Woke up around 5:30, had a peanut butter sandwich, two bananas, a yogurt, a mint chocolate Cliff Bar and coffee (bad choice I think). I met my Uncle Paul and Aunt Karen in the hotel lobby. They had driven down from Columbus to cheer me on, which was awesome!!! We got over to the race site around 7 AM, I got my body markings (#132) and went to the transition area. It was a first come, first serve set up so I didn't get an ideal location but ended up next to the first place women's finisher (a total bada$$, btw - 4:48 finish time). We talked for a bit and she had a great sticker on the top tube of her bike (F#$% the boys, I'm gonna ride fast as hell). Sweet!

By then it was 7:45 and we were scheduled for an 8 AM start, so I put on my speed suit as the water temp was around 79 degrees then went down to the start and swam for a couple of minutes. The water felt great and I felt like I was going to have a great swim, especially after my 2 mile river swim the prior weekend. Went back to the start, race announcements were made (i.e. the sketchy downhill), a girl sang the National Anthem (which was awesome and she had a great voice), then it was time for the Men 39 and under to start. The swim was an in-water start, so we all swam out to the start buoy and began treading water. There was a lot of jockeying to get a good start position and being that I can't tread water that well, I started to get pushed to the back a little. Finally we took off and the chaos began. Actually, it wasn't that bad and everyone was meaningful of each other's space for the most part. A group of 15 or so shot out and since we were swimming upstream in the Ohio River, they had a good advantage on the rest. I started to pull up to them a little and noticed that I was carrying some people up with me, so I was hoping we could work together to close the gap even more, which didn't happen. I pushed it a bit more but it seemed that no matter how hard I was going, I just couldn't bridge the gap so I just settled into a good rhythm. About 600 meters out, my stomach was starting to get upset (from the coffee or not allowing enough time to digest my breakfast I think, not doing this again!), which was tough and I had to back down my pace. I could still see the group ahead of me and I finally made it to the turn around buoy to swim back with the current. I had to stop and get my bearings here, which cost me some time with the lead group, but I figured out where I needed to go. By then, my stomach and I weren't agreeing on anything, I was not having much fun (sorry but belching with your head underwater is tough!) and I was getting upset that I was losing the race right here. My stomach began to calm down a little and I just concentrated on making sure that I was swimming in a straight line (which I finally have dialed down, woo-hoo!). A group of 4 or 5 guys passed me on the way back but I managed to come out of the swim in about 25^th or so overall. I swam the 1.2 miles in 35:55, which considering that I had stomach issues is okay but I'm definitely disappointed by my time, I was shooting for around 30 minutes.

Ran to the transition area, took off the swim gear and got the bike gear on. I was excited for the bike leg as I had just received a rear Zipp 808 wheel the week prior and was hoping that considering the money I dropped for it, the deeper section rear wheel would actually help me (still have the Zipp 404 in the front). With my Aunt and Uncle rooting me on while I ran out of T1 with my bike, I wanted to forget about my awful swim and kill it on the bike. I took off and once on the open road I simply drilled it. Within the first mile or so I had passed 3 or 4 guys, keeping my speed between 24-25 mph and heart rate below 175 bpm. I picked off two more guys before hitting the one out-and-back loop on the course. It turned out to be going up and down two good sized hills, followed by a long descent/climb and then the turnaround out to the main highway (Hwy 42). I was able to count how many guys were ahead of me, 19. I picked off one guy before the turnaround then dropped 5 guys on the long climb up, keeping it in the big ring and going around 16-17 mph. I was feeling great but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overdoing it. I kept up a good rhythm, averaging 23-24 mph on the flats, anywhere from 15-17 on the numerous climbs and spinning the legs on the descents. I had an 11x23 rear cassette on my bike and I wanted to test it on the course to see if I should switch out to an 11x25 for the Ironman to spin on the hills easier but I really don't think that it'll help that much. There was only one climb that I needed to drop to the little ring in the front and the rest of the hills were easy enough to climb in the big ring.

Throughout the ride I was staying hydrating between water, Hammer Heed (electrolyte drink) and Hammer Perpetum (great stuff, btw) and for food I downed a Peanut Butter Buzz Clif Bar around mile 28 and half of a Chocolate Almond Clif Bar around mile 45. It was a great course but with the rolling terrain, it made it hard to find a good rhythm at times. There was also a pretty steady crosswind or headwind on the course. For the most part it was pretty exposed (rural farmland) and there were only a few parts when it seemed like there was anything resembling a tailwind. After mile 40 or so I was done picking off guys as the lead swimmers were miles ahead of me, so I concentrated on keeping my speed up, heart rate under 175 and drinking fluids. Finally around mile 48, a guy passes me on an orange Felt with a Zipp 808 in the front and 909 in the back (he ended up dropping out around mile 5 due to cramps in his calves). When he was passing me he pulled up next to me and said, "I've been chasing you for the last 1-1/2 hours, you're flying!", which I thought was pretty funny. I thanked him, told him that he's just killing it and we played a little tag for the next 5 miles before he opened a good gap on me. We passed one more guy and then hit the sketchy descent about 5 miles out from the transition area. On the way down, we passed a guy who was running with his bike on the side of the road after he took a tumble. I slowed down to see if he needed help and he told me that he was fine, so I took off. At the bottom of the descent, I passed a volunteer and stopped to tell her that a guy's fallen, he looks okay but his back is all torn up (it was bad - he ended up running to T2 and started the run but dropped out after a couple of miles, total baller though, that's what this sport is all about) and started back up to finish strong. My bike time was 2:34 for the 56 miles (21.9 mph average - 6^th fastest overall and 2^nd fastest in my age group), which I'm pretty happy considering the rolling terrain and the winds but as always I know I can go faster than that.

