Here is Jason Peterson and me doing some of the swim exit.. Lot of water running there!
Pre race: Got up naturally at 8:30 am and had a light breakfast and did a short run to shake out, and felt great.
Warmed up a little more on the bike once I got to race site and then more even in the swim. Race got underway about 30 minutes late. Should have had a powerbar gel before the start, because I was low on energy/electryolytes by the end. Sat near a few brits before the race, and they were hilarious.
Swim: Washing machine, started out on a sandbar about 100 m into the water. The horn surprised me, and I was quickly punched on both sides by people dolphin diving. I tried a mix of dolphin dives, runs, clammoring, and swimming to stay in the mix. Should have been more aggressive, because I was relegated to the back of the pack, and eventually was on the side of the pack- not getting a draft. After second bouy, I was at the back of the main pack and pretty comfortably swimming there. Soon we started the sand bar shuffle again and heart rate jacked up pretty high. Finished the swim next to pretty much teammate Jason Peterson, and figured we'd be set to ride in the main group.
T1: Get to my bike.. my bike shoe was still rubber banded to my bike but shoe was off pedal! O snap. Really had to think on my toes here and tried to not panic. I lost the main pack solely because of this. Damn, bad luck. Also was frenzied that when I got the rubber band off and shoe on my foot, got a penalty for early mount.
Bike: Caught the stragglers quickly, but was a lot stronger of a rider than them, so ended up pulling harder and longer than our small 4- man group. Caught another guy for 5, but we were still losing time to the main group of 20+. Felt good technically and was recovered quickly after my pulls, so I know I can go a lot faster and hang with that main pack.
These are two videos of the small bike group I was in through transition on laps 2 and 3
T2: no hiccups
Run: Got out of the gates hard, but immediately knew I was going to be in for a survival type run. 2 loop course on an out and back, on the first out, I dropped my whole group, but started to hurt and a Swedish guy gaped me (he was doing 0 work on the bike). I took my penalty after lap 1 and immediately cramped up in my right abdomen. It hurt a lot and really hampered the second loop. Was just trying to focus on the finish. Got in, and laid down for awhile.
OKAY overall result. Good that I finished the race, not lapped out, and I maintained control after my shoe was not on my bike. Would have been very easy to lose focus and quit, but that was a long way to travel to do that. Biked solidly, and am glad the rust has been busted. Am looking forward to Collegiate nationals to contend for the win. Clermont didn't show a great race for me, and it is motivation. "He who has nothing to lose stands to gain everything."
