Lance Armstrong keeps saying it's not about the bike. I prove that everytime I go out riding. I got a new bike Last November. I still suck! But...to be truthful, maybe hills are a little easier. Psychologically it helps to go long(er).
I have been thinking about this one for a few months now and kept saying to myself that I won't make the bike cutoff. Well, Sunday May 18 was the decision maker. I went out biking and I was gonna go to 1 intersection past the 106/107 on the service road. Then a little more...Then I was at the end and still felt good. I decided to do the Wheatly/Muttontown/Brookville loop and suddenly by the time I got back, I biked 52.67, in 3:30 averaging 15 MPH. Patriot is 58 miles and you have 4:15 to do it in PLUS whatever buffer you get from the swim. Then, Lee and I went to run. I got the course map for the Run for Israel 5K and Lee wanted to run it. Put Jessie in the running stroller (Jeremy went to a birthday party) and I pushed. Man that sucks....Anyway, did the 5K and left them. They went to pick Jeremy up and I went to run home. I reached the decision point, felt good and decided to extend. I got home and it was approximatly 10.5 - 11 miles. My footpod battery died. The next day, I did 3K in the pool. Meant to do just 1200-1500.
So now, I was worried about the swim. Will I make it happen in the time given and thus giving myself a buffer. Monday, Andre and I timed it and it took me 37 minutes to do 2,150. I only need to about 2000. I will be wearing a wetsuit and there will be no rest. Theoretically possible.
Friday, May 23, I went on a 58 mile ride. It was home to exit 53 on the L.I.E and back. Gruelling. From 49 to 53 was the toughest hills and strong wind. Clock said 3:52 but that includes lights. Computer clock said 3:46+. Again doable...Next step is figuring out nutrition. I get very HUNGRY even tho I take the gels.
In any case, the current plan is to leave July 4th, in the morning. Sleep there and do the tri the next day. Find a shower hopefully and maybe a nap in the shade and drive home. My guys are NOT coming. Boo-Hoo.
Mapquest said 4 hours. Andre said less. We left at 10 am and I told them that I would like to drive in a chain but that I am defintly stopping at noon to eat. I had food. Just needed 5 minutes. We were moving well. Some rain and traffic but otherwise ok. Stopped at noon and had my food and got gas (for the car not from the food). Drove the rest and got to the pickup point.
Picked up and figured out the "lay of the land", meaning where everything is. The weather was slightly cool andwe went to feel the water temp. The USAT rule for wetsuits is as follows: Under 79 degrees, you can wear a wetsuit and still get ranked. Over 79 degrees you can wear a wetsuit but not be ranked. Over 84 degrees, no wetsuits are allowed. The pros have a much lower cutoff. The nice thing about a wetsuit is that it gives you extra buoyancy and therefore makes it easier on you to swim but you pay in T1 because it takes you a little longer to take it off. The longer the swim, the more you want the wetsuit. Matt and Andre wanted a longer swim and no wetsuit. These are the distance swimmers. Don wanted the wetsuit. I didn't care one way or another. Wetsuit would be great but life is life too.
When we were there they measured the temperature and got 78 degrees. Oh-Oh. Don was worried . While asking for directions to the Hotel, I ran into the race director who told me that not to worry and bring a wetsuit. He told me they will probably fudge the temperature and it will be a wetsuit day. I told Don he better pray no one pees in the water and raises the temperatur of the water.
Went to the hotel, checked in and unloaded. Andre, Don and I met Matt and 2 friends and went to a restaurant. I already ate my cereal and milk but had water and tea over there. It was nice just hanging out.
In the elevator I met a woman and started to talk to her. She told me that she did the race last year. I asked her about it. She told me that last year she had 3 goals:
She ended up panicking in the swim, there by bonking on the bike and then breaking her metatarsels. YAY!
I usually have no problems sleeping but I had problems falling asleep. Missed the family.
Woke up at 3am and looked out the window. RAIN!!! This was NOT funny! As I was getting ready, I was constantly checking out the weather and the rain was getting stronger. Damn it. Finally time to go. Packed up in the rain and drove over. Unpacked in the rain and got set up.
Went to get body marked and the woman marked my arms and then told me to drop my pants. I told her OK but next time she has to buy me dinner. She blushed and we broke the ice.
There are so many things to say here and that happened. Things sorta took off in a whirlwind.
Swim start was as follows: Donald - Wave 2. Andre and me - Wave 5. Matt and his 2 friends - Wave 6. The way I figured it, I won't see Don at all unless he is having a terrible day or a really amazing day. Andre, I would only see at the start. Matt and his friends would probably pass me either on the swim or the bike.
Swim started and Andre and I started on the outside. He took off and I lost him. I swam my thing. Go 4 buoys straight, hook a left and go straight till the buoy. Hook another left and 4 buoys till T1. As I was swimming, this idiot got in front of me. He kicked ok with his left but swung out with his right. Got kicked in the face (goggles) but since I had the goggles under the swim cap, I was ok. If anything, he "helped" them stay on. Passed him real fast. Some people who don't know how to sight, try to swim across me. Couple extra hard kicks and they got off. Eventually caught some previous waves and eventually saw T1. Mad dash to T1. Swim time: 34+ minute but with the run to T1, it was 36:46. Still, beat my expected swim time of 37. Feeling good.
