Short version:
9:56 (1:02, 5:05; 3:38; 90 min PB at Iron Distance)
6th overall, 1st male 40-44.
Long version:
Finally got around to writing a report, after getting caught up on work, chores etc… after getting back from Cedar Point.
Pre-Race: All you need to know is Roller Coasters! Top Thrill Dragster is f*#king awesome, Milenium Force is a BEAST. I grew up a short 2.5 hr drive from Cedar Point and had been there many, many times as a kid, in high school, with friends, family etc… My last visit was the year after they opened Magnum XL, which at the time was the biggest, baddest coaster in existence. It wasn’t until boarding the Magnum and the announcer saying "Welcome to the 23 year old Magnum XL. " At that point I felt like an old fart. Pre race my training and taper was great, felt good. Got to Cedar Point Friday afternoon and we (My lady, Christine and her friends that she works with, a younger couple) and got my packet then hit the park for lots of rides Friday night. Saturday got up, quick 30 minute ride in some horrible winds then checked the bike in and against better judgment gave into temptation to hit the park for a few more rides, though I cut it back and Christine and I left early and headed to dinner at the Olive Garden and the other couple rode late into the night.
Going into the race I had a few main goals. I had zero intent of doing an iron distance race this year but then after Francois’ coaching plan for Rev3 Knoxville half iron being more than I’ve ever trained for a full and having won a free entry into a Rev3 half iron race by winning my age group at Knoxville I decided to go for it, registered for the Cedar Point half and the fine folks at Rev3 let me just pay the difference in my registration costs. So my goals, to get back to them, were to first off try to break 10hrs; secondly to have a decent run off the bike, with my previous best being a 4:20 ‘run’ at IMWI in 2008 en route to a 11:27 finish. Finally, I had friends lining up to go to Rev3 Anderson in October and I wanted to win my age group if possible to get that free entry to use at Anderson.
Race Morning: It never really sunk in race eve that I was about to embark on a full. I was super relaxed, slept well, got up at 4 am to eat a couple pop tarts, back to bed, up at 5:15 for one more pop tart and a banana then off the the race. Quick check of my bike, put the bottles on and off to the swim start, said good bye to my honey with one last kiss for good luck and then trudged into lake Erie.
Swim: 1:02, 11th out of the water. I was at first really disappointed in my time, but the swim just felt long. I swam a 1:02 in IMWI in both 2007 and 2008 and I was in much better swim shape this time, hitting some pretty good times in the pool that I had not hit since the high school swim days years and years ago. Plus, this year, almost all my swims thanks to Francois were longer, ranging from 3500-4500 3x a week, vs in years past being a lot less. But this swim also felt really easy, and looking at times from people I know that raced, past times, etc…I would venture to guess most were 3-5 minutes slower. The swim was really uneventful, I lined up far left, made a B line for the first buoy, got in the second group of 5-6 with a group of 5-6 in front of us and just kind of cruised behind feet as much as I could. I can say that on the return legs to the beach there is nothing like having a 400’ tall roller coaster right behind the buoy to use for sighting.
T-1: 2 something, I think (too lazy to look up splits). Got out, got my bag, dumped my stuff out, started to strip and the aid in the tent decided I needed a stripper and he proceeded to grab my wetsuit sleeves and yank, slightly before I was ready, pulling me off the chair. We both had a laugh, I got up and while putting on shoes got sprayed with sunscreen from 2 volunteers. I passed one guy in the tent and I think 1-2 more leaving T-1 then one immediately out of T-1 as we mounted the bikes.
Bike: 5:05: 4th off the bike. Starting the bike I had no idea exactly where I was. I saw my Christine that said I was doing great, then gave a high 5 to my friend John Hirsch’s girlfriend, also named Christine, who works Rev3 and was standing outside the bike exit as I headed off. At this point I was about to embark on a couple firsts. First, I had traded/sold my Lazer Tardiz last month and bought a LG Vorticce just because the Tardiz did not fit me. I had not really tried on the Vorticce until earlier in the week for a 20 mile easy ride and based on it feeling good, I made a game day decision to go with the visor, not knowing how it would work/feel for 112 miles. I can say I loved it! Also, this was to be my longest ride of the year by about 17 miles. I had yet to break the 100 mile mark in training this year. Having a job, 3 kids ages 3, 5 and 7 will make those long rides hard on the weekend. But, my long rides were work. My longest ride was 95 miles, but it involved ~7,500 feet of climbing and took 5.5 hours, longer than I planned on being on my bike on race day. My second longest ride was 93 miles and was at 245 watts NP, much harder than I planned on riding race day. The final ‘first’ was thanks to my Garmin 800 crapping out 2 weeks ago I was riding sans power meter. In fact I rode without anything other than a watch and course markers every 10 miles to tell me how I was doing. I was going entirely on feel, and was just going to see how well I knew my body after 4,500 miles of riding this summer.
