This past weekend I flew to Maine for the state’s only Half Ironman distance triathlon. I had never been to either Maine or New Hampshire (where we stayed), and was impressed with the area’s natural beauty. Despite all of the rain we had from the moment we arrived, race day turned out to be beautiful, sunny and breezy.
I barely slept the night before. The race drew the very best of New England’s athletes and my body decided the night before the race would be a good time to freak out about facing those guys. I did not fall asleep until 3:15 am, and with a 4:20 wake up alarm, that kid not make for very restful shut-eye.
The early morning fog made for humid conditions early on, and I felt just like home. The temperature was in the high 60F’s so I knew that would be a non-issue. I had brought gloves and arm warmers just in case, but was very pleased not to have to wear them.
The swim was a 2-loop affair, and I swam reasonably well, coming out of the water about 40 seconds down from eventual race winner, and former Ironman Lake Placid winner Tony Delogne. A large pack followed another 40 or so seconds down.
I rode the 2 loop bike course well within myself. I wanted to ensure I’d be fresh for the half marathon, but in hindsight I should have been somewhat more focus on maintaining power output on the downhill section of the rollers. I rode a 2:20, just short of 24 mph average.
Onto the run I was in 5th, and decided not to take any chances early on and run a conservative race. I was clocking 6:15 min/miles early on , and not concerned about losing time to those behind me – and I knew I was not gaining on the ones ahead either.
I received a split early on and local athlete Jesse Kropelnicki was about 2 minutes down. At the next turn around I noticed he was slowly, but steadily, eating into my advantage. Rather than change my strategy, I decided to let the cushion continue to diminish in case we got into a long side-by-side duel to the line, and I’d be more rested that way.
At mile 10, the gap was down to just over a minute. I hit a bad patch and at mile 12, I was only 18 seconds ahead. By then I was able to start pushing the pace, and with a long uphill before the downhill finish, I was able to turn on the afterburners and guarantee a 5th place and podium spot among the Elites, avoiding an all out sprint for the line. Jesse definitely had me running scared for a good portion of the run!
Huge thanks go out to Kat Donatello, the race director, who put on an outstanding event, to Matthew McCabe and his girlfriend Marlene, who played the role of homestay hosts extraordinaire for the entire weekend, and to Leland for being so crafty in maneuvering the race course to snap shots that would rival Tim Moxey and Graham Watson’s.
