A Call to Honor: A Triathlon in Memory of Rick Cashin

Official Results: 2nd OA, 1st AG M30 and under; 46:32

Pre-Race
The night before this race I only had 4 hours of sleep since Jess and I were at a wedding the night before. Despite the few hours of sleep I actually didn't feel tired that morning and the good thing about this race was that it was only a 10 minute drive to the start because the race was in Boxford at Stiles Pond, which is the next town over from where we live. Also, Stiles Pond is where my triathlon group, Tri-Fury does most of there open water training sessions and where I usually do my open water swims, but this year I've only made it out there twice.

Swim 1/4 Mile: 5th OA; 5:53 (1:27/100m)
I was in the first swim wave for this race along with everyone under the age of 30 and all the relays. With the race being small enough it wasn't a crowded swim start which was nice so I started out at the front. The swim was a rectangular clockwise swim. I got out to the first buoy faster than I thought and felt great and I was in 3rd or 4th heading to the 2nd buoy. I had predicted to finish the swim in about 6:30 because that was about the pace I was swimming this year, but I ended up being faster than I though.

Bike 10.5 Miles: 2nd OA; 31:39 (28:53 - 21.8 MPH)
My official time was 31:39, but this includes my T-1 and T-2 times so this is why the 31:39 seems slower than I actually was. I was excited to get to the bike leg of the race since I've really enjoyed this portion of racing this year. After exiting T-1, my heart rate was through the roof and didn't settle down until the end of the bike ride. The bike route was part of the Tri-Fury group ride that I do on Saturdays so it was very familiar to me, which was great! I was hoping to average around 22 MPH, but didn't hit that and I think that was because of the lack of sleep.

Run 1.5 miles: 1st OA; 9:01 (6:00/mile)
Coming into T-2 I saw my competition from the 2nd wave right behind me, Kevin Reen. I raced against Kevin at the JCC this year and I knew that he might catch me on the bike, but I just didn't know where. As I exited T-2 I was right behind him the whole way to the finish, but I knew since he had caught me that he had made up the 2 minute gap on me. The run leg was pretty cool since it was an out and back on an unpaved, but graded road. It was nice running on that instead of a paved road.

Post-Race:
Overall it was a well run race by the volunteers, the town of Boxford, the State Police (who Capt. Rick Cashin had worked for), and the Boxford Police. It was also a great end of the season race for me and it was awesome that is was so close to home for once.

Timberman 70.3 - 2009 Race Report

Official Results: 144th OA out of 1808 / 19th M25-29 out of 110; 5:01:19

Swim 1.2 Miles: 433rd OA; 33:50 (1:45/100m)
This was my worst swim ever! I think part of the reason why my swim times haven't been that great this year because I stopped lifting all together this season, unlike last season where I actually did a full body workout once a week. I also keep having the problem that when I get about 10 minutes into the swim I start hacking up flem and have to stop swimming at least 2-3 times to get rid of it. It's very strange since I've never had this problem before while swimming. The swim leg of the race other than what I mentioned above was pretty uneventful.

Bike 56 Miles: 114th OA; 2:32:35 (22.0 MPH)
After coming out of the water and into T1 I knew I had some ground to gain with an awful swim time. My bike times have definitely improved this season, which I've been pretty excited about and I've only done 1 ride over 50 miles this season and that was before Amica 70.3 RI. I have been doing more shorter rides during the week at a higher intensity, so I think that this has helped me get a little faster. Once I was out of T1 and heading out on the course, I realized that the climb out to the flatter part of the course was a little more challenging that I had thought after driving the course the day before the race. The climb from the Lake was brutal at some points where I was only going like 8-9 mph up the hills. Once I got to the flatter part of the course to where the turn around was I got into a good cadence and was able to go 22 - 25 mph. It was slightly downhill to the turn around, which was great. Once I hit the turn around I still felt great was able to maintain about 21 mph. There was one last hill left towards the end but it was nothing after the climb up from the lake. The downhills back to the Lake were very fast and I ended up hitting 47.5 mph on one of the downhills, which is the fastest I have ever gone on my bike! I think I had a pretty good nutrition plan on the bike portion of this race and ended up taking 1 accelerade bottle, 1 small Monster/Gatorade mix and 1 water bottle and a gel squeeze bottle that holds 4 gel servings and straps to the tube of the bike, so it makes it convenient to get at while your riding. I should have taken in some salt tablets because once I hit the run I struggled the first 2 miles.

Run 13.1 Miles: 204th OA; 1:49:09 (8:20/mile)
Coming into T2 for some unexplained reason I had a mental breakdown once I got back to my bike rack and was almost ready to quite. I think that was because I felt so unprepared for the upcoming run, but once I got out of T2 and headed out on the run course my mental state quickly improved and I felt fine even though I struggled the first 2 miles because my quads cramped up so bad that it was affecting my form. I walked into the first aid station, took in some water and 4 Endurolyte tablets and after that I was good for the rest of the run, but it took about 4-5 miles for them to finally get into my system for the cramping to stop. I would have liked to have had a faster run, but my running mileage is severely lacking this year. I've found biking much more enjoyable this year then running and I think this is because my hamstrings have been so tight that running has been on the painful side, but if I bike I can bike at a high intensity and not feel any pain at all. The course was a good course, it was a 2 loop out and back course and it was awesome having a huge TriFury cheering crowd out there cheering us on and taking pictures as we passed them.

Post-Race:
After crossing the finish line I thought I was still under the 5 hour mark, but then when the official results were posted I was 1 minute over, but that was close to what I had predicted for my finish time. The greatest part of the race was getting my finishers medal from Chrissie Wellington! In my opinion she showed some great sportsmanship by doing that. After she won the women's race she came back to the finish line to personally hand out finishers medals, it was the coolest thing ever! I just wish I had a picture of it!

Other Notes:
On another note this was an awesome race because I got to meet up with Jason Widstrom with whom I ran with back in high school when he was a senior and I was freshman. I think that was the last time I saw him and he still looked the same. It was great getting a chance to race with/against him. I was secretly hoping to beat him and I did, sorry Jason I had to put it on here! I knew if I didn't beat you that I would get a ton of crap from Scott DeWire! I'm just hoping that the three of us can do a race together next year and all meet up. All and all it was good race, I still wasn't able to get that Clearwater slot, but looking back on this season, it just wasn't meant to be. I feel like my heart just wasn't in it like it was last year and at times I lacked some of the motivation that I had last year. I'm hoping I can take the lessons learned from this season and use them next season. I'm just happy that the season is over. I'm signed up for the Bay State Marathon in October, but with 5-6 weeks to get ready for a marathon with not much running mileage, I think I'm going to scrap this idea and possibly do a spring marathon.