Once on the bike I caught 1-2 more people, and had one guy shadowing me but slowly he was losing ground for the first loop. The bike course is basically a Popsicle style course with a ~18-20 mile ride out to the loop, 2 loops and then back the same route out (those doing the half did the same course, only they did one loop and their loop turned off and was slightly shorter/different than our loop before rejoining at the stem). The first loop the riders got thinner and thinner, and only now do I realize that I had ridden myself up to 2nd. I never saw first. The start of the second loop was fun, as I all of a sudden hit a TON of traffic, almost all from the female ages 30-45 range, doing the half. It was a constant stream of leapfrogging riders, but at least it was not boring. Until the half turned off and we continued our loop, at this point it got really desolate and I didn’t see anyone, at all, except 2-3 people doing the full that were on their first loop. Nutrition on the bike was a gel starting at 45 minutes and every 30 minutes afterwards, a honey stinger waffle at 2 hr and 4 hr mark, and about 1.5 bottles of gatoraide. The bike course I thought was slower than expected, with lots of false flats, no real downhills of any sort on which to coast/recover, and what seemed like a perpetual headwind. Roads were ok, but a couple were freshly chip-sealed which made them slow. Course marking was excellent.
I was feeling good, going along ok, but unexpectedly got passed by 2 guys at the last aid station, neither of which were in my age group, who led me into T-2.
T-2. Coming into T-2 there were very, very few bikes in the racks and none on my rack or within 3-4 racks of mine, which I took as a good sign for being in front in the 40-44 group. Got in and out in less than or about 2.5 minutes, felt good and headed off.
Run: 3:38.
Here was another first and a huge unknown. The first being not really a first, but only my second long run in my new shoes. I had been in Kinvarnas for 1.5 years but tried on and loved the Brooks Pure Connect a few weeks ago, did a long 2 hr run 2 weeks before the race day in them and felt like they were the shoe for me for race day. But still, nothing like changing shoes 2.5 weeks before a marathon.
The unknown was my left knee. Unbeknownst to all but a couple friends, I screwed it up race week and was not sure I’d even be able to run 1 mile. The Tuesday of race week I had a short, 40 minute run scheduled and it was storming out so I headed to the YMCA to hit a treadmill. Not a big deal, but I had not been on one since about April. Got to the Y, all the good ones were taken so I headed to the back cardio room where the older treadmills were. Got on one that I had not ever ran on before. Felt a little funny the first 3-4 minutes while warming up, oh well I thought, I’ll get used to it. About 5 minutes in I took a step that felt ‘funny’. Next step kind of hurt. 2-3 more steps and the top of my left knee, right behind the knee cap, really hurt. Had to stop immediately. Stretched, walked a minute, started the treadmill back up and in less than 3-4 steps sharp pain again so I shut it down. The rest of the week my knee would feel fine, then all of a sudden if I took a wrong step, stepped up a curb with my left leg first or did anything ‘just right’ I’d get a bad shooting pain. Didn’t bug me on an easy ride on Wednesday. Tried a very easy 15 minute run Friday morning and made it 3 minutes from home before the pain made me turn around and walk back. At the park Friday and Saturday, every once in a while heading up the steps to a ride I’d get the pain/sensation it was about to lock up. My only ‘good’ run the week leading up was going back and forth the long hallway of Breakers Express hotel 4-5 times pain free saturday morning. Now I was about to run a marathon on it!
The first 1/2 mile felt ok, at least as good as a half mile can feel coming off a 5 hr bike ride. Then the pain set in. Damn, it hurt bad. Christine saw me as I headed out, and would later say I was limping bad and she immediately thought I was going to quit. I wanted to, figured no way I’d make it, and was debating how far to go before I permanently/seriously screwed up my knee. Then, about .75 miles out you hit the one hill, an overpass, and coming down the other side my knee started to ‘free up’, so to speak. I saw one of the guys that passed me late in the bike, he was racing for the Balou Skies team out of Pittsburgh, and I was gaining on him and my knee no longer hurt by the time I caught him at mile 2. We ran together the first 4-5 miles, they seemed to fly by, at about a 7:20 or so pace. He started to pick it up a little and I let him go, though he would walk the aid stations. He got about 30 seconds ahead of me. The run was crowded with people doing the half, and I really had no exact idea where I stood overall or in the age group race because the run has a lot of out and backs where you see others, but there are a lot of side streets, little loops and extra out and backs so its deceiving.
