My biggest reason for wanting to be there, was that I also had two athletes - Peter Ackley and Rachael McClelland - who were making their debut at the Half Iron distance at this race. As anyone who has done this course knows, it is exceptionally demanding with almost 3000 ft of climbing on the bike and three very long and/or steep hills on the run. I couldn't be prouder with how they responded and performed through the entire event.
Peter did his first Olympic race at this site exactly one year ago, and didn't have the race he wanted. He finished in 3:30 and struggled mentally the entire way. Flash forward one year, and despite a mediocre swim (for him), he remained calm and focused. He built in on the bike, over the first few hills and was biking his strongest over the back half, ready to get out on the run. As Peter's bike improved over the past few months his run has looked exceptional. His PR for a stand-alone Half Marathon was a 2:12, from the previous June. On Sunday he began the run at 9:30 pace, and despite "going to a dark place" held his run together at 9:27 for most of the second half before fading to 10:18 pace in the last 2 miles, which included a killer hill right before the finish - good for a 2:05:48 Half Marathon and a 6:05:42 Overall time!
Rachael had an even steeper learning curve, in the sport, having competed in her first Triathlon last summer. She came to the sport with enthusiasm and with only a running background. She was nervous about the swim and had only ever done a 20 mile bike. In the Fall she was hit by a car - no serious injuries, fortunately, but definitely provided another mental hurdle for her to overcome. The brutal winter we had in CT this year didn't help and her outdoor rides were limited. As a result, she had a lot of anxiety about the bike and had a great deal of trouble keeping her heart rate down when she went out. Likewise, she much anxiety about the swim - the cold, sighting, open water in general. Fortunately, she lives close and was able to get out in the lake, and on the bike course a couple times so that limited the unknowns on race day. The plan was to stay steady and she did through the swim and the bike. Towards the end of the bike she started to cramp and was plagued with those issues throughout the course of the run. To her credit, and mental strength, she maintained relentless forward progress to come in at 8:41:18 for her first Half finish!
I'm also going to give a quick shout-out to Mark Carioto, who raced the Olympic Distance at Quassy on Saturday. I've been working with Mark on his swim for the past two years. Mark came to me with a host of technique and pacing issues. Last year we worked primarily on lengthening him out, getting him comfortable in the water, more efficient, and building into longer swims at easy efforts. He made huge strides and accomplished all those goals, but it didn't translate to faster swim times. He was much more efficient and that laid the foundation for the two massive breakthroughs he experienced this off-season, when we brought back effort based speed and strength intervals. Long story short, Mark exited the water comfortable AND two minutes faster than his previous best at this distance - 27:13.
While my race didn't go the way I wanted it to, it was fantastic to see my friends, teammates (Tim Russell, PFC Elite Team had a huge breakthrough race - fastest bike split, PR on the run and 5th Overall!), and athletes shine. Congratulations to all and look forward to where this season will take you! Peter, Rachael and Mark will all be at 70.3 Timberman on August 17th!
