Dev Paul kicks ass at Peterborough HIM! 12th overall (3rd in AG). Some pretty tough and fast names further down the table. The epicman and IronmanLP Tour training is paying off! Can’t wait for the report!
BTW:
Got to Love Sportsats. Who else posts results this fast!
Congrats to Dev. Allan also did very well in 17th and 4th in the 35-39 AG, just behind Dev.
Also forgot… Fleck’s Better Half was first female overall…and beat most of the mens field as well.
Trev,
First of all, congrats to Rookie announced Steve Fleck, who did a fabulous job with race announcing and awards ceremony. Steve, you have a second calling ! And big congrats to Paolina Allan (Fleck’s better half) who finished 1st overall.
THE SWIM
My race was a bit of swim disaster as I got clobbered several times during the mass start trampledown by all the dudes whose race effectively ends in T1. Oh well, good practice for LP. With the huge 1 min transition run my swim was 33. I swear that the water was so warm that this race should not have been Wetsuit legal, but I suspect that that the patented Trisport/Ironman North America thermometer was in use. I should have used my sleeveless, but chose to use my long sleeve in search of speed. Bad move, I was cooking within 100m. For LP, if these hot temps keep up, I really need to consider using the sleeveless and giving away 1 min over the swim to ensure that I don’t lose 60 min on the bike-run due to dehydration.
BIKE
Onto the bike, I hammered the first 30K to get away from “my race ends in T1” dudes. Its a bit crowded for the first 10K and I did not want to be in position for a penalty. Better move fast and quick past everyone.
Then I settled down and put it in cruise control, holding back on the uphills and hammering the flats and false flats (constant effort program). I started the bike with stud Allan Faulds who got a totally bogus stand down as the marshall got him confused with this other dude who aparently was glued to my rear wheel. Anyway, 70K into the bike, I catch my good friend and age group Idol Tony O’Keeffe. Tony is an IMC legend having done that race 14 years in a row and usually going somewhere between 9:20 and 9:40. He is 44 and is going faster than he ever has. You guys may recall that Tony has finished 2nd at Ultraman Hawaii the past 3 years and this past November he opened day 3 with a sub 3 hour first marathon for his double marathon and put the boots to Jonas Colting that day. Tony qualified for Hawaii this year at St. Croix, so all you 40-44 year olds don’t have to worry about him at IMC !!!
Anyway, I am riding along and in my head I am saying, “Holy Fuck…I’m riding past the MAN O’Keeffe”. Well, I knew that glory would be short lived once we got into T2 and he blew by me, but it felt good in the moment. Coming into T2, I also passed another one of my age group idols Steve Bentley. I’ve been trying to beat Steve now in a race in 1988 and I actually got into T2 ahead of him…WOW.
Onto the run, I told myself to hold back. It was a stinking hot and windy day. Ironman LP in 2 weeks. Don’t do anything dumb. Mike from Illinois (Slowtwitch dude) was running with me, and I kept sandbagging the uphills to put a lid on the effort and picked it up on the downhills and would pass him. Coming into the turnaround, I’m close to the top 15 overall and in cruise control and then I see that if I rev it up, I just may catch Flageole and I have a hope of actually beating the other studs Bentley and Faulds.
SCREW LAKE PLACID
I’ve been trying to beat these dude now for the past 15 year, but they are just on a slightly genetic level than I am. But I am in position to do it today. I made a quick calculated decision in my mind and asked myself, “Are you prepared to live with a potentially bad day in LP and bury yourself today to beat these boys, or are you going to cruise in and get beaten and then kick yourself in pants for not trying ???”…well you can guess the answer…so the last 10.5 K were full throttle racing (if you can call 4-4:30 K’s that) and I managed to squeek up to 12th and 3rd in my agegroup. I did not catch Flageole, who also seemingly revved it up, but I was happy that I was within 3 min of my man O’Keeffe on the run.
In the end, pushing hard and becoming “friends with pain” was likely a good mental prep exercise for LP. After all, I will need to do just that for 32K on the run in 2 weeks (first 10K off the bike come for free)
Anyway, a great day, great company and lots of fun. Years ago, we would have never thought twice about whipping ourselves into Ironman race shape by racing every other weekend. Well, I guess I’ll find out in two weeks if I can get away with the Joe Boness “light” (aka: the Joe Boness plan for mere mortals). I hope I do !
Congrats to Allan Faulds. Despite the totally bogus stand down and a few other mishaps on race day (and carrying 10 lbs over his ideal race weight), he still ran pretty well the same speed as me. Its gonna be ugly on Sep 4th at the Ottawa Half Ironman. You dudes will need to go sub 4:20 to beat Allan. Getting beaten by a poser like me will give him and endless source of motivation to kick our collective asses in the 35-39 !
Well done Dev. I think LP is in trouble when you arrive there. Putting up these kinds of numbers after being hit is something else.
Glad you had a great race.