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The AirBnB proved to be some 5 minutes away, and this \u201cclassic, 19th Century mansion\u201d proved to have a beautiful empty ballroom, lovely ground floor living rooms, and 3 floors of rundown, tiny kitchens and bedrooms without curtains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nBut by coincidence, another TriEndeavors teammate, Liam McNichols, was staying there as well, with his sister and girlfriend!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good thing I was in a mansion full of triathletes, because after getting up at 3:15 (to eat, pack up, park and get to transition at 4:45 in order to set up, wait for the toilets and then walk the mile to swim start), Liam tells me what the Ironman App reports:\u00a0 the swim is cancelled! Apparently, the runoff from that downpour the day before contaminated the Connecticut River. So, the race wouldn\u2019t begin until 6:40, with a \u201ctime trial\u201d bike leg.\u00a0 (That is, the same as every race: your timing chip triggers your starting time.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To accommodate 1,161 racers, they said we\u2019d start in bib order \u2014 but even though my bib was no. 1141, I was racked with Pros 1-10, so I started with the first racers! Wasn\u2019t sure if I needed my arm warmers, about to begin and took them off, and a race official grabbed them from me and stuffed them into my back pockets\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n BAM, we are off and I immediately pull to the right side so faster riders can pass me. My plan (via Coach Steve) is to ride at RPE (relative perceived exertion) of 4-5 the first 10 miles, RPE 6-7 for Miles 10 to 40 or 45, RPE 7-8 for Miles 45 to 56. The goal is not to get cooked on the ride and to avoid blowing up on the run. So I work hard to not work too hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s rolling hills, low 60\u2019s temp and cloudy and I\u2019m staying in control, but definitely feeling the FOMO as dozens then hundreds of people burn past me. At 1 hour, bursitis in my left hip flares up and my power meter shows I drop to 143 watts; I stay as aero as possible, shifting positions as best I can, standing up on the hills just to relieve the pain but that also cranks up my heart rate\u2026 somehow I muscle through it, and the bursitis doesn\u2019t flare up again until Hour 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My age apparently is pretty apparent: I get a \u201cNice job, Sir!\u201d from a spectator, and a white-haired, unshaven, heavy guy on a lawn next to his rusting pickup truck says, \u201cThere\u2019s another old-timer.\u201d I leapfrog with a smiling guy with salt n\u2019 pepper beard and a kerchief under his helmet (Me: \u201cYou\u2019re having too much fun!\u201d Him: \u201cAbsolutely!\u201d Me: \u201cWhat\u2019s your age group?\u201d Him: \u201cI\u2019m 41.\u201d Me: \u201cI could be your father!\u201d Him: \u201cIt would be an honor!\u201d And then he\u2019s gone, baby, gone\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I made the rookie mistake of \u201ctrying something new on race day\u201d: two nights before, I coated my sunglass\/ goggles with a different anti-fogging product, but on race day, they are so fogged up that I take them off and stuff them into the top of my shirt (checking now and then to make sure they didn\u2019t slip out, like my swim goggles during last year\u2019s SOS race!). Sure enough, my eyes are tearing behind my glasses the rest of the ride, but the sun only peaks out now and then, so I get by without sunglasses. Inspired by teammate Liam (who said one of his goals was to \u201ccrush it on the nutrition\u201d) I keep up with my nutrition plan, shoveling down all the carbs I can while riding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some glorious downhills (I later learn that I maxed out at 43 mph) and I try to crank it up starting at Mile 40 or 45; feeling strong but my wattage doesn\u2019t really increase. Less than a mile from the end, my spare water bottle falls off, and I should stop and get it, but I don\u2019t. Finish the bike in 2:54:23, averaging 19 mph on a hilly course; normalized power of 178 watts; average heart rate of 122, peaking at 141. And 19\/40 for age group\u2026 Go through Transition, feeling enough energy to at least start<\/em> the run\u2026 but I\u2019m dreading the upcoming effort of a half marathon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The run is beautiful, sunny, mostly shaded through a \u201clollipop\u201d course (2 miles out along the handle, two 4.5-mile loops around a park, 2 miles back down the handle) and from the very beginning it\u2019s hard. My first mile, and my heart rate is already at 143 bpm (I\u2019ll be in the 150s if I\u2019m not careful! That\u2019s not sustainable!); when it climbs to 148 bpm, I walk up the hill going into the park (along with a tall woman who looks like an athlete who knows what she\u2019s doing). I get into a groove after the downhill of the first loop (a big man with small children yells, \u201cLook at that smile!\u201d), but I agree with the short woman I\u2019m leapfrogging, \u201cI can\u2019t wait until we can take the sign that says \u201cto Finish\u201d (instead of \u201cSecond Loop\u201d). Twice I get that mixed compliment, \u201cNice work, Sir!\u201d (Me: \u201cPlease don\u2019t call me \u2018Sir\u2019!\u201d). I realize my Garmin is entirely inaccurate \u2014it takes a quarter mile after we pass the mile markers for the watch to ding that I\u2019ve finished a mile \u2014 which means that I should NOT care about technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But my mental gymnastics of looking to the horizon and pushing away negative thoughts isn\u2019t working, I\u2019m trying to run \u201clighter \u201d and stop slapping my feet, my knee hurts going downhill on the second loop (must be IT band, I don\u2019t have knee issues, do I?) and pick up the pace, just kick up the cadence just a little at Mile 8, it\u2019s not feeling stronger, I want to pick it up again at Mile 10 but I can\u2019t, a glorious downhill coming out of the park hitting 7:30 minute\/mile for a moment, and other people are burning past me but I just don\u2019t give a damn anymore I\u2019m just trying to finish I can\u2019t get any faster and here\u2019s the finish line and they announce my name and my age and I\u2019m DONE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And even when I bump into Logan Underkofler, another TriEndeavor teammate, I can\u2019t stop walking, I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll throw up, and I can\u2019t sit, I\u2019m on the verge of cramping, but salty potato chips and chocolate milk seem doable, slowly, and 20 minutes later my fingers start tingling as if they\u2019d fallen asleep, and I\u2019m left wondering: how far into the pain cave did I go? I\u2019m wiped out, I don\u2019t know if I ever want to race again, and Coach Steve tells me, \u201csounds like you did a good job!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bottom line: finished the 13.1 miles in 1:55:14 (8:35 minute\/mile!), and 10\/40 AG (picked up 9 slots from the bike!), 477\/1,083 OA. It wasn\u2019t fun, and I wish for that much effort that I had faster results, but I have the satisfaction that I gave it everything I had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I even hang out all afternoon to see if other age groupers will turn down the chance to go to the 70.3 world championship, and roll down to my slot, but no, I\u2019m not going to Spain in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, this was a great race in many ways: perfect weather, pretty landscape, good people, solid results (10\/40 for AG). But I went deeper into the pain cave than I bargained for. On the one hand, my mental distraction tools didn\u2019t work; on the other hand, I left nothing on the course. (Other than a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-race-reports"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_3816-768x1024.jpeg\")
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