That was the way I felt crossing the finish line last Sunday at the Rev3 Quassy 70.3 Grand Prix triathlon in Middlebury, CT. Unlike the month before in Knoxville, it was a picture-perfect day for racing with high humidity and the temperature reaching almost 90F. Yes, it was my kind of weather and the second trip to this race. The race has also attracted some of the best professional triathletes in the world including Mirinda Carfre and Richie Cunningham
As usually, my alarm clock went off at 3AM and despite only five hours of sleep I had no trouble getting up. All transition bags were already packed and ready to go, so I could concentrate on breakfast. This time, it was an experimental breakfast vastly different from my previous routines. Nevertheless, I had full confidence that it is going to be the right menu.
An early arrival at the start allowed me to park my car close to the transition. After a quick bike check I was ready to relax, recline, and patiently wait for the start of the race. This time, I have also changed my warm up routine in which I abandoned the two-mile run. Instead, I spend about 20 minutes warming up in the lake.
At 7AM the gun went off for my wave and over 130 athletes in my group dove into the Quassy lake. The sun was slowly raising and that made the sighting virtually impossible for about 1 mile. Fortunately, I was able to stay on course and finish the swim in 34 minutes. Although I was quite happy with my time, more than 30 athletes in my age group finished their swim ahead of me. Fortunately, we had another 69 miles to go that morning, so there was no reason for concern, yet. After a solid transition which took less than 3 minutes, I was on the bike tackling the 56-mile bike course.
It was a beautiful ride, considered by many one of the more challenging courses on the triathlon circuit. Technical descents, long ascents, and rolling hills required good preparation and solid bicycle-handling skills. Unfortunately, totally unaware, this was where I have incurred my first-ever 4 min drafting penalty. As I found out later, it costed me dearly at the end of the race. Despite that setback, I had a very solid ride and reached the T2 in 2 hours 51 minutes, which effectively, propelled me to the 12th position at the beginning of the run.
After another quick transition and feeling light on my feet I started the run. The sun was beating down and the high humidity made it feel even hotter. After a 4-mile initial descent the hills started showing their ugly heads but having trained this season in high humidity and against strong winds made me feel strong and well-prepared for this race. Indeed, at each time check I was able to maintain the same average speed. My nutrition and hydration plans have also worked very well. However, if I could change one thing on the run, I would have not made a 50-second porto-let stop. In the end, I had a strong, and one of the fastest time splits in my age group crossing the finish line in 1 hour 46 minutes placing me 4th in the M50-54 age group with the race time of 5 hours and 22 minutes.
To complete this report I must also mention that I have missed the podium by 19 seconds. So, yes, the drafting penalty and/or the porto-let stop have costed me dearly that day. Its true what they say, finishing 4th is the worst place to finish. Nevertheless, I have earned 4 points in this Grand Prix qualifying race and plan to avoid making such mistakes in my future starts.
This week, I have already shifted my focus to the next challenge - Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada which will take place at the end of June and I am looking forward to reconnecting with many friends I met last year.
