My 4th race in 3 weeks – Challenge Half in Rancho Cordova, CA – is finally behind me, and I think I might have just found a new way to get my butt in shape: race every weekend! I was a bit unsure how my body would hold up to all this racing (and two half-ironman races on back-to-back weekends), but I’m happy to say I’m alive and well, and took home 3rd at Challenge Rancho Cordova.
Here’s some details on how the race unfolded:
With the race having been declared no-wetsuit (water right at 68 degrees), I was pretty relaxed at the start, knowing that former roomie, training partner, and overall great fellow Italian bloke Rodolphe ”Rudy” von Berg and I were gonna take out the swim hard. It was an in-water start, which plays well on my swim strength, and as soon as the gun went off I was off the front. It was a pretty controlled swim, and I exited the water in the clear lead. I turned and saw a few people chasing, but I as committed to getting away, so I blazed thru transition (fastest T1!) and was gone on the bike. Later it turned out that Umphenour, Rudy von Berg, and Kevin Collington were on my feet, but was able to put a gap on them right at the start of the bike. All except Kevin Collington, the 2013 70.3 US Champion.
Here’s some details on how the race unfolded:
With the race having been declared no-wetsuit (water right at 68 degrees), I was pretty relaxed at the start, knowing that former roomie, training partner, and overall great fellow Italian bloke Rodolphe ”Rudy” von Berg and I were gonna take out the swim hard. It was an in-water start, which plays well on my swim strength, and as soon as the gun went off I was off the front. It was a pretty controlled swim, and I exited the water in the clear lead. I turned and saw a few people chasing, but I as committed to getting away, so I blazed thru transition (fastest T1!) and was gone on the bike. Later it turned out that Umphenour, Rudy von Berg, and Kevin Collington were on my feet, but was able to put a gap on them right at the start of the bike. All except Kevin Collington, the 2013 70.3 US Champion.
I rode hard for the first 20km, and yet Kevin was right behind me (staggered), and then he made his move on the climbs, I think somewhere around 30km. Being light and powerful as he is, I could not match his pace on the Rancho hills. I tried to keep him in sight, thinking I could reel him in on the slight downhills, but the course never seemed to stop climbing! At the end of the 90k ride, I was about 1’ down in T2. It was definitely the hardest (not fastest) I’ve ever ridden, with a 2:09 bike split on a challenging course. You can check out my Strava file of the ride here: http://www.strava.com/activities/204211574
Both the bike and run courses didn’t offer the opportunity to know where everyone else was, so I just took off and starting running my own half marathon at a controlled pace in the 90 degrees heat. Kevin was long gone, and I didn’t know whether I had 1’ or 30’ on the next guy. I ran the first 10k and hadn’t gotten caught yet, and I started believing I could pull a good result in. Rudy von Berg passed me right then at a blazing speed (on his way to fastest run split in 1:13), and after a few friendly vulgarities directed at him, I just tried to keep him in sight. I was able to maintain 3rd place, with a 1:20 half marathon and 3:54 overall time.
I’m very pleased with this result, and another podium finish at a good race. This past month was with no doubt my most successful string of results I’ve ever achieved, and I’m happy that the good results came from different triathlon formats as well: made the loser’s’ finals at the US Super Sprints Champs in Vegas, was 4th at Tri-Cal Pacific Grove CA in Olympic-distance draft-legal, won the SuperFrog Half-Ironman in Coronado CA, and now 3rd at Challenge Rancho Cordova CA half. Maybe the Cali air is good for me!
Now it’s time to recover and lay low a bit, before gearing up for one last race: LifeTimeFitness Oceanside, which will surely see a stacked field competing for the $200,000 series finale payout.
Now it’s time to recover and lay low a bit, before gearing up for one last race: LifeTimeFitness Oceanside, which will surely see a stacked field competing for the $200,000 series finale payout.