Rode back to T2 to the cheers of my Aunt and Uncle! I was really happy about my ride to forget about the awful swim and hoping that I didn't overdo it on the bike. Took off the bike gear, wrestled my compression socks on (those things are a major pain in the arse to get on and killed my T2 time - 2:20, ouch!!) and got the rest of the run gear on. Running out of T2 around a 7:00 pace I was feeling great - the legs felt fresh, my Aunt and Uncle were cheering me on and I was just rockin' out to a few select songs in my head (those are race secrets right there folks!). Ran to the start of the loop section and started up a small incline. The loop on the run course had one significant hill and a nice roller, which was enough to pain the legs a little. Once I made it to the loop I saw that I was around 10^th overall, so I just concentrated on having a strong run, trying to catch a few guys ahead of me and not really worrying about monitoring my pace or heart rate too much. I ended up passing two guys who were running next to each other around mile 5 while we were running up the big hill on loop #1. The weather that day was perfect (low 70's and mostly cloudy, which is not normal for Louisville in late July), so for hydration I kept asking for water at the two aid stations (the volunteers at the event were awesome), taking a drink or two then dumping the rest on myself and taking in Clif Shot Chews for nutrition. Btw, the Cran Razz flavor is where it's at!

After loop #1, there were a lot more people on the course and I was trying to cheer people on the best I could. Somehow I had found myself in the middle of the battle for first place between two pros as they kept exchanging the lead during their 2^nd and 3^rd loops Apparently my pace wasn't that far off from what they were running at (but it WAS faster - I ended up averaging a 6:30 pace and they averaged around a 6:00-6:15 pace). The guy in 2^nd place (an Aussie) finally took the lead on the 3^rd loop and kept it. I think he ended up with an overall time of 4:19, which is flying for such a tough course. That kept me entertained while I was concentrating on staying strong and not getting passed. Halfway on the 3^rd loop, at the turnaround, I was finally passed by one guy and I still had enough in the tank to stay with him until the big hill, where he dropped me halfway up. I was a little ticked about that and tried to catch him on the flat but by then he was gone. About a mile from the finish I heard someone coming up behind me and I knew that it would be a shirtless kid who I had noticed earlier on the course and I could tell that he was flying (definitely a gazelle by nature). He caught up to me and we ran together for a half mile talking about training for IM Louisville before he dropped me like it's hot! I didn't chase after him because he said that he was 24 after I told him I was 25 (they didn't put age number on our legs for this race), but after looking at the official results, it turns out he's 25!

The last half mile or so was on thick grass, which was a pain to run it as it felt like all of my speed was being zapped. I couldn't make out the time on the official time clock as I had taken off my prescription sunglasses around mile 12 and was too focused on finishing to put them on (I'm blind as a bat without them). As I was nearing the end I saw 4:3#, so I picked up my speed a bit and came in just under 4:40 or right at 4:40, which was my targeted time and a new PR by 15 minutes! My run time turned out to be 1:25, which I'm totally happy about. I've been focusing a lot more on running these last two months to prep for the marathon, so it's nice to see that hard work and lack of time on the bike, which I sorely miss, pay off! Crossing the finish line I still felt really, really strong (like I could ride another 56 miles or run another ½ marathon strong) and despite my less than spectacular swim I was really happy with my race. I know that I can get a sub 4:30 after posting this time on such a tough course but with IM Louisville as my main goal this year I've been focusing less on speed work and more on endurance (I have another ½ IM scheduled for October in Montauk, NY, so I might be able to pull a little magic there). Overall my time put me in 12^th place, though I came in 10^th across the line, and I came in third in my age group.

My Aunt, Uncle and I packed up my gear from the transition area, talked to a few of the guys who were finished (I guarantee that over half the people at this race will be at IM Louisville in a month) and drove back to the hotel. I took a hot shower then afterwards we went out to eat at a great seafood restaurant - I had a locally brewed brown ale, seafood gumbo, cedar plank salmon w/ portabella mushrooms, eggplant and asparagus and bread pudding with a fried banana on top and vanilla ice cream for dessert! So good! Drove back to the hotel and saw my Aunt and Uncle off as they had to get back to Columbus. It was awesome to have them there!!

Woke up early on Sunday morning and went to town on the continental breakfast. Drove to downtown Louisville, checked out the site where the transition area will be for the Ironman event (it's freakin' HUGE!), then biked the whole Ironman bike course, 112 miles of fun! I'd say about 85% of the bike course I raced on Saturday is a part of the Ironman bike course, so I feel really confident about that portion of the race. The course if definitely challenging but if the weather's going to be anything like it was in 2008, temps in the high 90's, that course is going to be brutal - hilly with not much shade, so hydration and electrolyte intake will be key. Got back to my car around 1:00 PM and decided to drive the main 10 mile loop of the run course and not actually run it like I was planning to (I wanted to get home at a reasonable time and had a 6 hr trip ahead of me!). The run course has a couple of long rollers but nothing too steep like what I had to run at the race. However, it'll still be a marathon and again if it's hot out, it'll definitely be challenging as there's not much shade but it'll be cool to run past the stadiums and Churchill Downs a couple of times.

I'm definitely getting excited about Ironman Louisville and I really only have 4-1/2 more weeks of solid training before I begin to taper. I feel confident about everything and really want to shoot for a sub-10 hour finish (or right around 10 hours). I guess a lot of it will depend on the weather during the race (if it gets to be 103 degrees on the pavement during the marathon like it did last year, that's a whole new ball game right there). Anyway, no matter what happens it's gonna be fun and I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge and crossing the finish line!

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading,

Jason