At this time, I met my ‘angel’. My angel was girl riding her bike about the mile 10 or so mark, that shouted hey, is your name Kristoph. I said yeah, why? She said she was tracking her boyfriend/husband and I was currently in 4th place. Cool, I thought. As I got near the 11 mile or so mark the Balou Skies racer, who I was reeling back in, ducked into a porta-pot so I was now in 3rd. During one of the out and backs I saw a guy running FAST, who passed me right about mile 12.5 putting me back into 4th heading into the second loop. I think I ran the first in the low 1:40’s, though I can’t remember. I didn’t walk at at all, which was a goal, and I had been alternating coke/gatoraide with water at the aid stations and felt ok headed out for the next 13.1 miles. I made it to the aid station at about the 14.25 mile mark and for the first time walked, just for a bit, and decided that would be the plan for the rest of the run. NO WALKING other than aid stations was the deal I had cut with myself to finish. About this time, at mile 15 or so, the Baolu Skies guy and a guy from the Power Bar racing team caught and passed me. They were not flying, but were ever so slowly pulling away. Again, the miles seemed to fly by, I only walked the aid stations, and by walked I mean 3-4 quick steps to stop, grab a drink, some ice, and get going again. My mind/body were in a constant battle to stop, trying to make deals to ‘just walk a little’, or just walk this block etc…but I refused and just kept saying one more aid station, one more aid station. Again, with all the out and backs I was constantly trying to see if anyone with a bib number near mine, or looking 40 years old was coming/gaining on me, and again it was confusing to see where anyone was and at that point EVERYONE looked to be in my age group and coming after me.
At the out and back at about mile 20 the angel was at corner and yelled to me “hey, your still in front in your age group and looking good, 6th overall!” at which point I yelled back where’s #2 in my age group??? She answered that she’d let me know on my way back, it was about a 1 mile down and back along what I think was a park in town, right before you turned onto the LONG straight away to the left onto the main road into town. As I was approaching the turn around I saw the Balou Skies guy and Power Bar guy, now separated, about a minute ahead of me. I wanted to know where I was in my age group, and more than anything I just wanted to stop moving for a second! As I came back to where the girl was standing she hollered that I was way in front, not to worry about anyone in my age group and a huge wave of relief came over me. I was going to get that free entry (earlier that day my friend, unbeknownst to me, had won his age group in the half so the pressure was really on me, though I didn’t know it, as he is counting on me for a ride to Anderson). Then, the girl yelled something I wish she hadn’t. She yelled don’t slow down, 5th place is the guy in blue and he is fading and you look much better than him. She then rode along a few seconds shouting encouragement for me to go get him. Damn, these last 3 miles just got harder. Do I give up, or try to run him down. I had the AG locked up, would I be ok with myself if I just cruised in?? I just kept running, made the turn onto the real long straight away and there he was, but it was the yellow Power Bar kit and not the blue of the Balou Skies guy. He was fading, I was gaining. I was in mile 24 of an IM run, and unlike my previous 2 IM’s where the last few miles were basically meaningless, I was still racing. This was unfamiliar territory, exhilarating and painful all at once. I was trying to force myself to go, gaining on him as we turned onto the causeway road. Less than 2 miles to go now, with one last hurdle being the hill/overpass. I was trying to hide among the crowds of people doing their first lap as I didn’t think he had seen me yet. Up the overpass, I was getting very close, probably less than 15 seconds now. Then, on the way down the overpass just as we reached the last aid station, and with about a mile to go, he turned around and saw me. Damn. I had worked hard to reel him in, he got a burst of energy. I had to stop, just for a second, maybe less, to grab water at the last station, then try as might I was unable to gain on him. Came across the parking lot, watching him now gaining on the Balou Skies racer, around the transition and through the chute in 9:56 and a few seconds. Just ~30 seconds from 4th and 5th. I wobbled a bit, took a few steps back then made my way to the tent to finally sit down after a long, hard but rewarding day! And my knee never hurt again, and has not hurt since the race. Go figure. Got a couple waters, hit the NormaTec boots, cleaned up the great people at Rev3, after being told I had to head off and could not make the Monday awards, gave me my AG medal, some powerbar stuff, a new fuelbelt, new fuelbelt race number belt and some other goodies as my prize. Plus the coveted free entry I was hoping for.
Overall I’m very, very pleased with the race. Can’t thank Francois enough for busting my ass this year (although with all the hate mail I send him bitching about workouts you’d never know it). Rev3 is an awesome organization and this being my second race I’m hooked. With my AG victory I got free entry into Cedar Point Full next year. Hoping I can swap it for free entry into Anderson half this year (and maybe Cedar Point half next year, Rev3 peeps if your reading, 2 halves equals a full, am I right???).
Best of all besides being sore Monday/tuesday I felt pretty good the later the week went on. Much better than after my previous two IMs, thats for sure. Good enough that I’m going for another half just 2 weeks after the Rev3 full and will be racing Pain in the Alleghenies Half in Salamanca, NY a week from Sunday.
Only drawback, if you can call it that, is that for the first time in 4 years I won’t be at Savageman, so good luck to those racing in Deep Creek this weekend! Miss that race already…
