Devilman in Southern NJ was our first prep race for July 4th when we are racing IM Austria. Its tough when you havent gone the distance at the effort you want to go, so today was all about giving it a solid try and be conservative. The last thing you want is to leave race #1 of the season frustrated having busted your butt all winter. It was a good plan and worked to a T.
The water was supposed to be .8 mile but it was more like a mile. Just sat back and kept a solid tempo effort throughout and tried not to swallow what was the nastiest water I have yet to swim in on this planet (actually I fell into the Cocheco in Rochester years back and that was pretty bad). The visibility was about (and I am not exaggerating here) 10-12 INCHES. I could not see my arms at all and to find bubbles or feet to grab a draft was impossible. So I swam it myself and weaved in and out of all the slower sprint racers who went off before us.

Bike was 41 miles on the flattest course you could ever imagine. The wind was a major issue here as the cross winds were blowing above 30 MPH with higher gusts. Very difficult to hold on at times. Averaged 23.4 MPH on the new P4. Watts were 250 and I took in 2 Gu’s and 2 – 24 OZ bottles of Eload. Ride took around 1:45 or so. The great nutrition advice from Coach Janda left me feeling strong coming off. Almost too strong as I ran out of transition on fresh legs onto what was a completely flat, hot and windy course (temp was 86 with overhead sun). I was determined not to kill myself out there and 9 miles would be just enough to do it, so I stayed at marathon pace (about 7:15-7:30) and felt pretty comfortable. Around mile 7 the comfort started to slide and fatigue settled in but not enough to slow down. I actually ran down the leader in my age group who looked like total crap…then again I bet I did also….(but I almost never get to run anyone down, I am always getting run down) so at least I had the age group thing wrapped up, but I also kept telling myself it wasnt about that, it was about testing out the engine. Oh yeah…for the first time ever I walked to aid stations. Its all about IM prep right. Felt good to dump water down my back and actually drink the whole gatorade they offer vs. just a sip.

I was glad it was over in 3:22. 8th place overall. Lots of very fast young guys raced. Cool to see 20 somethings kick butt. The sport is now attracting this group more and more. Also Kat won the masters division too. She has dropped weight and ran in with a smile on her face looking uber-fast. Watch out N.E. 40 and over women

The whole gluten free thing worked well but I am now on a gluten-watching diet. Not bread or pasta but I am not going to deny myself the occasional AWESOME Kobe beef burger (see pic) that I chowed down after the race at one of the best places we have ever eaten in Philadelphia (cant remember the name though…something like Vitalinos?????.