Mesa, Arizona
Since I pushed my last race at Seville I hadn’t intended on pushing this one. When I say push, what I mean is this: I always give at least 95% of myself in a race. There are those days where you push into the final 5% and that final 5% is a place you don't want to go often. Pushing hard with 100% of everything you have in a triathlon costs something. I can do a triathlon at 95% and be back to normal now a couple days later. But that extra 5% comes with a disproportioned price. Don’t get me wrong, 95% hurts and I finish panting and exhausted. Burning through that final 5% leaves me exhausted for the entire day and sore for several days after. It is hard to find strength for up to a week afterwards.
Unlike most Tri Family races, I had never done this one. I did want to push the swim since the swim takes place in a beautiful 50 meter pool. This pool is the nicest one I have personally had the pleasure of swimming in the entire State of Arizona. It is the same pool the Splish Splash Aquathlon was in a couple of weeks ago. Whoever takes care of the water quality is awesome. This pool has crystal clear perfect visibility. So I resolved to give it a good swim and then settle in for a moderate effort on the bike and run, especially since it was an unfamiliar course and I wanted to race well at Rio Salado in less than a week since my parents would be here watching.
When I came out of the pool the race director was yelling at me that there was only one guy ahead of me. I knew the guy who was going to win the race was actually behind me, so I thought to myself it might be interesting to see how well I could do on the bike. It was a very windy day making speed more difficult for some of the lighter guys. The course was 6 loops. After completing 3 loops no one had passed me. I realized that after half the bike course I was most likely still holding on to 2nd place. I was feeling ok, so I resolved to make this a race. I could actually place in the over-all if I kept this up. I put some hurt on my legs in the final 3 laps. The guy who I knew would win the race passed me on the 4th lap putting me in third by my estimate. After the end of the bike I had only been passed by one guy on the bike. I had not caught the guy who exited to pool prior to me, so I was approximately 3rd.
The run is where I lose ground to faster runners. I took off out of transition determined to let as few people pass me I as could. After a couple miles, no one had passed me and I could not see anyone behind me. Wow, I thought. If I can just grit my teeth and run through some pain I might be able to pull this off. Now the course had some turn arounds and actually crossed over itself and then headed back for a 2nd lap. The course layout made it very easy to keep track of other runners and where you were in relation to them. Towards the completion of the first lap I could see that there were two guys threatening to overtake me. 3 miles to go and I was holding on to 3rd for dear life. I knew was going to have to suffer to hold my place.
During the second lap it became clear to me that one of the guys was going to eventually pass me. He was closing on me too fast for me to hold him off forever. I had already made a mental note of his number. His number was 14 numbers less than mine. In a pool swim like this race, they send the athletes off one by one in numerical order with either 10 or 15 seconds between them. I hadn’t paid attention to which interval they had used today so I could only calculate that he had started this race either 140 seconds or 210 seconds before me. What this meant, was that even if he passed me, if I could manage to stay only 140 seconds behind him, I would still be in front of him in the race. I decided I better calculate based on the lower number since I did not know for sure. I needed to cross that finish line within two minutes of when he did. I needed to keep him in sight.
I could feel him coming up on me half way through the second lap. I was happy that I had held him off for so long. I had anticipated him over taking me before this. I wanted him to know I was not going down without a fight, so I sped up as he closed. I wanted to make him question whether or not he could put 2 minutes between us. In a situation like this, in my opinion the advantage is always with the guy who is running behind (but really ahead). The reason is because I can see him and keep track of where he is and pace off him based on what I see. I am behind him and he has no idea how far or how he is doing with putting distance between us. I could tell he realized the situation because he really started increasing his pace. He started putting distance between us despite my best efforts. I was running with all I had and sliding inot some substantial suffering. The other guy who originally was a threat during the first lap became irrelevant. He must have had a tough second lap. Based on all my observations and calculations it was pretty clear to me that 3rd place over-all was mine to win or lose.
When the pain is great, your mind begins to betray you. The body has long since rebelled against you and has been complaining for many miles, but it is the mental betrayal that is hardest to fight. This voice starts talking to you and saying things that sound good to you at the time. It says things like, “4th place over-all is great Karl.” “4th place is good enough.” “You weren’t even going to race this race originally.” “It is not like you are not fighting for 1st place, just the difference between 3rd and 4th, and what is the difference really?” “Who is going to care anyways?” “All you have to do is ease up and this intense pain will go away.” “This suffering is senseless Karl.” That voice starts to sound very reasonable as the pain intensifies.
But I did not listen to that voice and I ran with everything I had. I held on to my 3rd place in the over-all. I actually placed 3rd in an Olympic distance triathlon. Now I know that I am still a slow fat dude, and the had their been a faster field I would never have had a prayer of holding on to third over-all. But for today it was fun to compete with who was there and for a day pretend like I was a real triathlete.
