Saturday, I drove up to Scottsboro, AL for their whatever'th annual Frank Maples Reverse Triathlon. The race consists of a 2 mile run, 15 mile bike, and a 200 yd pool swim. Very short, but it's balls to the wall.
The morning started at 4 am. Since I had preloaded the car, I was able to walk out the door, coffee in hand, at 4:20. I arrived for the 8 am start at 6:45. I picked up my goodie bag and t-shirt and decided with 30 seconds that both would be thrown away as soon as I got home. Well, I did put the t-shirt in our bag of stuff to give to Goodwill. I'm not completely heartless.
Around 7 am, I pulled the trainer out of the car and warmed up the legs for 15 minutes or so. Afterwards, I went for a jog that included some race pace intervals. I tried my best not to look around at the competition. I undoubtly start psyching myself out by looking at everyone's all carbon bikes, zipp wheels, and shaven legs. Self doubt has a way a losing a race for you before the gun even goes off.
At 7:55, everyone found their way to the start line. I lingered back just a bit to see who would be jockeying for a quick start. We listened to a local minister in a stereotypical Alabama accent say the prayer and sing the national anthem. And then it was 3, 2, 1, GO!
Legs felt great from the start. The pack thinned quickly and I found myself in 4th place within 400 yards. At the one mile mark, a guy ran up beside me with a Garmin. I asked him about the pace, he said that it was a 5:50. I let him go and reeled back the pace. I knew my limits, and I wanted to save some for the bike. Was this a mistake? Two more guys passed shortly after and I was in 7th. The next guy behind me was choking on his flem, so I knew I was good. I came into T1 in 12:00 flat. Right about where I wanted to be.
In T1, I stuggled with the strap on my helmet for what seemed to be an eternity. It was enough for the flem choker to pass me, in transition!
I finally got on the bike and was in 8th place. Luckily the legs were there and I kept the guy in sight. He had to stay ahead of me for 15 miles and I didn't think he could do it. I was correct. I can't really say too much about the first 6 miles. The legs felt great and the roads were fairly flat. Pace was right on target the whole way. At mile 6, I looked back and saw a familiar sight. A pack of riders bearing down on me. I thought, they may catch me, but they're going to have to earn it. Well, they earned it at mile 8th. I decided that I was going to stay out of the draft zone and attack at various points. Each attack was met with someone jumping on my wheel. So much for the individuality of the sport. Three attacks and no luck. The pace stayed hot and it took a lot out of me to stay with them. I decided that if I didn't make a move soon, then my 7th place was going to turn into a 13th place. I knew their would be no passing in the pool with just 200 yards. With a half mile to go I made my last effort to break away and it worked. I held a good lead coming into T2. Since this wasn't a USAT race, I didn't even bother to rack my bike. I left it on the ground and grabbed my goggles. It was my fastest (and easiest) T2 ever.
I jumped, not dove, into the pools. Oh, it felt like molasses! I couldn't even consider using my legs. It's a good thing that I had 6 years of experience while swimming without my legs. Yeah, my swim technique isn't the best. After the first 50 yards I looked back to see where my chasers were. They were all bunched together and not within reach. The guy in front of me wasn't in reach either. I knew all I had to do was to complete the swim and I was golden. I hit the final stretch and found the end of the lane to collect my 7th place finish. I was dead, but happy. It also enabled me to finish 2nd in my AG. The winner of my AG finished 3rd so good effort on his behalf. 
Overall, it was a great race. I feel good for where I am physically right now. Best of all I am happy for the way that I raced. I had a good tactic and fought through some pretty tough odds to finish strong. If I had given it 3% less, it would have cost me 6 or so slots in the overall field. Hopefully, I can build upon this experience and use it down the road.
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