Chasing Iron & Forging Steel
The plan for this year
has always been about Louisville and my first IM. That
didn’t mean there weren’t other goals; but rather they didn’t take
precedence. I was chasing
Iron and about to pour my marrow into the crucible of the forge. You are thinking that is just fiery rhetoric. It is not.
My training volume for May was nearly 673 miles of swimming, biking, and
running. It was a month of firsts – I
swam my first 100m under 1:20 and completed an 80-mile ride, my longest ride
up to that point.
June started off with the MS150, and a 102-mile ride on day
one with a 3-mile run, and a 75-mile ride on day two. I completed my first swim of 5,000 yards and a 113-mile
ride. By the end of June I will have
exceeded 750 total miles. I expected
early mornings. I expected to work
hard. I didn’t expect it to be this
much fun. It is hard work, but I love it.
I was ecstatic when Rev 3 announced a Half Iron event in
Williamsburg. My first triathlon was
Set-Up Events Patriot’s Half in Williamsburg and I had returned to it every
year since 2009. This year it was too
close to Louisville and I need a race to test my mettle in June. The inaugural Rev 3 Williamsburg Half was
set for 23 June and it seemed to be the perfect choice for my last big race
before Louisville.
May had been a great
month. I had PR’d at the Kinetic Half
IM and I was training well. I tapered
for the first time this season. On the
right day I felt like I could beat the time from Kinetic. Race weekend was fast approaching and on the
Friday before the race I finally checked the tides. “Tides” you say, why would that be important? Tides in the James are wildly
important. The current at peak flow can
exceed 1.5 knots. The forecast for race
day was 1.7 knots at 0530 dropping to slack water at 0824. That meant that the long leg of the swim was
going to be into over 1 knot of current.
I steeled my resolve and packed my gear.


My training partner and I went to packet pick-up on Saturday morning, walked the expo, picked up our packets, dropped our bikes at T1, checked the swim start, chatted with old friends and met some new friends. We wrapped up the day with dinner at Carraba’s and headed home. Wake-up time was 0330 to be to Adam’s by 0400 and to the racecourse by 0430. Since T1 and T2 were not collocated, we put our shoes in our racks and hopped on the bus to T1. It had started to rain.
First order of business was topping off the pressure in the
bike tires. Then I pulled on my spare
pair of shoes and went for a 2-mile warm-up.
I packed up my dry gear bag and dropped it in the numbered bin for
transport back to the finish and then pulled on my wetsuit. I rushed down to the swim start and did a
short swim wam-up.
The weather was still questionable, the start was delayed,
later we learned this was because the buses transporting athletes from T2 to T1
had been stuck in traffic and athletes were still arriving at T1. Finally, the pros were lined up and the horn
sounded. It was a long slog out to swim
depth, maybe 200 meters. The more
experienced pros began dolphin diving at a steady pace and quickly opened up a
gap. Then whole pack was swimming. The entire professional field was swept hard
to the left. Next up were the pro
women. They were swept left too. This swim was all about navigation in heavy
current and expectation management.
Soon enough it was my turn and off we went. Pointed 45 degrees upstream I crabbed my way to the first
buoy. There was chop as well as current
and I focused on keeping an even cadence and staying long. I kept repeating Dori’s mantra as I swam –
“Just keep swimming,” and to my surprise I was holding my own and maybe even
gaining on the swimmers I could see when I sighted. It was a tough swim, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected and I stayed within myself. Soon enough I
was out of the water. I looked at my
watch and saw 41 minutes. A long way
from the 34 minutes at Kinetic, but it was more than 4 minutes better than my
swim at the same river in similar conditions at the Patriot’s Half in
2012. Swim time 41:46 - 87th
out of 573 overall and 13th out of 88 40-44 age group.
The run from the water to T1 at this location is around 500
meters. It’s a haul, but I felt pretty
good. I got wetsuit pulled down and I
was ready to get on the bike. T1 time
was 3:51, but with a 2 minute run from the beach, that is 1:51 on any other
course. It meets my standard of under
2:00 minutes. I jumped on the bike and
off I went.
I popped out of the shoes a little early, but had a good
dismount. I ran to my box, racked my
bike, and grabbed my shoes. As I am
grabbed my visor I heard Adam yell my name.
Sure enough I had put time on my training partner in the water, but he
had closed the gap on the bike. I took
off out of transition like someone had lit a fire in my shorts. T2:
1:05.

Total Time: 4:51:31. It wasn't my best effort but it was a solid race. I think I have some unfinished business on this course and I hope, even with the difficulties and challenges that they worked through, that Rev 3 will come back Williamsburg. The 40-44 Age group places 2 through 6 were separated by less than a minute. That's great racing and I know I'd like to be in the mix again next year!
Steel is made by taking iron and working it in a forge at
high temperature. It is work hardened
and tempered to give it greater strength and durability. This season is all about chasing Iron and forging
steel. Rev 3 taught me something about
running in the heat. It made me
stronger and more durable. The clock in
Louisville will let me know if I got it right.