Blalock Sprint- 5/31/2014

This race was one of the Tri the Park series that I had not done.  I was pretty excited as word on the street said it was hilly.  I like hills!  I woke up bright and early, making my way down from Dahlonega to Newnan.  There were tons of ALL3 and Dynamo Multisport Teammates at this race.  I set up transition and chatted with a lot of familiar faces.  The triathlon family is what it is all about.  Based on past results, beside me in transition was my main competition.  Rob Richardson who has been dominating and Thomas Pilliod who is just plain fast.

On the swim, it was kind of nice to have a rabbit to chase.  This was the first Tri the Parks race I have done in which I was not in the first wave.  The first wave was the young kids on the elite team.  One of them had won the race last year and they looked quick.   Pilliod was quick in the water.  I jumped in behind him and we left the field.  I ended up out of the water 15 seconds behind him and he put another 5 seconds in transition.  He was in sight.  I hammered the bike out of the gate.  I was on Pilliod quick.  I let him do the pacing for a few minutes.  I caught myself going too easy and knew Rob was surging!  I pushed around Pilliod and it was not too long after that Rob passed me.  I tried to pace off him but could not hang.  I kept him close but he was still putting time on me every mile.  I was putting the same time on Pilliod though.  I knew the kids that started before us could run, so I wanted to make sure I had them all passed by the end of the bike.  I passed the second place guy in wave 1 at about mile 12.  I came into transition feeling good.  I was 1:27 behind Rob and had one guy to catch besides him from the first wave.  They had started 3 minutes before us so I was not too worried about him.  Pilliod was 1:28 behind me and I knew he was a heck of a runner.

The run was just as hilly as the bike.  This is typically a good thing for me.  I built into the run keeping my focus on form.  I did not see anyone until the turn around was in sight.  Rob was on his way back and uncatchable.  Soon after the turn around I passed the guy from wave 1.  I also saw Pilliod close behind me and surging!  Around mile 2, I was running side by side with Pilliod.  He stopped and threw up.  I pushed on thinking I had second overall in the bag.  I upped my pace.  I was wrong.  With a quarter mile left Pilliod had rebounded caught me and passed.  Dang!  Mental punch to my face!  I pushed the pace even more and I did not have it.  I ended up finishing 14 seconds after him in 3rd Overall.  Turns out his T2 was 15 seconds faster than mine and ended up being the difference in the race!  The fact that I have to wear socks kills my transitions in the sprints!  Heck of a race by Rob and Pilliod!  Thomas Pilliod had a great run putting a minute on both Rob and I on the 5k alone.

My Race:
3rd Overall

600 meter Swim: 9:09
T1: 0:31         

14.7 Mile Bike: 37:27
T2: 0:34

3.1 Mile Run: 19:10