder why other triathletes don’t flock to them. They provide customer service, accurate results, fair courses, wonderful venues, ext.
We visited a great little Itialian joint in downtown Venice on Saturday night. The place is called “Made in Italy”. We had homemade pastas, and enjoyed the place immensely.
Race goals and plan– I scouted the competition and analyzed myself… I figured a couple of pros swoop into town to pick up the $500 / $300 / $200 / $100 prize purse. So I couldn’t handicap my overall placing. My A goal was to drop a 4:15, and B goal was to at least finish this race off with a 1:28 half… I knew Nat Glackin was in the race. Nat is a super cyclist. He is a hammer! He is a fierce competitor and a funny guy. He’s like an amature Starky! I have raced him head to head a few times, each time I take some time out of him in the water, and he goes by me like a freight train on the ride… We run about the same, but he is usually 5 minutes up the road by the time we get to the run… My goal going in was KILL the swim, ride conservatively until Nat flies by, then use him as a rabbit and see if I can mark him to T2. After that, RUN Austin RUN…
Race Morning – Normally if wifey isn’t racing she is there with me from start to finish… But this weekend was cold and wet. I encouraged her to drop me off, and go do her own thing until 11am. Thankfully, she did. I am sure it was miserable for all the volunteers and spectators out there.
Swim – The swim was awesome. I grew up on the Maine coast, so I spent a lot of time playing in the waves. Sunday morning we had a nice breeze coming out of the North, and the direction of the swim was North!! Straight into the wind, and waves… I loved it! I came out of the water in 7-9th place. All the swim times were slow.
T1 – I was freaked out about the cold and rain. So I had a selection of socks to choose from. I went with the defeet Cush socks and jumped on the bike… I train with power on the CT, but I don’t race with power. I use my HRM to gauge effort, but most of my riding and running is done on RPE. I set sail with Josh Eaton right in front of me… Josh is a stud too, he dropped a 1:57 OD time this summer and kicked my ass in that particular race by 8 minutes. I was happy to be riding with him, and even happier to be doing it as such an easy RPE… Josh and I were picking people off and had moved up into 3-4th place by the 15 mile marker… I was enjoying the ride and shocked at how easy this felt… But I knew the race was about to start. Very very soon.
Woosh woosh woosh, I hear the disk of a fast rider… And there goes Nat… Flying by going mach 3… Josh and I shared a look and a shrug. I set off in chase… I don’t know if Nat was intentionally trying to blow us up, or if that is just my memory of the moment… But I THINK I remember a good solid 5’ minutes of chasing. The heart rate was soaring, and I was very excited to be in the right place to make this happen. I eventually made contact and settled in 7 meters behind Nat… I found my groove and was well within my RPE and HR…
The bike course was technical in nature, even more so with the constant drizzle and overnight rain. There were 5 out and back sections, and at last 12 90 degree corners. Nat is a powerhouse. He has a FTP up in the 365 range. He ran D1 track w/ a 4:02 mile and a 1:54ish 800. And he handles a bike well! So every corner and every turnaround was a struggle for me… It took 30” or more of out of the saddle sprinting in every corner for me to stay with my rabbit! It was a blast. We chatted a bit on the bridges (super slippery, so we were crawling)… There is no chance in hell I can ride away from Nat. And I was bound and determined to not allow him out of my range. I would take my chances in a foot race. We passed the second place dude, he stuck with us for a long time. Then we saw the flashers from the lead vehicle. It was coming back to us quickly! Pass for the lead, and the leader disappeared… Quickly… Nat carried on, with me tagging along like a determined little puppy dog.
We had a big lead into T2.
T2 – So, remember those socks in T1? Well, I couldn’t find any of them in T2. Nothing beats a half marathon in the rain w/ no socks… Oh well… Its time to run!