Took a gel, water, blew my nose, got rid of the rest of the wetsuit and put socks, bike shoes, race belt, helmet, gloves and sunglasses on and left T1. Oh yeah, sunscreen too. It rained during the swim but gotta put it on. Learned my lesson well.
The bike started well. I pulled this woman along me. The ride was 2 loops of 29 miles each for a total of 58.3 miles. It should be 56 but who is counting. There were 2 water bottle exchange points. These are 2 points where you throw your old bottle away and pickup a fresh bottle. Andre explained to me that the point is NOT to stop or to slow down. Either maintain your speed or speed up and grab a bottle. Since there are 2 loops, there are therefore 4 exchanges. I reached the first exchange and grabbed the bottle cleanly. After the first/third water bottle exchange spot there was a bad stretch of road. Bumps galore. I was sure that I would have to sit on ice the whole drive home.
Before we got to bottle exchange 2, I saw this family on the edge of the lake. These 2 kids were watching and had a strange look on their face. As I was about to pass, they suddenly let out this big "HOWDY!" which caused me to laugh. Fortunatly there was a photographer there too and you can see it in the pictures. The rest of the bottle exchanges went well. Twice I just had a clean grab and twice the guy ran with me (because I sped up?) as I grabbed.
There was one dangerous down hill. You go downhill (fast) and make a sudden abrupt right up a hill. One guy I saw missed the turn, blew his speed and had trouble climbing. Sucks for him.
Before I knew it, I approached the end of the first loop. Quick look at the bike computer said my average speed was 17.4 MPH. WOW! That's a LOT for 29 miles for me! Second loop started. At one point, during a wide turn this guy came up and rode very close to me during the turn. Startled me. I didn't want him to feel bad and as were crossing a bridge over a highway, I asked him if that's the way back to NY. He laughed and told me that it was the way North back to NY. I told him I need South and I guess I better make a U-turn now. We both laughed and he took off.
At one point, I ran (rode actually) across someone from Runners Edge (Maria). Apparently there were 5 of them from Runners Edge there and they stayed in my hotel and recognized me. I started the conversation by saying she is a bit far from Farmingdale. We sorta rode together which helped both of us. She drafted off me or next to me. She has done Ironman Lake Placid. Eventually I left her toward the end and rode away to T2. Another quick look at the computer said, after 58.3 miles I was at an average speed of 17.2 MPH. This means that my second loop was 17.0 but still. Very respectable for me.
At T2, switched bike shoes/sneakers, took helmet off, put more sunscreen, took gels and a small towel and left. Decided to pee real quick because running with a full tank is NOT a good idea. I was able to pee which is GOOD. Means I was hydrated. Grabbed a small sponge and cooled off as I ran.
The run started well. My legs were fine and I slowly picked people off. I ran from one aid station to another. One person to another. Just passing people. I was visualizing my winter training. Get to Alley Pond early and run the first 5 miles relaxed. Join Vince and the guys and run another 7+. That's all it was. At mile 3, I joined this woman named Dale (pictures). She was 51 and every decade, she set herself a new goal. Last decade was a marathon. This year a half-ironman. Nice woman and we just sort off hit it off. At mile 9 or 10, I felt like I might be having Gastric distress. Andre warned me that if this happens, take ice or water and rub it on your stomach and body to cool off. Since I kept the 2 sponges as memento, I ended up re-using them. This was great and I felt better.
Dale's husband rode up with his bicycle and she told him to take some pictures because "this nice man has no pictures from the run". Cool.
At about mile 10, I told Dale that if she was not there, I would probably have walked a little. She told me that she was just thinking the same thing.
At about mile 11, we saw Jeff. One of Matt's friends. He was walking and ran a little with us. He told us Matt was just ahead of us, up this real bad hill. I told Dale we gotta get him and we increased the speed. Up until then it was nice and relaxed just short of 10 minute miles. Somewhere between 9:40 and 10. As we approached the hill, Matt suddenly saw us. Now, Matt was busy stretching and vomitting but this spurred him on. Now he started sprinting and yelling down the hill, "I see you Mother****er! I see you." I think everyone in MA heard him. I yelled back to him, asking him why he is running but no answer. Well, I caught him and I again I asked him why he is running, I mean he already beat me. He was in a later wave so finishing with me means he beat me and he told me that this is a race. I said OK and took off. Forget him!
As I was approaching the finish I ran into 2 women. I think a triathlete and her mom. I told them that the guy behind me stole me wallet and they should stop him. Next I ran into a family and I told the little girl to trip the guy behind me and that her father wold be ok with it. She looked at him and he said, "Yeah...No!" while smiling. Finish here I come. Well, Matt did eventually finish. I told him about the 2 women that I saw and that I told them that he stole my wallet. He said that he did run into them and that they gave him a real dirty look and he yelled at them saying "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT?". I thought this hillarious. Dale finished too and I said bye to her. At the finish, they took my chip, gave me water and my medal. As I was looking around, I spotted some kiddie pools with ice, ice water and some bottles of juice chilling. I thought this was a great idea. I went to the kiddie pool with no juice, sat my butt down in the icewater and took this giant ice bag and put it on my knees. HEAVEN!
Got food, showered and loaded up and drove home. So happy to see the family.