Wednesday, October 6, 2010

2nd at Goldman

On September 18th was the Goldman Olympic Triathlon. The race was put on my Chris and Amy Reed of Ascent Productions. This is only the 2nd year of the race and next year their is talk of a Half-Ironman Distance along with the Olympic distance. Good things are in store for the Grand Valley and the triathlon scene.



With a respectable 3rd place finish at the Highiline hustle sprint triathlon, I entered this race with a lot of expectations that I would win. Only because the two studs of the Valley (Kevin Koch and Marty Wacker) were not attending the race due to injury and travel. So about 3 weeks out I started hearing this talk of winning. I was flattered by the comments but I knew it wouldn't come that easy. Last year I was hurt all year but I was just getting back to health around this time. I finished 27 OA in a time 2:33:56. So I was just ready to tackle this time and improve.

****On an Important side note, in this race I was just not going up against the rest of the field but I was competing against a relay team. That's right, a relay team by the name of "We killed Kenny". This team was made up of Corey Riedel (Swimmer), Conor Mullervy (Bike), Kevin Mullervy (Run). I guess you could call them my friends...good enough friends to make a team against me. These guys have never done triathlons but do have a back round in endurance sports.Corey was collegiate cyclist for CSU as well as a high school varsity swimmer and diver. The Gingers (Kevin and Conor) are Division II  Time Trial Collegiate National Champions...so ya....there good athletes!!!******


The swim was a two lap counter-clockwise loop. What was unique about this swim was after the first lap you exited the water and had a 30 yard beach run before entering for your 2nd lap. At the swim start I planted myself right in the middle of the circus, many people avoid the middle but I knew I could get out front before all hell breaks loose. The gun fired and we were off, I hammered it for the first 300m then found a good rhythm out front about 75m behind the 2 leaders. For most of the swim I was breaking my own water which I didn't mind.....entering T1

Swim: 27:24
"We Killed Kenny" Swim: 36:49


Out of T1 I exited with eventual winner Brendan Claflin, At this time I wasn't worried about "we killed Kenny", I knew in order to compete at this race I had to stick with Brendan, which didn't last long. Onto the bike my legs felt like they were in 4th gear the whole ride, I knew in order to shake them out I would have to slow down, something I couldn't afford. At around mile 5 I could see I was losing more and more ground to Brendan. I then shifted gears to just hang on as much as possible and give everything I got for today, and try to keep my lead on Conor who was making ground on me FAST!!!!

Coming into T2 I was sitting in 3rd place.

Bike:1:03:13
"We Killed Kenny" Bike: 56:17


Into the first 200m of the run I knew I was in for a battle...the famous side stitch. Something I still am trying to figure out why I get. I know it has to do with breathing but give me a break, this sucks!!! I was in so much pain I was grunting on the run course, I'm sure the first aid station I went by might of thought I was a water buffalo stumbling through bushes. I slowed my pace down until I saw the "WKK" team coming and looking fresh.... as he should be. With disbelief and frustration I pushed on, by mile 3 I had made a pass into 2nd place, but very close behind was Kevin. He did shout a few encouraging words for me, but I couldn't return the favor for that I was a suffer-fest.

About .5 mile from the finish, Kevin caught me and was looking very strong. Not giving in I pushed the pace with him. Coming into the finish I knew it would be a close one, but not this close. We crossed the finish line in a full sprint as well as a photo finish. I crossed the line first but Kevin's timing chip crossed before mine which is what counts....On paper I lost by .3 of a second. Nice work WKK


Run:46:55
"We Killed Kenny" Run: 44:25
Overall I was happy with the race, everything worked out besides one of the toughest runs of the year. After every race I am always eager to get back to training to improve on all three disciplines. Right now I am gearing up for Clearwater 70.3 World championship,  I qualified for this race at Boulder 70.3...thanks to roll-down. But I am looking forward to the opportunity and experience that this will bring.

Finish: 2:17:33.3
"We Killed Kenny" Finish: 2:17:33.0

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