I participated in inaugural Syracuse 70.3 a few years back, but unfortunately had my first and only DNF to date during it. I managed to break a spoke and bend my wheel on the bike so I unfortunately had to pull out of the race. I was happy to get the opportunity to come back and take another crack at this race. I rode down with one of my clients, Chris Veilleux and a fellow member of NEMS, Craig Thomas. We stayed at Chris's aunt and uncles about 15 min from the venue. It worked out great! Their hospitality was outstanding and we had a really good time. However, it was my first nights away from my son which was tough.
Syracuse 70.3- 4:39:25, 6th AG, 25th OV
Swim: 1.2 Miles, 32:31 UGH! Not my best swim, but this course was definitely long. Even the pro's were at least 1-2 minutes slower than normal. I veered off to the left a bit on the way to the first buoy, but besides that, this was a decent swim. I had minimal contact and did a very good job of not going out too hard. However, I didn't really find a rhythm until the last turn in towards the beach. I was shocked when I looked down and saw a 32 on my watch, but oh well. A couple minutes shouldn't make or break my day either way so I stayed positive. Bike: 56 Miles, 2:28:35 Relatively happy with my bike split considering the course and conditions. The first 12-15 miles have a lot of climbing. As a result, I knew I needed to be strong through this section but at the same time I couldn't over do it. Since I started so late, I passed tons and tons of people. However, I was passed by 2 people throughout the ride, one of which was in my age group which I wasn't too happy about, but I had to yell out "on your left" a lot. There were a few times when people were way over the left for no reason, but there weren't any major issues making the passes. The ride was relatively uneventful. However, I did start to fade a bit at about mile 35-40. I knew it was going to be a tough run, especially with it being so hot, so I did tone it back a bit. However, I did have some serious problems with some saddles sores I've had the last few weeks. I think the issue was more severe today than during other training rides because I'm normally in bibs shorts with more padding than my tri suit. I told myself to suck it up a couple times, but I really struggled to find a comfortable position and was shifting around a lot. The last section the ride was very fast due to the tailwind. I used that to my advantage, but still did my best to maintain a decent power output. Looking back, perhaps I could have toned it back a bit on the first hilly section of the ride, but I think I did pretty well with that. The heat made it tough and I need to do my best to get rid of these saddle sores. Run: 13.1 Miles, 1:35:09 UGH! Got off the bike and my stomach was a bit off. In the past when I've had this feeling and I've tried to push the pace I've ended up with stomach cramps. As a result, I backed it off a bit until they passed. I ended up going pretty easy up through the turnaround which included the big hill. It is pretty long and steady, but really wasn't that bad. I slowed my pace quite a bit on it, but ran throughout. But it was HOT! I did my best to keep cool and did pretty well with it, but there wasn't much shade and there were already tons of people walking. I picked it up a bit on the second loop, but for some reason I was struggling a bit with motivation. It was hard to tell where the other guys in my AG were, especially considering we started in 2 waves, but I just couldn't get myself to dig deep like I normally do. My last 5k or so ended up being the fastest segment of the run for me which is a good sign. However, I wasn't running a marathon, just a half marathon so I should have pushed more. It got crazy after the race when this huge rain and thunderstorm came in. A bunch of people were still on the course, but they closed everything down without doing an awards ceremony or roll down. This was no where near the run split or overall time I was planning on or expecting. However, given the tough conditions, it could have been worse. This is a good reminder that you need to adjust your plan and adapt during the race. Its great when you can follow your plan to the T, but it doesn't always end up being what's best for you. It was still good enough to get a 70.3 IM World Championship slot. I did end up passing on it, but that was the goal of the race.