The Putnam experience!
First of all I just want to give a big shout out to all the guys from Team Bikeway.com who raced this weekend. It was really great to see our team represented so well. We definitely made our presence felt in a positive way and I was proud to have the chance to be a part of it!
A few lines here to give you a glimpse into my Putnam experience. Like every triathlon, the day started early with my alarm going off at the crack of dawn, 4:30. I rolled out of bed dropped to my knees and quickly asked the good Lord that the day would be good. Then I yelled for my brothers, pounded some serious granola/ oats, hitched up my sweet Cannondale Carbon 6(thanks Bikeway!) and off we went. We got to the race at the perfect time. I was able to peacefully get my race packet and get my warm-up in. If anyone is curious to know what my warm-up was: 1-mile easy run with a few short race pace bursts, 20min of riding also with a few short race bursts and finally 10min of swimming. In between I take a nibble of a protein bar and of course keep hydrated.
I was in wave 3 so I had the chance to watch how the first 2 swim starts played out and see which spot of the beach was the most advantageous to start from. When the horn sounded for my wave it only took a few seconds for me to realize that the spot I choose was a good one. I was able to swim freely and avoid the craziness of a lot of triathlon swim starts. Though I did run into the congestion of the athletes already out there, and then it was all about finding open holes to swim through.
I got to T1 and had a horrible transition. I had my bikeway jersey all prepared for me to slip on before jumping on the bike, but unfortunately the jersey did not want to “slip” on and decided to consume my head instead. I wrestled with it for a good 30 seconds before I just let out a yell and showed it who was boss. My T1 must have looked like a Harrison Ford movie fight, but thankfully I finally made it to the bike.
The bike course was pretty dad-gum hilly, just tried to work the hills and not rest too much on the way down. I felt like I hammered the bike pretty good, until I saw the bike splits afterwards and saw how Michael Bakker and fellow teammate Shawn Jackson put the hurt on me there.
Going into T2 I was psyched that I had no technical difficulties and was excited to start running! T2 was smoother than T1. I grabbed some GU and powered out as hard as I could. Once out on the run course, I had a brief moment of “Whoa! These hills are really trying to spank me out here.” But, then I tricked myself and told myself it was only my imagination. ;) It worked as I felt my run fitness was good and pushed up the hills with some determination. The finish line came and I had a bit of a kick to cross the line. There is always a stirring of special feelings inside when one is blessed to finish a triathlon. The feeling you get whether finishing a triathlon big or small never wears off. I’m sure you fellow triathletes know what I’m talking about.
After the race I enjoyed the moment with my brothers and other finishers. I also had a smashing good time watching other Bikeway athletes finishing with some real authority. Being that we all started in waves, I wasn’t quite sure what place I finished in, so as you can imagine I was pretty anxious to see or hear some results. While waiting I decided to go ahead and attempt to use my time wisely by refueling and cooling down with an easy 3 mile run. After all the waiting and wondering the moment finally came. The race director grabbed the mic and said those special words, “The overall winner is…..well check it out for yourself http://www.nytri.org/results_full.cfm?ID=162 !
Its always is nice to see some fruits of your labor, for me it’s been a while since I haven’t seen any fruits. Haha! If you haven’t heard I haven’t started the season as I had hoped, but that’s another story. Hopefully with some smart training and most importantly help from above, I can just build from here.
Lukas here wishing everyone reading this all the Best!!!
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