Richard B Russell Olympic Triathlon- August 10th, 2013

With two weeks until IM Louisville, this race was a good chance to put a last good effort in.  I was excited that my friend Jesse Turk was making his debut back into triathlons after a 4 year hiatus.  We left Friday late and went to Athens to make the morning drive a little shorter!  I had never done this course before and had heard great things!

Race morning came early and we headed out.  It was great seeing familiar faces in transition setting up. I knew the competition for this race would be tough and with my focus on the Ironman, I was interested to see what happened!  I jumped on my bike to make sure I was in the right gear for transition and I am glad I did; my chain dropped.  I fixed it up and headed to the lake.

The swim felt off...I knew it would considering that I have not been in the pool at all!  The water felt like a sauna and I was not in a good rhythm.  The swim was two laps and I felt a lot better on lap two.  I pushed on and came out in 25 minutes and 7th overall.

I hit T1 and was in and out pretty quick.  I kicked my bottle off the bike as I jumped on and had to grab it real quick.  The bike felt pretty good!  I borrowed a friends ZIPP 1080 rear and 404 front and they felt great!  The course was gorgeous with pretty consistent rolling hills.  I always have a hard time warming up in these shorter distances but I felt pretty good by mile 10 and was able to get a decent cadence going.  I ended up averaging 22.3 mph on the bike.  I passed a lot of the Duathletes out there and held onto my 7th place spot.  T2 started rough with me running in the wrong direction into T2.  The great volunteers steered me in the right direction and then it all went smooth!  On came the HOKAS and it was off to the 10K.  Speed has been my focus since the Double Iron and Ultras of the last year.  This was the first run it all clicked!  I felt great and even passed someone!!!(I DO NOT PASS PEOPLE IN THE RUN)  I ran into 6th overall and 1st age group.  I held 6:48s and did the 10K in right at 42 minutes.  It was nice to feel good on a run!  LET US HOPE THIS CARRIES ONTO LOUISVILLE!!!  My total time was 2:10!

Again, another amazing race put on by Tri the Parks!  Such a well organized race with the best volunteers!  Now, IM Louisville awaits!

Mistletoe Sprint Tri- July 20, 2013

This was a new course to me and I was excited about the race.  The swim worried me a little because I had not been in the pool in a couple months.  The race started out well.  Coming out of the water, I was in the top 5/6 and hit T1 feeling good.  I was in and out of T1 quick and on the bike.  The course was great with consistent rollers.  I could not seem to pick up my pace fast enough.  I think that is my biggest issue!  I cannot get warmed up quick enough in 12 miles.  I hopped off the bike and into T2 first in my age group and 9th overall.  Brian Wortham, fellow ALL3er, was a few seconds behind and a better runner than me.  I hit the woods as fast as I could knowing that he was on my tail.  Sure enough, within the first half mile he was on me.  We hit a tough 30 yard hill on the tail and he past.  I tried to hang but within the next mile he had put 30 yards on me.  I pushed and pushed and he kept putting time.  We made it back to the road section and a mile to go and took off hard.  He put more time on me!  I had a blast!  Great course and great people!  Ended up 1st in my age group and 10th overall.  It was a good time!