Chest cold & drafting...

Oceanside 70.3 half ironman is in the books & over with. After a time in 2007 that would win my age group 2 of the last 4 years, I hoped for a better race yet than 2007 to at least finish 2nd. I say 2nd because a pro athlete that finished 2nd overall in the pros at Ironman Canada apparently realized he would not be able to compete with the other big boys anymore and now decided to race age group. So there was little chance I'd be able to take down someone that travels all over the world to train at will and has the capacity to nap/recover in the afternoons while the rest of us manange to squeeze in a workout & work well into the afternoon or night surviving on anywhere from 5-6 hrs sleep a night.

I came down with a chest cold last week which dashed my hopes of the podium finish--and the hope was now to just complete the race and nab a spot to Ironman Coeur d' Alene in Idaho in June. The long and short of the race report is the swim was easy but knowing my lungs wouldn't hold up long once on the bike due to illness, I held back--but surprisingly finished only about 35 seconds slower than last time I raced here. The transition went smooth although I didn't quite run T1 as fast as last time (understandable without the lungs). Hackingly, I started the bike with a large group of athletes and it was chaos with 2,500 athletes out on the course that day. There were wave starts but I caught people who started 3 waves ahead of me by the end of the swim so here I was coming out with them. There were some from the wave behind me that caught me too (the faster swimmers from the 40-44 AG), so those guys were also starting the bike together. At mile 8 or so, there was a turn around & we had to slow up to do a 180 turn around an orange cone. Wheel to wheel then once around the cone everyone accelerated. When you have so many of the same cycling ability, it takes some time to spread out. About 1.5 miles later, a marshal pulled up & yelled to the guy behind me to pull over at the next Penalty Box to serve a 4 minute time penalty for drafting. I knew he was close because I could see his shadow on the ground as we were riding. Then the marshal yelled at me to do the same--but there was nobody in front of me. I nearly yelled back, "W.T.F? There's nobody in front of me!" But I restrained because that would likely get me disqualified from the race. Clearly there wasn't anyone for around 100-150 yards in front of me. That took the steam out of my engine and I was paranoid to get anywhere near another cyclist. Soon pack after pack were passing me (really drafting that is). The only thing I could ascertain is that the drafting occurred at the 180 turn around point. In 22 YEARS of racing, I have not so much as gotten a warning for drafting, and do not agree with the call. But I am glad they were marshalling the course & have to take my lumps along the way even if I don't think I was drafting.

At the penalty tent I was asked by everyone in the tent if I was okay due to the non-stop coughing from my chest cold. They asked if I need medical assist. "Nope, I've been sick for a week & am still sick--probably shouldn't be racing." I said. It was a really windy day and the time out at the Penalty Tent only made me lethargic & unable to get back to speed. No top end at all on this day, although my climbing was surprisingly good on my new P3C Cervelo--few people the entire race passed me on an uphill. All I could think of was getting off the bike & onto the run. When T2 came around I knew I had not only lost contact but lost my energy reserves from decreased stamina due to the illness. The fight to fight was just a mere fight to finish from that point. After taking a "number 2" (to be politically correct) in T2 (Transition #2 where you change from a biker to a runner's equipment), I went through the first 6.5 miles rather easily but had no gumption to push at all. Lap #2 of the half marathon portion was worse as the Muscinex I was taking clearly contributed to dehydration and I began to feel light headed. In the end I was only 22nd in my age group instead of what should have been a challenge to the #1 or #2 spot and top 50 overall. It was a dismal day indeed but I live to fight another day when I get healthy. Racing is a weird thing  in that you never know what the day will hold for you. Things can go great right up until the start, then in can all tumble, or it can be horrible & then turn out great. On this day, it was back to basics and the hope of getting to the Ironman Coeur d' Alene in June where I will have some athletes racing. I intend on being there for their support (although I'll be racing too). It is always nice to be at the same races as those you coach. As I hack away slightly worse for the wear writing this post race report, I will take a week or week and a half off to recover and then it will be build back up time for a domestic Ironman in June--where I was 3rd in the AG & top 36 overall including pros out of 2,200 last year. Hopefully sickness and/or injury can be avoided next time around. All of us triathletes pretty much have the same mentality & that is when we get knocked down, we get back up again and fight harder next time.