Does it get better than this?

That's right: #43 is 5yrs old.
Notice an actual timming chip.

Walking to race with his transition pack

 



Goggles that matched swim cap color, very cool.



Easy-peasy. Now, where's my bike?



Happy triathlete with proud Papa.

As a father and tri geek, watching Donovan do his first swim-bike-run race has imprinted one of the coolest memories to date. He was all smiles every time we'd see him. The first words out of his mouth afterwards were "I want to do it again!"  On the days leading up to his race, he was so excited, letting everyone know he was going to be a triathlete.

In true triathlete form, upon finishing, he grabbed some snacks and water, and asked for a massage. And then had fun on the play structure at the park.

IM Cd'A 13 MPro--- A positive race report, 4years in the making....

The water temperature was ridiculous cold to me. It yielded some slow swim times and affected lots of people. With the water temps somewhere around mid-50s, and the air temps at 7AM not much warmer, I knew I was going to be hurting * I F * I managed to get out of the water. Yes, I spent TEN minutes in T1. That is the amount of time the AWESOME volunteers spent trying to warm me up and getting me into dry clothes (I had zero finger dexterity, was cramping everywhere and shivering big time). My B70 Helix wetsuit kept most of my body warm, but unfortunately, not the feet and hands.



Hmmh.. let me check the water temp- yep, it is about FREEZING deg Celsius.

I spent the first 20mi of the ride shivering and with aching muscles, and it took me 70(!) miles to be able to feel my toes again. This was a bit of a blessing, as I hurt my right foot pretty bad whent I tripped getting out of the water. My podiatrist said it probably hurt like all hell but with my feet frozen, I didn't even notice. In fact, the skin abrasions didn't even bleed. That's how cold I was. My Blue Triad was flawless and let me cover the ride using only 3.1w/kg. Thanks Michael for letting me borrow the awesome HED Jet disc wheel, brother!

Arm + leg warmers, gloves, vest, toe covers, and, yes, still shivering all over

Got off the bike, put on my bright green shoes on & got to work. Turns out I bruised a couple ligaments in my foot when I tripped and fell, and this kept me from running my best so I'm a little bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong-I pushed my bruised foot as hard as I could for 26 miles. I am good with the marathon time I was able to put together with this hiccup, and it gives me the confidence to know I can run myself back into it if I don't trip next time.

Push, Papa! Push!!

Coming down the finish, the emotions really overcame me, seeing my beautiful wife and son smiling from a distance, jumping up and down, excited that we had been able to finally put together a positive race at this event that had broken me 3x in a row.  I pumped my fists, grabbed my country's flag, thanked the crowd and felt like the king of the world!  13th place isn't great at all, but what I'm really taking away are the big positives, including figuring out how to pace my OWN race so I can play my strengths, and overcoming less-than-ideal (for me) race conditions.

My nutrition was perfect (finally!). I woke up to an Ultragen shake and 5xgluten-free waffles.  I hydrated from a bottle with nuun while it got time to go. With 20mins to go, I had 1 bottle with 1serving of grape EFS + 1.5scoops of Pre-Race. During the bike, I consumed ~300kcals of EFS per hour. On the run, two flasks- 1 with liquid shot, 1 with 1serving EFS+0.5scoop Pre-Race. I grabbed another 2 flasks of the same at the halfway point. I felt strong all day long, zero GI distress. I am so grateful 1st Endurance has helped me figure out what works for me. I should also add I sodium loaded the day before, anticipating it could get hot on the run.

I would also like to thank our homestay hosts, Al and Dani, who made our stay very relaxing and really took care of us. We had a great trip. Now, it's time to enjoy some sun (and ice cream!)

 

Thanks for reading.