Run – I put 8” or so into Nat in transition. But it’s not long before I hear footsteps behind me. And by the half mile he is side by side. We had a good chat, we talked about our race at Great Floridian, and I made some stupid comments about his lack of swim holding him back (Sorry Nat, I wasn’t trying to be a dick… But I am sure it came out that way) . My split for the first mile was 6:10… OH NO… Too fast… I want a 1:28! That’s 6:40 pace… SLOW DOWN AUSTIN…… Inner monologue “I feel great though. Let me run!!” Says on Austin. “Of course you feel great, you are dueling for the lead with a stud athlete, and you have 12 miles to go… Slow the F---- down, moron!”…. Replies the smarter, older, and more mature Austin. (BTW, I think I just referenced myself in the 5th person, but I am not sure)
6:20 second mile… And Nat has scampered off. More monologue “Race your race Aust… Let Nat do his thing… Just find a pace, run a 6:30 – 6:40 mile EVERY mile and see how this thing shakes out… Second place is solid, HOLD YOUR PACE…”… Nat’s silhouette gets smaller and smaller. There is a turnaround at 3.5 miles and 3rd place is no where to be seen… Life is good!! Second place, and some cash is looking like its all mine.
A few more 6:25-6:30 miles. And Nat is no longer getting smaller. In fact, he is getting bigger, and Bigger, and BIGGER… By 6 miles he is right in front of me, and the monologue inside of another monologue goes like this “There are still guys that could catch you Aust… Don’t do anything crazy… ‘HELL NO SELF, NO ONE is catching me today… This is the win’ Right here… Right now. Make a BIG move… Make it stick… And crush him…… In 30.29.28.27…… GO”…… And I went.
A little context…. I have won some 5ks against the locals. I have won a couple very small triathlons. And I have led medium sized triathlons coming off the bike, only to be trounced in the run… I have never been in contention in a race with the quality field of a Rev3. And I have never had the legs to make decisive moves mid way into a run.
–The below passage is a recollection of my thoughts in the moment. It is a view into the psyhe of an athlete during competition. It doesn’t represent how I treat or think of people in my everyday life!–
The pass – But This time… At this moment… On this day. It is my turn to ruin someone else’s race. It is my time to steal his energy and use it to power me on. I don’t want to just pass him, I want to crush him. I drop in a 6:05 mile. I feel powerful and strong. And then it is me and the lead bike… And cheering wifey on the side of the road… And its OVER… This race is DONE… I have 7 miles to run. And I KNOW that unless I fall down and break an ankle that I am winning this race. There is zero doubt in my mind. I have NEVER had this feeling in a race. Usually there is self doubt and little inklings of fear about losing… Not on Sunday. There was never a shred of doubt. There wasn’t even pain. Every step felt better than the step before it.
This is a picture of me at the 8 mile marker.
Then the emotions hit me. I fought off tears during the race on at least three occasions. I am 36 years old, I have a beautiful and loving wife, a wonderful life, a family that loves me, a body that responds to training, and enough time and money to do the things I want. I am the luckiest guy in the world. And on this day I am finally having a breakthrough triathlon. I have worked countless hours for this moment, to be in the lead of a race that I really want to win. That is a lot to take in. So I got choked up… I’m a wuss, I guess.
With six miles to go I am enjoying the time in front. There is a lead biker, and we have a few short conversations. He is my personal guide through lap traffic. I am running on clouds, and the miles start clicking off even faster. I tried to encourage others, and not take myself too seriously.
Rev3 sets up a great finish line with a jumbotron, live streaming video, and a couple of Emcees on mikes. I have a small party for myself coming down the chute. Hugs, and tears a plenty! I was an emotional wreck.
The finish line wasn’t ready for me when I got there the first time. So they sent me back down the chute to re-run the chute and break the tape for the camera… This time, I held back tears and had a blast with the crowd and volunteers.
Rev3 treated me like a star with a post race interviews, time on stage, a huge swag haul… Everything that a triathlete could ever want.
My splits were almost all PRS… And the overall time was better than I could have dreamed.
To recap
Longest post ever
Race Rev3 / Challenge ILO WTC, you won’t regret it
Pros are silly for not picking up an easy $500
Don’t bother with a coach
Grow your own chickens
Train hard
Buy a computrainer
Find a buddy to inspire you
Marry a good wife
