All3sports Blog Tri the Parks Richard "B" Russell Race Report - Rob Strangia

Tri the Parks - Richard "B" Russell Race Report "Fast & Flat Road Course with No Rocks or Roots, Does NOT Equal Less Pain!" 3rd Overall/Fastest Bike SplitAfter a 2 week mid-season break, I am spending the 2nd half of this season taking a temporary hiatus from Xterra to test my fitness on the road, specifically at the 70.3 distance. Since I've only done a couple of road Triathlons, I used this Olympic Distance Race primary as an equipment/gear test for my first 70.3 next month. I have just recently purchased my first Triathlon TT bike, a Cervelo P3 from All3Sports.com. It's perfectly fitted, & is REALLY FAST! I've done plenty of riding on the roads, but this is my first TT bike. In the speed tests that I have done w/it, even w/o race wheels or an aero helmet, I am over 2 mph faster on the flats with the P3, at the same effort level, as I was on my road bike! I now also have a Giro Air Attack Helmet & was able to demo a set of Mavic CXR 80's Race Wheels from ALL3Sports for this race! With such as fast bike set up, now I just needed to supply the engine! Swim(28:32)....Even the swim is not the same at Road Races vs. at Xterra's! Xterra's always have mass starts! I am not a big fan of the wave starts because it makes is harder to find good feet to draft off of in the swim, you don't get to race with all your buddies, & you have no idea where you are in the overall scheme of the race! I like to know that if I pass someone in a race, that I am actually ahead of them! This actually threw me off, because once the gun went off, I was immediately in open water with no one nearby to draft off of. I've never started a race where there wasn't any elbowing & jockeying for position at the start of the swim, so I think that I got too 'comfortable" in the open water. Also w/o the free speed & effort reduction of grabbing a set of feet, I was more winded at the end than I normally am for a 1500m swim. For these & for who knows what other reasons, I had my worst swim of the year by far! My swim has been steady improving at each race this season until now. I was 2-3 minutes slower than where I expected to be based on previous races vs. some of the same competitors.Bike(57:58/Fastest OA Bike Split!)...I was hoping to stay w/in 2 minutes of the top athlete in my AG on the swim & was a little deflated when I was told that he was 4:45 ahead at T1! The last 1500m swim that I had vs. this same athlete, I was only 3 minutes behind & my swim has improved significantly since then! Deflating! Then, I hopped on the bike & my legs felt horrible! I had a tough training block leading into this race & was feeling it!Though it took me a while to build into a decent pace, once I got going, it was just so much fun going fast on my P3 & passing people that I forget about my tired legs! The course was really flat and FAST! It had just a few gentle rollers, but nothing the required getting out of aero. I caught up w/my training & Xterra buddy Chris Salomone, who had started in an earlier wave, at about mile 10. Chris is a very strong cyclist & by catching him on the bike, I knew that my ride was going well! However, I was now totally out of drinking water! I learned that 1 bottle of water is NOT enough for me at for this distance! Chris, the good guy that he is, actually gave me a few swigs from his bottle that may have saved my day. Going into T2, I was told that I was now only 45 seconds behind the top guy in my AG. Later, I would learn that I had the fastest bike split of the day!Run(42:00/10k PR!)... This is where it gets really interesting! As soon as I hit the run, I started feeling noxious & my stomach starting churning so bad that I thought that I was going to have to crap in the woods! My legs also felt horrible! This was the absolute low point in the race for me! I was really struggling on the first 1/2 mile section that was on a slightly uphill trail. However, once I got to the straight away on the road, I could see the top guy in my AG about ¼ mile ahead. At that point, I just said to myself that "This is what I wanted!" To be in a position after the bike to still win my AG & I was not going to squander it! At that point, my stomach issues just disappeared. I ran my own pace, but could see that I was slowly closing the gap & by mile 2, I caught him. We ran side by side for the next 2 miles & just after mile 4, I started to slowly pull away. I stayed at the same effort level(PE = Hurts Like Hell) until the last mile when I stepped it up even more to (PE = Suicide) & never looked back. I ran straight thru the finishing chute to the Porto John in route to a 42:00 10k PR in my new Newtons! I am really starting to like the feel of my Newton "Men's Distance Elite" running shoes! I was so noxious after the race that it took me over 2 hours before I could even drink my first beer! Overall(2:10:00/3rd OA!)..Despite a bad swim, stomach issues, & legs that did not feel good, I was still able to ride & run fast! Not only did I win my age group, I was also 3rd Overall & only 4 seconds away from 2nd Overall! However, the guy that was 2nd Overall was in a different wave, so I had no idea that I was that close!While, I have always known that portion race performance is mental, this race really showed me just how much of a difference it can really make. After hitting the bike really hard for the fastest bike split of the day & also having stomach issues, I still set a 10k PR on the run at this race! It also showed me that even when my legs aren't feeling good, that I am still capable of going fast. I was very happy with the end result & it was so much fun finally getting to race with my ALL3Sports Teammates! Special Thanks to Stacy Sims who was giving me splits & leading a cheering party that really helped me dig deep when I needed to on the run!