wildflower

That pretty much sums up my Wildflower Half Ironman race. I went into the race a little tired from the trip to Korea, but still feeling confident about having a good race. I made a last chance decision to race on my road bike (bad idea) due some shipping/bike box/travel issues. I had a great swim was safely in the first pack the entire time. I made a move to get around Terenzo for the swim prime with about 200m left but couldn't quite get there so I just swam in. This is my third race this year and all three have been solid first pack swims. This is a first for me. Usually I am quite out of swim shape this time of year, but I guess all those winter swim sessions paid off.

Onto the bike I stayed conservative knowing that my biking fitness was good for 40k, but untested over this distance. I road strong until about 40 miles when the body (especially my back) said NO! It is not always the best when you blow at the base of a 5 mile 8-10% climb. I really struggled the last 15 miles on the bike and lost around 7-8 min on the guys I was with. My back really started to tighten and seize up. I rolled into transition thinking I would take off on the run and see how it went. No dice. I was shuffling like an old man. I decided in light of how bad I felt and how much more racing i have in the next three weeks to call it a day. It was a tough decision and it still bugs me that I dropped out, but I think it was the smartest idea. It was only my second race ever that I chose to drop out of.

After a couple days rest the back, the body, and the mind are ready to go. While the race wasn' t the best, it was fun to spend the weekend with my buddy Mark, Lauren, the great Steven Sexton, and Amanda Felder. Amanda and Steven were both members of the 2006 World University Games Team, and the 3 of us will be going to Erdek, Turkey this june for the 2008 World University Games triathlon. Well thats it for this post. I am back in Fort Worth until Friday when I head to France for the next flogfest.

Cheers,
Barrett