The Devil Made Me Do It (Devilman 50 Lite May 5, 2013)

Well okay maybe not the devil, maybe myself after signing up in September. Devilman was my first real race of the year (a 50 mile Half Lite in early May) and I just did not want to race. Nonetheless, I woke up early in the morning and raced with a fun group of people from Philly. The day was overcast and cold. The water wasn’t too bad somewhere in the mid 60s while the air temperature was in the mid to upper 50s.

The race started and I didn’t know what to expect. Halfway around the first loop of the swim my arms were pretty numb (silly me only brought a sleeveless wetsuit). Then out of nowhere I got breaststroke kicked square in the goggles. I jerked backwards and then immediately had someone push me down while swimming overtop of me. Both guys looked back and apologized. I guess it was nice that they made sure I didn’t drown haha. I guess this is what I get for swimming in the mix of things but now it was on like Donkey Kong.

There were a few fans that we knew from our group of friends taking photos and this helped make the race enjoyable to look out for them. But enough chit chat, I don’t want to have a shower, shave, and a poop in transition like my brothers transition was. Now it’s time to bike and I did a good job pushing my limits. I rode 40 miles averaging just over 20 MPH which was great for me especially because I slowed down to force myself to pee in the middle because I convinced myself I needed too.

Now through T2 and I’m ready to run, or so I thought. A couple of hundred feet from leaving the second transition I trip in a sandy mess over the quick lace loops in my shoes. You know how the quick laces have instructions to get the length just right and then cut the excess? Well I read that and decided I was too lazy to do that. Needless to say I was destined to trip over the loop because I run pigeon toed and broke the lace while falling flat on my face. Haha I don’t think anyone saw my fall, but if anyone did they would have had to chuckle. I quickly loop knot the lace and continue on.

The run is 8.8 miles and after mile 1 I thought I had a rock in my shoe from the fall. I stop untangle my quick knot and shake out all of the sand and rocks. Nothing substantial fell out so then I take off my sock and brush anything off my foot, again coming up empty handed. I realized that my feet were just numb in spots from the bike due to being wet and then riding in the cold temperature. I accepted the fact that I was doomed to blister and continued on.

I didn’t push my limit in this race. I felt good but I wanted to just take this as a stepping stone for the rest of the season. I was chasing people down on the run and refused to let anyone chase me down. With a mile to go and no one in visible sight to chase down anymore, I grab water and look behind me. Someone about a ¼ mile back is trying to chase me down, HA. You know I wouldn’t let that happen, and I taunted him a bit by peeking over my shoulder, like any good runner NEVER does. I’m never the gazelle. I’m usually the Lion! No worries this gazelle made to the finish unscathed and uncaught.

After the race, we all swapped stories about the race and had fun hanging out in Southern Jersey. Some fun stories would be Tristan using duct tape to patch his wetsuit, Steven feeling good on the run after spending an hour in the transition, fun new sunburns from the run course, a funny snot picture from the bike course, a couple of friends making it to the podium and getting sweet swag. All in all the day was good and the race season officially started because the Devil Made Me Do It. This is going to be a fun year. 
 

Have You Seen My...

... shifter! That's right, yet another mechanical issue haha can you see what's missing in this picture? It's the cap to the shifter for the front ring. Luckily I was able to stop, ride backwards and find it on the road while people behind me were charging forward. I needed it to do the shifting so I just kept the cap in my pocket and pulled it out whenever I needed it.

Despite taking about 4 out of the previous 6 weeks off from working out, the Half in Quassy came at a perfect time. The swim was flat, clean, and fun with a blinding sun glare for about a third of the swim. My swim time was almost identical to Mooseman a year ago.

The bike course was a fun rolling course with a little more climbing than rolling, but still fun descents. My goal here was to keep high RPMs on the climbs even if it was in a granny gear and slow. In the end this paid off and made me more effective for the rest of the race. Maybe if I was in better shape I would have pushed some harder gears. Oh this isn't what you wanted to know. Ok when do you think I peed on the bike? That's right, about mile 40. I only peed once on the bike so I was probably a little dehydrated but fortunate that the race was short.

The run started and ended in the same place, but it felt like the run was entirely uphill. I knew this would be a long day so I sprayed some sunblock in T2 to minimize whatever burn I would get. Finally I met up with Steven around mile 6 and try to give some pointers for the heat. He was strong and more than able. After some Gatorade salts and more hills I finally made it across the finish line with an average time, but a tremendous finish.

After being called out for pulling the high five move, I decided that my finish line photos need to be more interesting. I was pretty sure I heel clicked
across the finish line, but according to the photos, the heel click was really just a Mario Brick Breaking jump.


Overall, the day was a success. Just under 2 months from Placid, racing half the distance on a comparable course in comparable race conditions, suffered a great deal, swam well, and nailed the nutrition plan, all friends crossed the finish line and yet another successful coaching day.